Dover and over again

Cougars claw their way into final, fall to familiar foe

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Derryfield senior captain Sophie Brown gutted out a 9-8 (5) tie-breaker victory following a medical timeout to rest and rehydrate due to Thursday’s high heat. Stacy Harrison photo

HOOKSETT, NH – Dover head girls tennis coach Sue Vitko admitted she didn’t expect to see Derryfield School in the championship match for a second-straight season. And she certainly did not expect the competition to be as tight as it was.

But there the No. 4-ranked Cougars were, fighting through 91-degree heat, battling tooth-and-nail for every point on every court and earning a 3-3 draw in singles competition before dropping two of three doubles matches and falling, 5-4, in the Division I tournament finale at Southern New Hampshire University’s tennis courts on Thursday afternoon.

“(Derryfield) is a tough team. They gave everything,” said Vitko. “I did not think it was going to be 3-3 after singles. This is way tighter than I wanted. In fact, I felt nauseous, but I knew if we could just be tied, I really believe in my doubles. I spend a lot of time working on doubles strategy, so I’m psyched. Three-straight years going to the championship … and we’ve faced Derryfield the last two years.

“Honestly, I thought we were going to face Bedford, so kudos to (the Cougars) because that means they improved and changed their strategy. They’re well coached, they’re a good team, they have good hitters, so it was just a matter of taking their power, directing it and making those points ours.”

Derryfield sophomore Sophia Correnti earned an 8-2 win on the first singles court against Taylor Wilson and on the fifth court, Charlotte Smith won, 8-3, over Dover’s Mia Mozzoni; but on the third, fourth and sixth court, Derryfield’s Sofia Koshy, Annabelle Crotty and Pola Jankowska each lost– 8-1, 8-2 and 8-2, respectively – to Tory Vitko, Riya Ramdev and Kate Ross.

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Freshman Sofia Koshy showed poise on court as third on Derryfield’s ladder. Stacy Harrison photo

That left high drama on the second court, where Sophie Brown and Dover’s Joci Faasen battled to an 8-8 tie before Derryfield’s senior captain won the tiebreaker to send the match to doubles with the team result still very much open for the taking.

“There were some of them, on some of the courts, where they had nothing left and it was really surprising they had it within them to get up and play doubles, and not only play, but to continue to give it their all, at that point and time, with these really tough weather conditions,” said Derryfield head coach Gustavo Moral.

Dover, however, avoided last-match drama in doubles by earning victories on the second and third courts with identical 8-4 triumphs – Vitko and Ramdev over Koshy and Crotty and Ross and Ashlyn Swierk over Smith and Jankowska – to secure its second-straight championship, which they began celebrating while Correnti and Brown completed their 8-5 win over Wilson and Faasen on the first court.

Though Derryfield made the championship clash much more competitive than the 8-1 result they experienced against the Green Wave earlier in the season, it wasn’t enough to unseat the reigning champs.

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Derryfield celebrated its second-straight runner-up finish in Division I after falling, 5-4, to Dover Thursday at SNHU. Ryan O’Connor photo

“I think Dover had a pretty solid team,” said Moral. “They enhanced on what they had last year, particularly in doubles. They were more productive at the net than we were and they came here to fight, as we all did.”

While Dover put the cherry atop an undefeated championship run, following a 14-0 regular season and three-straight playoff wins,  Derryfield players held their heads high after entering the D-I tourney with an 11-3 regular-season record and then upsetting undefeated top-seed Bedford in the tournament semifinals, 5-4, on Tuesday.

“That was a match that on paper we were supposed to have lost,” said Moral. “We lost to them in a close match during the regular season, 5-4. They were seeded No. 1, we were seeded No. 4, we were playing at their home, and it came down to one tight doubles match and it showed the character of our team when they could have easily folded, they stepped it up.

“There was growth and development happening every practice, especially from match to match, you could see the growth in each of the players, as well as together as a team, and that was also reflected in doubles,” he continued. “Having lost to Dover, 1-8, in the regular season and now, to bring it to 4-5, I think, again, that’s another example of how the team grew from where they were, frankly, after losing four players from the (starting) lineup from last year.”

A major part of that growth was the play and leadership of Brown, who completed her third varsity season after losing her freshman season due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.

“I met her via Zoom the first year, and she has amassed a very significant record both in singles and doubles,” said Moral. “One of the characteristics of Sophie, which you saw today, is she just doesn’t give up. She’s there for the fight, and somehow she finds a way to step it up and bring the best that she has.

“In addition to the fact she’s the captain, she brings a lot of value to the team (as a player), so all of that is going to be hard to replace,” he added. “She’ll definitely be missed.”

Even losing Brown, admittedly a huge part of the Cougars’ success these last three seasons, Moral said he feels confident in the team he returns next season.

“The reason for the growth of our team this year is a lot of them hadn’t played (in high school competition) prior to this year,” he said. “A good example is Annabelle (Crotty). She’s done amazing. She was playing above 12 (on the ladder) and now she’s playing four. And every single match she’s doing something very different, and the fact they we’re all here today will certainly help now that they’ve been exposed to some pressure matches today, pressure against Bedford … I think they’ve shown they can handle pressure.”

Singles and doubles tournaments: Correnti, ranked No. 2 in the state, is set to compete on Saturday at Dover High School in the state singles tournament, as is Brown. The two then pair on Sunday as the fifth-seed in the state doubles tournament, where they’ll be joined in the competition by Koshy and Crotty.

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About this Author

Ryan O'Connor

As a longtime journalist in Southern New Hampshire, Ryan O'Connor has written for several local online and print publications covering everything from school board meetings and local high school sporting events to major crime stories and New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation presidential primary (yes, the last two are mutually exclusive). In addition to spending time with his beautiful wife and four amazing children, Ryan enjoys attending and serving at church, golfing as much as possible, home brewing, playing softball and snowboarding when time allows.