Bayport-Blue Point girls tennis team following their 4-3 win over...

Bayport-Blue Point girls tennis team following their 4-3 win over The Ross School for the Suffolk County (Section XI) Small Schools Championship at Anthony Casamento Park in Bay Shore, Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2022. Credit: Newsday/Roger Rubin

There is a certain pressure that Bayport-Blue Point’s Emilia Romano and Emmy Winter of The Ross School are used to. Playing first singles on your school’s girls tennis team comes with an expectation to be the best. Even more so on powerhouses like the Phantoms and Ravens.

Romano and Winter got to experience a different kind of pressure on Wednesday in the Suffolk small schools team championship. Each is usually among the first finishers, but this time they were the last ones on the court with the score tied and hopeful teammates looking on.

Romano, a sophomore, mixed a high-velocity serve with a soft and accurate slice. Winter, a senior, retaliated with a relentless forehand and quickness to the ball. And it was a sweet Romano slice in the seventh game of the second set that finally broke Winter’s serve and allowed her to pull out a 7-6 (5), 6-3 victory and hand the Phantoms a 4-3 triumph at breezy Casamento Park.

Bayport-Blue Point (16-0) is county champion for the second straight year. It will face the Nassau titlist in the Oct. 25 Long Island championship for a spot in the state semifinals next month at the National Tennis Center. The Phantoms lost that match to Friends Academy a year ago.

“We’ve wanted to get back and win it this time,” Romano said. “We have a bunch of really good new players and a better chance this year.”

“She played a really smart match,” Phantoms coach Keith Scharf said of Romano. “She adjusted to strength of her opponent, to windy conditions and to the pressure at the end.”

BBP got victories from Scarlett Kingston at second singles (6-1, 6-1), Danielle Oleksiak at fourth singles (6-0, 6-0) and Ella Romano and Grace Blanchard at first doubles (6-3, 6-2).

Kingston missed last season with a wrist injury and, after using a powerful serve to prevail, said “I’ve been wanting to help our team get back to the [Island] championship.”

Ross (16-2) looks like it will be a force for years to come with three seventh graders playing singles and a doubles team that pairs freshmen. The Ravens got wins at third singles from Olivia Caruso (6-3, 6-1), Mia Frohlich and Valentina Sanchez at second doubles (6-4, 6-1) and Melanie Chuya and Carolina Saunders at third doubles (7-5, 6-0). Saunders, a junior, won several second-set points with strong returns of serve.

Emilia Romano and Winter were at 5-5 in the first-set tiebreaker before Romano won the 11th point with a well-place drop shot and the 12th by outlasting Winter on a long rally. Soon after all eyes were on them.

“It was exciting to be in that match,” Winter said. “It was exciting to play with so much on the line at the end.”

“I was doing a good job of speeding things up with my serve and slowing things down with my slice, but [Winter] was tough,” Emilia Romano said. “She had this flat forehand that she kept hitting for winners. I was glad to finish it off in two sets.”

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