Southold/Greenport tennis players rely on fun and spirit to win

The key to a successful doubles partnership in tennis is chemistry. You’ve got to know where your partner is on the court, where they might wind up, and sometimes who is in a better position to take a particular shot.

For a pair of Southold/Greenport athletes, that was the case last Friday.

Senior Olivia Zehil and junior Brooke Torkelson teamed up to help the Settlers secure their first win of the season, a 5-2 victory over host Mattituck on Friday, Sept. 5. They defeated Brooke Walling and Emma Celic 6-2, 6-3.

“When one of us messes up, we don’t get mad about it or anything,” Torkelson said. “We laugh it off, make a joke, be loose and not tense. Then we just play like it’s for fun. We just play lighter. We’ve been friends for so long, it’s for fun.”

They were serious enough in the Suffolk County League IV match.

“When we found out that we were doubles partners, we had it automatically, because we know where we were going to be on the court,” Zehil said. “Brooke is better at longer strokes. I’m better at the net. If I’m serving, we’ll call a switch. Then I’m at the net, and Brooke is doing the long serves.”

Zehil and Torkelson weren’t the only Settlers who did well.

In first singles, Southold senior Connie Benson dropped her first set against Fiona Dunn, 1-6, but rebounded in the next two, 6-2, 6-4, for the win.

“It was definitely really close,” Benson said. “It was getting really tiring at the end. Just finding that inner strength.”

Southold head coach Mike Carver also gave Benson some tips.

‘You got great strokes. You’re hesitating,” Carver said he told Benson. “Just don’t be afraid of your strokes.”

Carver noticed a change. “It was like a switch went on,” he said. “She was pretty much in command.”

The Settlers dropped their first two matches of the season, losing to a pair of the county’s best schools — William Floyd and Westhampton.

“It’s good to play against someone who’s better than you,” Benson said. “It teaches you what you need to work on, and you can learn from them, too. That was helpful.”

In the other singles matches, Mattituck sophomore Anna Carter downed Jane Glasser, 6-3, 6-2, in the second-seeded match, and Southold’s Kate Warlan beat Sadie Corrigan, 6-4, 6-2, at No. 3.

“Anna Carter did a great job,” Mattituck head coach Cory Dolson said. “She’s been playing really well. It’s her first win. But she’s been playing really competitive tennis against some really good competition.”

Southold won three of the four doubles. In the second-seeded match, Liz Estrada and Juliette Ugunda defeated Madison Anderson and Julianna Witczak, 6-2, 6-3. Peyton Koke and Lila Dailey bested Jill Fogarty and Grace Feretti in the third seed, 6-2, 6-3. The Mattituck duo of Sasha Oliva-Reyes and Nathalie Perez came back to down Corinna Carbajal and Lindsey Zaffiro, 2-6, 6-3, 10-5, at No. 4.

It was a whirlwind week. School started on Tuesday, Sept. 2 and by Friday, Sept. 3, both teams had competed in three matches.

“It’s definitely been hard just to manage everything, but I think we’ve definitely worked through it,” Zehil said.

On Saturday, the Settlers played their fourth match of the season, defeating Brentwood, 7-0, evening their league and overall record at 2-2.

By the time they finish against Center Moriches at home on Friday, Sept. 12, the Settlers will have played eight matches.

“Half our games are done by next week,” Carver said. “It’s a loaded schedule. It always is a pretty fast-paced schedule, because they have to be done for the tournament. They had us move up games.”

The individual county tournament commences on Oct. 11, followed by the team competition on Oct. 14.

Both teams have postseason hopes.

“We are very nice, level team,” Carver said. “We’re solid from top to bottom. It’s nice. We don’t have a lot of drop off.”

The Tuckers have dropped their first three matches. “It’s been a little bit of a rough start for us,” Dolson said. “But I’ve got a good group of girls. They’re fun, they’re energetic, they try hard. We’ve got a lot of inexperience in our varsity lineup, so I don’t want to say this start was expected. The level that we’re at, we’re just trying to get a little bit better every day. We want to be a lot better come conference tournament time than we are now.”