Girls tennis: Amherst's Kayla Bussard rights ship in Division I sectional semis, finishes second; Avon doubles team takes fourth

ROCKY RIVER — Singles player Kayla Bussard pulled it together when everything seemed to be falling apart Wednesday afternoon, and the result was a second-place finish for the Amherst junior at the Magnificat Division I sectional tennis tournament. Bussard and the fourth-place Avon doubles team of Ashley DeHaven and Maddie Heun advanced to the Springside district, which will be held next Wednesday and Friday. The top six finishers in singles and doubles will advance to the state tournament. Bussard was leading St. Joseph Academy's second-seeded Melanie Statsevych 5-1 in the first set of their semifinal match when her opponent started taking pace off the ball. Suddenly, the match was 5-4 with Bussard serving for the set. After approximately 10 deuces and four break points, Bussard held to win 6-4, screamed "Let's go!" and cruised to a 6-1 victory in the second set. She lost 6-0, 6-1 in the final to Magnificat's top-seeded Anna Mancini, a returning state qualifier. "I was playing well, then she changed her tactics and I got nervous and lost my focus," Bussard of the first set against Statsevych, a freshman. "She took a lot of pace off the ball and it was making it harder for me to generate any pace." After holding on to win the opening set, Bussard got stronger in the second against Statsevych, who was winning their regular-season match 6-4, 4-3 when she retired. "I honestly don't know," Bussard said when asked how she managed to hold serve to end the first set. "It just happened. "She started getting frustrated and tired (in the second set). I had more energy and used it to my advantage." An emotional player who often yells after winning key points, Bussard, who possesses a string forehand and backhand, was overmatched in the final against the talented Mancini, a left-hander who will likely place at the state tournament. "She's absolutely amazing," Bussard said. "She made me look like a beginner. It was crazy." Avon's DeHaven and Heun, who entered the sectional unseeded but eliminated Westlake's fourth-seeded Paige Hrabek and Margot Hofelich in the round of 16 on Monday, dropped their semifinal match 6-1, 6-1 to Highland's top-seeded Ally Haynes and Claire Schlak, who went on to win the sectional championship. "They hit the ball really hard and were very consistent," said Heun, who played second singles in the regular season. "They rarely ever made a mistake." In the third-place match against Highland's third-seeded Lily Hantz and Kenzie Pawlak, the Avon duo dropped the first three games, began playing both players back on Heun's second serve and rallied to go up 5-4, but the Eagles ultimately lost the first set 7-6 (4). The Hornets went up 4-0 in the second set and won 6-3. "We definitely had opportunities," said DeHaven, the Eagles' top singles player in the regular season. "That's one of the good things about today. We got experience, and at districts we can use what we learned today to win these kind of matches." Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4046 or rnoland@medina-gazette.com. Follow him @RickNoland on X.