November 2, 2006 Issue                                       

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©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

Mount tennis nips Gwynedd for AACA title
by TOM UTESCHER

Mount St. Joseph’s 2006-2007 tennis team.

Mount St. Joseph Academy first doubles players Alyssa Hirst and Allie Bono have gutted out a number of three-set matches this season, and that experience served the Magic well last Monday.

With the team score knotted up at 2-2 in the finals of the Athletic Association of Catholic Academies Tennis Championships, Hirst, a senior, and Bono, a sophomore, were the last Mounties still on the court. They fell behind Gwynedd Mercy Academy’s Gabriella Cappelli and Bridget Dunne in the third set, but rallied to win the match, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.

With the 3-2 team victory, the Magic claimed the league crown they’d last worn in 2003. Gwynedd’s Monarchs defeated Mount St. Joe in the finals in each of the last two AACA tournaments.

The Mount’s overall record in regular-season play was 11-3, and the Magic’s league mark was 11-0 (the team’s second meeting with Sacred Heart was eventually cancelled due to scheduling difficulties). Mount St. Joe took both of its bouts against Gwynedd by 4-1 scores; the Monarchs won at second singles the first time around, and at third singles in the rematch.

A 5-0 victory over Nazareth in the league semifinals took the locals into the championship match, which was played at Gwynedd Mercy College under windy conditions. Gywnedd had beaten Villa Joseph Marie, 3-2, in the other semifinal contest.

Caroline Baca, the senior who plays first singles for the Magic, was out with an injury at the start of the 2006 schedule, but she quickly returned to the line-up and kept raising her game as the season went along. At last week’s championship she overcame Gwynedd junior Katie Smith, 6-4, 6-2.

The same scores carried sophomore Katie Mischler to victory at second seconds, where she faced another tenth-grader, the Monarchs’ Caitlin O’Connor. Mischler had played fourth singles for Mount St. Joe in 2005, when league contests consisted of four singles and three doubles matches. This fall the AACA returned to its traditional three/two format, and Mischler moved up to the second spot, where she was a strong performer.

Gwynedd boasts a highly-regard third singles player in Alex Wagner, but Mount junior Gail Walsh managed to upset the Monarch freshman in their first meeting this season. Wagner won the regular-season rematch, and in the league finals she prevailed again, outlasting Walsh, 6-0, 6-7 (4-7), 6-3.

The Mount got a surprise in the second doubles match. The MSJ duo of senior Megan O’Leary and sophomore Sarah Hirst (Alyssa’s sister) had won both of their regular-season tilts against seniors Carolyn DeLisi and Jenna Bourdow of the Monarchs, but in the AACA final the Gwynedd upperclassmen pulled off a 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 victory, tying the overall match score at 2-2.

Although the Magic’s Hirst/Bono combo had won both regular-season contests against their Gwynedd counterparts, Cappelli and Dunne turned the third go-round into a real nailbiter. The Mounties took the first set at 6-4, but the Monarch twosome reversed that score in the second set, and then went ahead 4-1 in the third. By this time, all four players realized that their match would decide the league championship.

Hirst recalled, “All the other matches were finished at least half-an-hour before we were finished, and everyone was watching us.”

Bono said, “It was the most people that have ever watched us. We were trying not to focus on that, but you could hear everybody cheering.”

“There was some yelling between the points,” noted Ron Mutchnik, the Mount’s second-tear coach, “but when the ball was in play a hush came over the place.”

Despite their early deficit in the third set, Mutchnik liked his players’ chances in an extended match.

“Alyssa’s been very peppy all year,” he observed, “and I put her together with Allie, who won our team’s version of a Charlie Hustle award last year. With the two of them on the court, we had a lot of energy out there.”

Bono said, “We just tried to be persistent and get it over the net and keep the ball in play.”

Slowly the Mounties climbed back into the match, tying the deciding set at four-all. They employed a strategy that they’ve used towards the end of a number of three-setters this season; no matter who’s serving, Hirst takes the first opportunity to move up and play at the net, while Bono chases down balls on the baseline.

Hirst held her serve in the ninth game to move the Magic ahead, then they notched a service break in the tenth, giving the set, match, and championship to Mount St. Joseph.

Asked to compare this year’s squad with his 2005 team, Mutchnik responded, “I don’t know if we have any more pure tennis talent, but I think there’s a better balance of experience from top to bottom. Katie, Allie and Sarah were all ninth-graders last year, and this season we had no freshmen in the line-up. I think that additional experience helps you in the close matches.”