Clevenger’s strong 3rd set leads Rochester past Triton

Val T.
Apr 23
3 min read

McCarter, Bolinger also win as Lady Zs improve to 6-1

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Tennis is mental. All sports are mental.

Rochester No. 3 singles player Rylee Clevenger also plays volleyball and basketball, and she overcame any mental barriers once all eyes were on her during her match with Triton’s Sierra Hawley at the RHS courts Monday.

After two sets that took two hours to play, Clevenger barely needed 20 minutes to close out Hawley 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-0 to clinch Rochester’s 3-2 win over the visiting Lady Trojans.

Rochester improved to 6-1.

Rochester swept the singles matches. Ella McCarter won 6-1, 6-1 over Allie Westafer at No. 1 singles, and Audrey Bolinger took down Sydney Heckaman 6-0, 6-2 at No. 2 singles to give Rochester a 2-0 lead.

But Triton won both doubles matches to even the match. Katie Howell and Nadia Stetler beat Sophie McCall and Abbi St. Martin 6-3, 6-1 at No. 1, and Savannah Hawley and Brooke Kitch needed five match points in the second-set tiebreak before putting away Vivian Miller and Ellie Straeter 6-2, 7-6 (7).

That left it up to Clevenger and her painstaking match filled with long rallies against Sierra Hawley. Clevenger led the second set tiebreak 4-3, but Hawley took advantage of three straight Clevenger errors and won the final four points to take the set.

But Clevenger deposited groundstrokes all over the court in the third set and routed Hawley in the third set. There were no deuce games in the third set.

Clevenger said she did not know the match was coming down to her.

“It feels like a huge battle to come back from,” Clevenger said. “Last year, I played in a few three-set matches, and they’re really tough to come back from, whether you’re down, whether you’re up. It’s just really 50-50, and it’s really mental. And I feel like this year, I’ve been able to get out of my head a lot more. I’ve matured more in that sense.”

Clevenger was asked whether she played with more energy in the third set.

“I would agree,” Clevenger said. “I felt like you could tell on your opponent’s face, on my face. It’s just written all over on the wall. You can see how everybody is going to respond, and you can just tell when somebody is possibly going to fall down and break apart, but I felt like my serving had been a lot more consistent, so that helped me stay in the match in the third set especially.”

Neither McCarter nor Bolinger spent much time in the biting winds and mid-50s temperatures.

“Ella’s just a top-notch player,” Rochester assistant coach Markis Smiley said. “We love to watch her play. She’s had plenty of experience at the number one spot, playing number one for, I believe, the past three years. So a lot of the opponents she plays move on, and they move up girls, and I think that helps her out in a way, but at the same time, she uses matches like Valley (a loss to Karegan Callahan April 15) to come back and rally from it has been.”

Smiley also praised Bolinger’s desire. Bolinger has risen to No. 2 singles despite never picking up a racket until the spring of 2023.

“Her want to be the best has really pushed her to be where she’s at today,” Smiley said. “She has really just surprised everyone. Every year she comes out, she wants it more and more. And I think she’s been using everything she’s learned these past three years, and it’s finally paying off. All the coaches that see her play are just amazed with the shots she does, and when we tell her she started as a sophomore, it’s pretty unbelievable.”

Triton won the JV match 2-1. Emma Murphy scored Rochester’s point with a singles win.

RESULTS: ROCHESTER 3, TRITON 2

Singles

Ella McCarter (RHS) def. Allie Westafer (TRI), 6-1, 6-1

Audrey Bolinger (RHS) def. Sydney Heckaman (TRI), 6-0, 6-2

Rylee Clevenger (RHS) def. Sierra Hawley (TRI), 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-0

Doubles

Katie Howell-Nadia Stetler (TRI) def. Sophie McCall-Abbi St. Martin (RHS), 6-3, 6-1

Savannah Hawley-Brooke Kitch (TRI) def. Vivian Miller-Ellie Straeter (RHS), 6-2, 7-6 (7)

JV RESULTS: TRITON 2, ROCHESTER 1

Singles

Emma Murphy (RHS) won 8-6.