GIRLS TENNIS: AHS captures 2nd straight crown

Albemarle girls tennis coach Rich Lindsay, a superstitious sort, had six blank sheets in his scorebook — exactly enough to last him through the Group AAA final — entering Wednesday’s Commonwealth District final. His charges backed up his confidence in impressive form.
The Patriots made quick work of visiting Riverbend in a 5-0 victory in the district final. In the five completed matches, Albemarle claimed each set by at least four points.
“Talent-wise, this is the best team I’ve ever had,” Lindsay said. “Before the season, I told them if we work as hard as we can, we’ll have the success that we want.”
Patriots No. 4 Alison Angell was first off the court after defeating Courtney Leonakis 6-1, 6-0. Freshman teammate Megan Napolitano followed suit on the No. 1 court, beating Ashley Jackson without dropping a game to remain undefeated on the season.
Morgan Watt, Valentina Moshnikova and Tori Kuhn clinched the match for Albemarle (19-0) with easy victories over their Bears counterparts.
Watt won her second set 6-2 and Kuhn won her first set by the same score in the closest portions of the match.
“Subconsciously, we might have expected it, but we tried not to expect anything,” Angell said.
“We wanted to not have too much faith in ourselves.”
The Bears (15-3) were missing their No. 2 and No. 3 players, Alyssa Kaufman and Abby Rieman, due to injuries.
“We had to bring in our 7 and 8 to try to fill in some gaps in the toughest match of the season,” said Riverbend coach Fred Espinel.
Both teams battled an unpredictable wind that made each return a challenge for the player hitting into the wind, but the Patriots were able to solve the weather and defeat the Bears for the third time this season.
“We play all these teams three times,” Lindsay said. “When you look at that rubber match, sometimes you drop that one.”
Riverbend travels to Forest Park on Monday for the first round of the Northwest Region tournament.
Albemarle faces Gar-Field on Monday in region play in what Lindsay hopes will be the first step toward a championship season.
“I printed five more sheets,” he said, pointing to his scorebook. “I’ve never used them all.”