Girls tennis: Amherst's Kayla Bussard advances to state in thrilling marathon match

BATH TWP. — It was the longest match of Kayla Bussard's four-year career. It was also the most important and most rewarding. The Amherst senior downed Strongsville's Mallory Koch 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (3) in a thrilling 3-hour, 20-minute marathon Thursday in the Springside Division I district singles quarterfinals to clinch her first state tournament berth. "That was literally a rollercoaster," an emotionally spent Bussard said. "I had to work for every point. Mallory is an amazing player. I had to play out of my shoes amazing just to keep up with her." Also still alive in a district that will send six singles players and six doubles teams to the state tournament are Avon singles player Ashley DeHaven, the Magnificat doubles team of Avon resident Elizabeth Ammori and Adrianna Guillermo and the Mags doubles team of Avon Lake resident Marissa Packer and Molly Williams. Ammori and Guillermo will play in the semifinals and can finish no worse than fourth, while DeHaven and the doubles team of Packer and Williams have to win their first matches Saturday at 8:30 a.m. at Springside Athletic Club to earn a spot in the top six. The match between Bussard, who won the Highland sectional, and Koch, who was second at the Springside sectional, was the best of the 24 played Thursday. They were the first quarterfinalists to take the court, but by the time they finished only one doubles match was still being played. "That's probably the longest match I've ever played," said a drained Bussard, who lost in the first round at districts a year ago. After dropping the first set to Koch, Bussard worked extremely hard to force a third set. "It was, 'Don't be scared. You're right there. You might as well play free and go for it,'" she said. After some extremely long rallies and longer games in the third set, during which both players rifled shots at one another, Bussard held serve to force a tiebreaker. She jumped to a 2-0 lead and later to 6-2, lost a point and then fell to her knees upon winning the tiebreaker 7-3, which raised her season record to 33-1, including 31-0 in singles. "I knew I was winning points during all the games. I just wasn't closing some of them out," Bussard said. "I had a lot of confidence when it went to the tiebreaker." Bussard, who beat Solon's Sanvi Singh 6-0, 6-0 in her first match Thursday, will face Canton Sectional champion Addison Sheil of North Canton Hoover in the semifinals. Also a senior, Sheil reached the state doubles quarterfinals a year ago. "I just want to enjoy this moment and play my best," Bussard said. "I've never been here before." Avon's DeHaven, who finished third at the Springside sectional after being seeded fourth, downed Aurora's Kamy Milano, who was second at the Solon sectional, 6-3, 6-4 in her first match. She then fell 6-0, 6-3 to Sheil in the quarters. "It was really exciting," the junior said. "I know I'll get to play again on Saturday." DeHaven will face Strongsville's Koch in a match where the winner is guaranteed of going to state and the loser's season will be over. Koch won their sectional semifinal meeting 2-6, 6-2, 6-3. "I know what I'm getting into," DeHaven said. "I'm just going to work really hard at adjusting my style." Avon resident Ammori and Guillermo, both freshmen, won the Highland sectional for Magnificat. Their semifinal opponent will be Highland's Lily Hantz and Claire Schlak, who captured the Solon sectional. "I was very hyped at the end," Ammori said of a 6-3, 7-5 quarterfinal win over Massillon Jackson's Ashley Helle and Hailey Smith. "We needed energy, so I was lifting the energy. We had to be aggressive." The Magnicat doubles team of Avon Lake resident Packer and Williams will face Willoughby South identical twins Cara and Lindsay Nejak in a match in which the winner will earn a state berth. Avon Lake singles player Kathleen Boatwright and Amherst singles player Sienna Nagy lost in the first round, as did the Avon Lake doubles team of Malaya Marijan and Sarah Hughes and the Mags doubles team of Avon Lake resident Maggie Steen and Maeve Soltesz. Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4046 or rnoland@medina-gazette.com. Follow him @RickNoland on X.