Longwood's Victoria Matos falls short in state girls tennis state final
Longwood’s Victoria Matos, plays in the NYSPHSAA Tennis Championship final against Bronxville’s Victoria McEnroe, in Schenectady, N.Y., Saturday, Oct. 29, 2022. Credit: Hans Pennink
SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – There is no shame in losing a championship tennis match to a McEnroe.
Victoria Matos returned to the court less than 18 hours after prevailing through a long third-set tiebreaker in her Friday semifinal victory in the state girls individual championships. Opposite the second-seeded Longwood senior was No. 5 Victoria McEnroe of Bronxville, the daughter of 1989 French open doubles champ Patrick McEnroe and niece of Hall of Famer John McEnroe. And there just wasn’t enough left in Matos’ tank for that formidable challenge.
McEnroe was sharp as she captured the state singles title with a 6-4, 7-5 victory on Saturday. McEnroe won the final two points by outlasting Matos in a pair of long rallies.
“I could have played with more energy,” Matos said. “She was getting her shots in and I needed to move my feet faster . . . The (semifinal) was just so physically and mentally draining.”
“I was obvious with my first serve not getting in much,” she added. “I even tried adjusting by tossing it more in front but that didn’t work.”
Matos fell back 1-2 in a game that had three deuces and then had her serve broken the next two times to fall back 1-5. She staged a rally to get within 4-5 but couldn’t score a point with her serve in the tenth game.
“It was a moment when I needed to get the ball in,” Matos said.
She hung tough to 5-5 in the second set, but had her serve broken in the eleventh game before McEnroe outlasted her.
“Second place is a good finish after finishing seventh last year,” she said. “I have to be happy about that.”
In other results, Cold Spring Harbor’s Nicolette Loeffler defeated Garden City’s Nina Wiese, 6-4, 6-4, in consolation play to take fifth and sixth place, respectively. Isabella Sha of Friends Academy beat Julia Laspro of Clarence, 6-4, 6-4, for seventh place.
Madison Lee and Kyra Diaz of Great Neck South defeated Anika Tolat and Ava Veneziano of Roslyn, 6-4, 7-6 (2) in the consolation final to finish third and fourth in the state respectively. Julia Stabile and Matilda Buchen of Westhampton won the seventh-place match over an entry from Brighton, 7-5, 6-2.
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.
