BEAVERCREEK — In a battle between two of the Greater Western Ohio Conference’s best, visiting Springboro battled to a 4-1 win over host Beavercreek, Thursday afternoon at Beavercreek High School.
The two teams, along with Troy in the GWOC North and co-leading Miamisburg in the GWOC South, have unblemished records within their respective divisions. Beavercreek sits atop the Central division with a 3-0 mark, while Springboro is tied with Miamisburg at 2-0 in the South.
The Beavercreek Beavers had been on quite a roll in girls tennis. They’d won their first 11 matches, including consecutive divisional matches against Greater Western Ohio Conference foes Huber Heights Wayne, Centerville and Clayton Northmont. Then this week, they faced Cincinnati Ursuline Academy — the top team in the Girls Greater Cincinnati League — on Wednesday and lost, 5-0.
Now Springboro (11-1) handed them a loss as well.
“These are two of the best teams in the conference and in the area, and we knew it was going to be a good match,” Springboro coach Tom Harrison said. “They were good matches all around. We ended up winning 4-1, but they were close matches on every court.
“Beavercreek has a very strong team. I know they’ll be a factor in the conference tournament.”
Springboro freshman Anke Patel is 5-foot-1 on a good day, but she combines her compact size with a hard hitting compact stroke and gets everything back from her opponents. At first singles, Patel’s consistency may have forced Beavercreek’s Anna Jones into more unforced errors than Jones normally hits in a 6-0, 6-3 win.
At second singles, sophomore Ally Garofoli claimed a 6-2, 6-3 win over Beavercreek’s Esther Hu, and Christina Fote earned a good 6-4, 7-5 win at third singles over the Beavers’ Vania Jaio.
‘Boro’s Maddy Talbot-Jessa Grossman combo defeated Adrianne Farwell and Teresa Liu by a 6-3, 6-1 count, and in the closest match of the day, Beavercreek’s Roselle Almazon and Sama Wase had to rally for a 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over Amanda Shamp and Olivia Decuir.
“Our girls have been playing well all season. We’ve had a week where we’ve met some really tough teams. We lost last night to Ursuline, and we knew Springboro would be tough as well,” Beavercreek coach Bill Stanforth said. “What I’m excited about is my second doubles team. The light kind of went on for them as far as what aggressive play is in doubles. The last set kinda made my night for me.”
In a battle for supremacy in the GWOC South, Springboro will host co-leading Miamisburg in a make-up match at 4 p.m. today. The two powers were knotted up with one win apiece when rain doused the other three matches.
Beavercreek, now 11-2, gets back into GWOC Central action on Tuesday. They’ll play a 4:30 p.m. at Springfield, then they’ll face Miamisburg on the road the next day.
