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Mattituck’s Dwyer signs on with Penmen to play basketball, tennis

One could say that Mattituck High School’s blue and gold colors are in Liz Dwyer’s blood. There will be no need to change those colors when she moves off to college in a couple of months.

Dwyer has committed to Southern New Hampshire University, which shares the same colors as Mattituck. The senior had originally intended to play only tennis for the NCAA Division II school, but said she reconsidered and wants to play both tennis and basketball for the Penmen.

“That’s the plan,” Dwyer said after a signing ceremony Tuesday that included both of her parents, Tracey and Dan, in front of the trophy case at Mattituck High School. “I love basketball so much that I don’t think I can give it up yet so I’m definitely going to try to do both.”

Dwyer was an accomplished five-year varsity player in both sports for the Tuckers, making the All-State third team in basketball and All-County in tennis.

Best known for her talents on the basketball court, the 5-foot-9 forward will graduate Saturday as Mattituck’s all-time leading scorer with 1,821 points. She led the Tuckers to three straight regional semifinals.

In tennis, Dwyer first joined the Tuckers as a third singles player. She put up a 56-18 record the last four years as a first singles player. Coach Mike Huey called her “one of the all-time bests” that Mattituck has seen.

“It can only get better in college,” said Dwyer, who had considered other schools such as Merrimack College (Mass.), Fairfield University (Conn.) and Marist College, but fell for Southern New Hampshire’s bucolic setting with idyllic mountains and hills.

Dwyer described her time playing for Mattituck as “a blast.” She said: “I think I played the best that I could … I put in the time and dedication … so I’m happy with what I did. Sure, I would have loved 2,000 points, 3,000 points, but there’s a point where you can’t do everything, so I’m happy with where I got in sports.”

Reflecting on her senior year, Dwyer said: “It went so fast. It’s just a lot of good memories that I’m going to look back at and be like, ‘Wow!’ ”

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Photo caption: Mattituck High School senior Liz Dwyer, who wants to play tennis and basketball for NCAA Division II Southern New Hampshire University, at Tuesday’s signing ceremony. (Credit: Bob Liepa)