Finger, Dietrichson win badminton titles
Hannah Finger captured her second consecutive Suffolk girls badminton championship and Miller Place's Jesse Dietrichson won the boys title at the county individual meet Thursday at Smithtown West.
Finger won an exciting three-set match against Whitman's Carrie Simone. Finger won the first set, dropped the second one and held on 13-10, in the third set. "It was a really hard match," said Finger, who improved to 18-0 on the season. "She was a great competitor and I was happy I was able to pull through in the end."
Finger led the Half Hollow Hills girls team to a 14-0 finish in the regular season, and won at first singles in the Suffolk team championship game against Whitman to give Hills their second consecutive Suffolk team title and fourth in program history.
"Our team was great this year," Finger said.
In the boys title match, Dietrichson, a junior who came in third last season, beat Whitman's Jesse Levy, 15-12, 15-11.
Taking home doubles titles where last year's champs Derek Ladeairous and Greg Mayer of Smithtown West, who beat Chad Davis and Frank Augusta of Half Hollow Hills, 15-10, 15-7. Patchogue-Medford's Hanna Lazio and Alicia Kramer beat Whitman's Jen Kielawa and Ammie Tamano, 17-16, 15-8.
In the girls Nassau individual championships, Valley Stream South's Melanie Pavels took home the singles crown over MacArthur's Taylor Kenney, 21-13, 21-17 and April Pun and Maya Means of Jericho beat Annie Wu and Eun-Joo Wong of Great Neck South, 24-22, 19-21, 21-14) to win the doubles title.
