Skylar Cohen, Teah Login rally for wins to send Friends past Cold Spring Harbor
Teah Login of Friends Academy races across the court during a Nassau Conference I girls team tennis match against host Cold Spring Harbor on Wednesday. Credit: Peter Frutkoff
Two matches, two stumbles and two impressive recoveries. One huge victory.
That was the story for the Friends Academy girls tennis team on Wednesday as it traveled to Cold Spring Harbor and avenged an early-season loss to the Seahawks with a 5-2 triumph to keep the two squads on course for a potential rematch for the Nassau small schools championship.
Playing second singles, junior Skylar Cohen won a dominant first set in the second singles match only to fall back 2-5 to Cold Spring Harbor junior Kati Cotek in the second set. Cohen rediscovered her serve late and used a strong forehand to keep Cotek dashing across the baseline as she climbed back to force a tiebreaker before coming away with a 6-2, 7-6 (3) win.
It was a similar story for Quakers sophomore Teah Login at third singles: a strong first set and then a dose of peril. Seahawks freshman Brooke Winthrop led 5-4 and 6-5 before Login gathered herself to extend the set to tiebreaker. Winthrop lost five of the first six points in the tiebreak but pulled even to 5-5 before Login won the final two points for a 6-2, 7-6 (5) win.
“I tend to stress everyone on my team out,” Login said. “I stop thinking about the point in front of me and start thinking about a whole set and it gets away from me. When I did [Winthrop], jumped on it and I had to get my head back together.”
Friends and Cold Spring Harbor are the only small schools competing in the elite eight-team Nassau Conference I and the Quakers (2-5) dropped their first five matches — including a 5-2 loss to CSH (4-4). Sofia Schwarz, who plays first doubles with Eva Sun, was out with a knee injury and coach Owen Kassimir kept searching for a winning lineup. Since Schwarz returned last week, the Quakers are whole and the lineup is set. They’ve won two straight.
“Now that the lineup is locked in, we can focus,” said Sun, who teamed with Schwarz for a 6-2, 6-1 victory.
The one thing that didn’t materialize for Friends was the first-singles matchup between the Quakers’ Isabella Sha and Cold Spring Harbor’s Nicolette Loeffler, two of the top players on Long Island. Loeffler – who won their first match in straight sets – was out with an illness and Sha beat her replacement 6-0, 6-0.
“I was looking forward to playing her, but it will have to wait,” Sha said. “Still today we won a satisfying match and our team continued to improve, learn from our matches and [install] new tactics.”
Cohen’s tactical adjustment was to extend points instead of forcing them. “[Cotek] is good — I needed to keep the rallies going and pick the right spots to strike,” she said.
Friends also got a 6-3, 7-5 win at third doubles from Emma Gilbert and Rachel Na. Veronica Walkin and Dylan Savarese won 6-4, 6-2 at second doubles and Carly Bruderman and Kaitlynn Hannah won 6-3, 7-6 (3) at fourth doubles for the Seahawks.
“We’re better than our record,” Sha said. “Our skill level is going to show up.”
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
