Sports
St. Joseph's Academy Dominant in Tennis Victory over John Burroughs
Defending state champion Sydney Lehman of JBS taken to the limit by Taylor Revling in 8.5-2 Angel victory.
It is not often that John Burroughs tennis player Sydney Lehman finds herself behind in a match.
But the defending state Class 1 singles champion was in that predicament in the second set of her match against Taylor Revling of St. Joseph's Academy Thursday.
Lehman had breezed through the first set, winning 6-0. But Revling was in control for most of the second set. Revling led 4-0 and 5-2 before Lehman came back to force a tie-breaker.
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Revling also had leads of 3-0 and 5-4 in the breaker but Lehman scored the final three points to escape with a 6-0, 7-6 win.
It was one of the few Bomber highlights as the Angels dominated in both singles and doubles, winning 8.5-2.
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"I just got back last night from a visit to Columbia (University in New York City)," Lehman said. "It is tough when you take a week off when you usually play every day."
It was far from Lehman's A-game but she was pleased she was able to find a way to win.
"I guess I have to make it exciting," Lehman said. "I don't like to lose."
Revling had a set point at 5-4 and was two points away from capturing the set several times.
"I was proud of the way she competed," Angels coach Doug Smith said of Revling. "She fought really hard. She just had a little difficulty closing. That is always a tough thing to do in all sports."
St. Joseph's Academy took control of the match winning five of the six doubles flights. Angel wins came at No. 1 (Revling and Ellie Bisig), at No. 2 (Grace Hyde and Olivia Conway), at No. 3 (Maddie Stieven and Natalie Willis), at No. 5 (Mary Wickenheiser and Nikki Tracy) and at No. 6 (Shannon Landgraf and Kate Bergamini). The Bombers won at No. 4 with Brittany Washington and Ericka Marchbanks.
"I was especially pleased with the way we played doubles today," Smith said. "We had the rain yesterday so we were inside and had a chalk talk about doubles tactics which I had not been seeing. They implemented those today and played well."
The Angels won the other five singles spots. Bisig had an exciting 7-6, 7-5 win at No. 2 over Barenholz. Hyde (No. 3), Conway (No. 4), Helton (No. 5) and Kaki McDaniel (No. 6) also had straight set wins.
John Burroughs was coming off an impressive championship in the Parkway Doubles Tournament. The Bombers defeated Visitation by a half point with four of their five doubles teams advancing to the title match. Washington and Lindsay Garcia won the No. 4 flight.
"It's always impressive anytime you can beat Visitation," Bomber coach Steve Beauchamp said. "Our depth was the difference. It was a very good win for us."