CLIFTON PARK-The Guilderland girls' tennis team clung to a 4-3 lead with two matches remaining in Saturday's Section 2 Class AA team championship against Shaker.
Guilderland hadn't hoisted a sectional plaque since 2010, but the top-seeded Lady Dutch put an end to their drought by gutting out a 5-4 nail-biting win over No. 2 Shaker at Shenendehowa High School.
"I'm so happy for this team because it's a very special team and this year's banquet is going to be very emotional because I have five seniors and all five of them have played with me since 7th or 8th grade on varsity," Guilderland coach Deb Murray said. "I've had them for five or six years and they have grown together. Those same five have been so pivotal in the success of the team."
"I've been on the team for six years and we've never gotten this opportunity," Lady Dutch senior Grace Curro said. "I always thought that this would be our year to take it and I'm really proud of everybody that played (Saturday)."
Guilderland (13-0) will face Class A winner Queensbury on Sunday at Schenectady's Central Park to decide who will represent Section 2 in the Division 1 state tournament.
Curro battled through a severe headache to defeat Evelyn Lu and secure Guilderland's championship win, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1.
"I'm super excited that I was able to show up for my team in the third set," Curro said. "It was a rough second set, but walking back onto the court, I knew I had to change my mindset so that we could all have the win."
"Once I saw Grace at 3-0 (in the third set), I was pretty confident that she had locked in again," Murray said. "We talked in between the second and third sets and I had a good feeling that Grace was going to pull it out."
Guilderland first-year doubles tandem of senior Maanya Nallamothu and sophomore Brooklyn Scavio earned a 6-2, 6-3 win over Eloise Rebmann and Arya Parikh in the No. 1 doubles match.
"Because (Nallamothu) is a really good player, we work really well together," Scavio said. "We both boost each other up and bring each other up together."
"Brooklyn brings so much energy to the court and it makes me so excited to play with her every single match," Nallamothu said. "She just brings up so much energy and she makes me laugh whenever we're down. She always hypes me up."
Also securing wins for Guilderland were Katie Sheng, who swept past Diya Bala 6-1, 7-6 (7-4) in the No. 3 singles match, and Anika Bhupati, who cruised past Purvi Borusu 6-0, 6-1 in the No. 4 singles match.
Picking up wins for Shaker were Nitya Kaki, who defeated Angela Li, 6-0, 7-6 (7-1) in the No. 1 singles match, and Arya Bala, who battled past Meghan Uzzilia for a hard-fought 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 win in the No. 2 singles match.
Sunday's match between Guilderland and Queensbury will be the second time the teams have met this season. The Lady Dutch defeated the Spartans 9-0 in the regular season.
"I'm looking forward to a great day of tennis (Sunday)," Curro said. "Hopefully everybody does amazing and we all have fun."
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There’s more to Albany with the Times Union. Subscribe today for just 25¢.This article originally published at How Guilderland girls' tennis broke through against Shaker to claim its 1st sectional title since 2010.