Dover girls tennis advances to third straight Division I state championship

DOVER – When the Dover High School girls tennis team made the two-hour, cross-state bus trip to Hanover earlier this season Kate Ross became ill on the way and had to be scratched from the lineup.

The junior atoned for that unfortunate situation when the teams met in the semifinals of the Division I tournament Tuesday with a lot more at stake.

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Playing at No. 6 singles, Ross rallied for a come-from-behind victory that clinched the overall match and alleviated much of the angst going forward.

“She showed a lot of mental toughness,” said senior Taylor Wilson. “It’s a lot of pressure when you’re the only one on the court and everybody is watching and everybody is cheering and everybody sees when you make a mistake. It’s a ton of pressure. I’m so proud of her for pushing through that.”

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Despite four deficits including 7-8 before forcing a tiebreaker, Ross prevailed 9-8 (7-5) as the defending champion and second-seeded Green Wave defeated No. 3 Hanover, 8-1.

“I was looking down at the other courts so there was a little bit of stress,” Ross said. “I feel like it helped me focus more and it gave me something to look forward to and push for. It was stressful but I was just trying to block the people out.”

Dover will be making its third straight trip to the Division I final Thursday (4 p.m.) at Southern New Hampshire University where it will face No. 4 seed Derryfield, which knocked off No. 1 Bedford, 5-4, in Tuesday’s other semifinal.

The Green Wave defeated Derryfield in last year’s Division I final and won 8-1 when they met earlier this season.

Here are five takeaways from Tuesday’s semifinal match.

Ross rallies for clinching win

Ross trailed by scores of 1-2, 2-3, and 4-5 and even regained her composure after squandering a 7-5 lead in taking down Hanover lefty Campbell White.

“I was definitely down at first,” Ross said. “We kind of broke each other on our serve every time and then people started watching because all the other matches ended so I was under a little bit of pressure but it ended up good.”

Ross also teamed up with Ashlyn Swierk at No. 3 doubles for an 8-5 win over Hanover’s Shayna Rockmore and Hailey Pastel as the Green Wave improved to 16-0 overall.

“That was a mental win for her to come back,” Dover coach Sue Vitko said of Ross. “She is a grinder and she stays in the point. She’s an athletic kid so she’s very competitive. She did a great job.”

Wilson, Vitko set tone for Green Wave

Dover’s Tori Vitko and Taylor Wilson set the tone early by dispatching their singles opponents. Vitko finished off Sophia Costa, 8-2, at No. 3 singles and Wilson quickly followed suit with an 8-1 win at No. 1 over Rachel Rockmore.

Dover edged Hanover (13-3) during the regular season, 5-4.

“We’re a smart team,” Wilson said. “We’re hungry. We know that if we get burned a certain way before we’re not going to let that happen again. We knew we’d probably be playing them again based on the seedings. We knew in the practices leading up to today that we’d have to adjust to the way they played us last time.”

Faasen, Ramdev win respective singles matches

Also in singles Dover’s Joci Faasen defeated Hanover’s Mackenzie Liu, 8-4, at second singles. Riya Ramdev beat the visitors Noura St. Hillaire, 8-1, at No. 4 and Hanover’s Emilia Torresini downed Dover’s Mia Mazzoni, 8-1, at No. 5.

“I just said to them business as usual,” Sue Vitko said. “Go out there, play your game, play aggressive. Don’t just get the ball back. Play out the point and they did a good job.”

Dover's top two doubles shutout opponents

Wilson and Faasen, the defending state champs in doubles, blanked Hanover, 8-0, at No. 1 doubles on Tuesday as did Vitko and Ramdev at No. 2. Vitko and Ramdev avenged an earlier loss to Hanover.

“Having those five points (in singles) makes a big difference,” Sue Vitko said. “It lifted all the pressure off everybody.”

Seniors look to conclude career with second straight state title

Three of the Green Wave’s top four players will be playing their final team match for the Green Wave in Thursday’s final.

“Going into the championship you want to be tested and ready and Hanover provided the test for sure,” Sue Vitko said. “I feel confident in these girls and what they’ve done this year and they have experience.”

“For a team that’s had so much success the past three years we don’t really have the confidence that I think we should,” Wilson said. “We still feel like we’re underdogs even though we’re not, which is pretty weird. We’re working for every match because we still feel like we need to prove ourselves to get (to the final).”

This article originally appeared on Fosters Daily Democrat: Dover girls tennis beats Hanover in DI semifinal; will face Derryfield