Cold Spring Harbor girls tennis falls in state Small Schools team final
Cold Spring Harbor’s Nicolette Loeffler plays against Byram Hills' Chloe Bernstein during the state girls tennis finals at USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing on Nov. 4, 2022. Credit: Patrick E. McCarthy
There was this moment on Friday afternoon at the National Tennis Center where it looked as if Cold Spring Harbor might be able to squeeze through the door that Byram Hills was trying to slam on it.
The Seahawks had banked a win with Nicolette Loeffler’s straight sets victory at first singles and needed to win the two singles matches still in progress to eke out a triumph in the best-of-five contest. Both Kati Cotek and Brooke Winthrop were down a set but staging a second-set rallies. As Cold Spring Harbor coach Melissa McLees put it “anything seemed possible for us” in that moment.
The miracle comeback, however, never came together. Bryam Hills’ Jenna Kleynerman and Anika Bobra both won second-set tiebreakers and the Bobcats completed a perfect 19-0 season with their second straight state Small Schools girls team championship with a 4-1 victory on Friday.
It was a bit of a hard comedown after the Seahawks (11-8) wiped out Honeoye Falls-Lima 5-0 in the morning semifinals. Loeffler, Cotek and Winthrop won singles matches and the duos of Hailey Schulsinger and Kami Cotek and Veronica Walkin and Dylan Savarese won doubles matches as Cold Spring Harbor dropped just five games in the rout.
“We’re sort of in new territory,” McLees said, referencing the Seahawks first Nassau and Long Island championships. “Playing against a defending champion and in this (venue) might have had some of us nervous.”
Indeed this is the dawn of a new era for Cold Spring Harbor. Before the NYSPHSAA created the state Large and Small Schools team championships last year, CSH was in a single division with much larger schools and, as good as it might be, didn’t have the depth to go far.
“We didn’t have the experience of playing in matches that really matter until we’d lost (the county final) last year,’ Walkin said. “We came back wanting it.”
“This team set new records and gave our schools a different outlook,” said Loeffler, a Fairfield commit who capped a big season dropping only two games in her two matches Friday. “This program can go far and can win championships.”
The lefthanded Loeffler won her matches by being aggressive and fearless about trying to make a big shot for a winner. Savarese said she and Walkin won because “with our chemistry and communication we just know what the other one will do.” And Winthrop, a freshman, won her semifinal without dropping a game.
“These are big matches we’ve never been in before and I was trying not to get too nervous,” Winthrop said. “You have to balance not trying too hard . . . getting off your game (along) with how much you want to win.”
Now that CSH has gotten a taste of the big stage, McLees said she has noticed something among the Seahawks underclassmen. “It’s bubbling up in them,” she said. “They want more.”
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
