Four times Albemarle’s girls tennis team has faced Riverbend. And, after Friday, four times the Patriots have vanquished the Bears.
In a rematch of the Commonwealth District final, Albemarle went toe-to-toe with Riverbend for the Northwest Region title and rolled 5-0 to secure a home match in the state quarterfinals June 1.
Albemarle picked up where they left off in the Commonwealth title match, cruising to wins behind the racquets of No. 1 Megan Napolitano and No. 5 Eva Ng. No. 6 Ivy Haines and No. 4 Elise Lord soon followed with wins to push Albemarle’s advantage to 4-0. That left Abby Lesnoff on court No. 2 and senior Tori Kuhn on No. 3. It was Kuhn who closed out after being up 3-2 in the second set by winning the last three games of the match and clinching the Northwest Region title. It was Patriots’ third such title in school history. They captured the title back in 1980 and more recently in 2007.
“You don’t get too many shots at these things so it was great for the girls to capitalize,” said Albemarle coach Rich Lindsay. “This team just goes about it’s business and that is playing tough and winning matches.”
Megan Napolitano will compete in the Northwest individual tournament at UVa on Tuesday and Wednesday and the team will host the Northern region No. 2 on Tuesday June 1.
Singles
1. Megan Napolitano(A) d. Taylor Nichols 6-3, 6-0
2. Abby Lesnoff(A) led Courtney Leonarkis 6-2, 3-1
3. Tori Kuhn(A) d. Halley Edwards 6-0, 6-2
4. Elise Lord(A) d. Emily Lasica 6-1, 6-0
5. Eva Ng(A) d. Emily 6-1, 6-0
6. Ivy Haines(A) d. Nicole Holland
