Girls tennis: Avon and Amherst battle for SWC title; Elyria's Danica Knepper makes history

AVON — While Amherst and Avon battled for the team title, Elyria fought for some history. The Comets and Eagles entered Tuesday's Southwestern Conference tournament final tied in the team standings, and the Pioneers proved to be equal opportunity spoilers. Elyria's Danica Knepper opened the door for Amherst with an upset of Avon's top seed in the third singles draw Saturday. On Tuesday, she closed that same door by defeating Amherst's Emma Timko 6-3, 7-6 (2) in the final to become the school's first Southwestern Conference tennis champion, boys or girls. "Only playing tennis for two years, I never thought I could have achieved something this big," said Knepper, a sophomore who didn't start playing tennis until last season. "I worked really hard this past Saturday. I knew if I worked a little harder, I could get the full accomplishment. Honestly, I'm still waiting for it to hit, but it's so exciting not even just for me, but the girls I've been playing with." However, Avon Lake's first doubles team of Avery Brown and Malaya Marijan gave the Comets an assist as they flipped the script against Avon's No. 1 seeded team of Sam Jackson and Samantha Gault. The Eagles won the regular-season meeting, but the Shoregals won the tournament final in a tight match 6-3, 4-6, 7-5. Both upsets evened out as Amherst and Avon tied for the tournament title at 35 points. Because the Eagles went undefeated in the regular season, they won the overall SWC title outright. It's the seventh straight season Avon has won or shared the overall title. Amherst was chasing its first title since 2002. Avon only won one draw as its second doubles team of Karina Marsden and Gracie Gedeon defeated Amherst's Madison Clappas and Maria Bak 6-4, 6-4. The Eagles produced three runnersup and forced the tie with Hasita Kotagiri's 6-1, 6-1 win against Midview's Danica Hazzard for third place. "They were feeling very stressed this week," said Avon coach Eric Korey, who has no seniors and just two juniors in the lineup. "We raced through the SWC and coming into this now there were expectations. Saturday didn't go completely the way we had hoped for. We put ourselves in a tougher situation and the girls knew they had to have big results today for everything to happen the way it did. They played so hard." As for Knepper, the sophomore leaned on strong defense to build a 5-0 lead in the first set. While Timko battled back, Knepper broke her to close out the set. Knepper pulled away with a 4-2 lead in the second set, but Timko broke back and broke again for a 6-5 lead. However, Knepper held off three set points to force a tiebreak, taking a 6-2 lead and closing out the championship on her racket. Amherst brought home the other two singles draws. Kayla Bussard continued her assault on the school record books, pushing her career wins record to 81 with a 6-3, 6-2 victory against Avon's Ashley DeHaven. Bussard is 23-1 on the season and 21-0 at first singles. "Later I'll be more excited, but it's history so it's really cool," Bussard said. "It's kind of sad because my high school career is almost over, but it's also amazing because you can see how we've gotten better every single season to get to where we are now. It's great to see the progress that we've all made." Sienna Nagy added an SWC second singles title to her trophy case, which also includes a Lorain County Athletic Administrators Association championship. But it didn't come easy as she and Avon's Nora Fiest endured long points and longer games during a match that lasted 2:23 despite only going two sets with no tiebreakers. Nagy won 7-5, 7-5, reversing a three-set loss to Fiest in the regular season. Each time Nagy served out the set after breaking Feist in the 11th game. "It was kind of stressful because I played her before and lost," Nagy said. "At the beginning, I really wanted to make it even and come back, but she's also my best friend so it's really stressful. It was tough, but I just kept telling myself to keep going." Contact Chris Sweeney at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Follow him @CSweeney1686 on X. TEAM SCORES: T-1. Amherst 35, T-1. Avon 35, 3. Avon Lake 26, 4. Elyria 24, 5. North Ridgeville 22, 6. Midview 18, 7. Olmsted Falls 14, 8. Berea-Midpark 6. FIRST SINGLES: Championship — Kayla Bussard (Amherst) def. Ashley DeHaven (Avon) 6-3, 6-2. Third place — Kathleen Boatwright (Avon Lake) def. Maddie Chinchar (North Ridgeville) 6-2, 6-2. SECOND SINGLES: Championship — Sienna Nagy (Amherst) def. Nora Fiest (Avon) 7-5, 7-5. Third place — Amaya Williams (Elyria) def. Brynn Wuensch (Midview) 6-3, 4-6, 6-0. THIRD SINGLES: Championship — Danica Knepper (Elyria) def. Emma Timko (Amherst) 6-3, 7-6 (2). Third place — Hasita Kotagiri (Avon) def. Danica Hazzard (Midview) 6-1, 6-1. FIRST DOUBLES: Championship — Avery Brown-Malaya Marijan (Avon Lake) def. Sam Jackson-Samantha Gault (Avon) 6-3, 4-6, 7-5. Third place — Jordan Focht-Cassy Sole (North Ridgeville) def. Cali Smith-Sadi Dorazio (Amherst) 6-4, 7-6 (3). SECOND DOUBLES: Championship — Karina Marsden-Gracie Gedeon (Avon) def. Madison Clappas-Maria Bak (Amherst) 6-4, 6-4. Third place — Aubree Kitchen-Emily Klepper (North Ridgeville) def. Mina Rosenberg-Maya Kliment (Avon Lake) 6-7 (6), 6-4, 6-4.