Pats’ Napolitano loses in semifinals

FAIRFAX — Though Albemarle’s Megan Napolitano needed a two-hour car ride to face Faby Chaillo of George C. Marshall in the Group AAA singles state quarterfinals yesterday, it was not the first time the two players had met.

For the sophomore Napolitano and the freshman Chaillo, chances are it won’t be the last, either.

After yesterday’s tournament matches were moved indoors because of inclement weather, Chaillo ended Napolitano’s season with a 6-4, 6-1 victory at Fairfax Racquet Club. Chaillo, the winner of the Liberty District and the Northern Region singles titles, improved to 24-0 with the victory after being named first-team All-Metropolitan on Wednesday by the Washington Post.

“We loaded up the kitchen sink and brought it with us,” Albemarle coach Rich Lindsay said. “Megan threw it at [Chaillo], but she’s a talented player and very much deserves the win.”

Chaillo was the clear favorite going into yesterday’s match, both with her accolades and history with Napolitano. The last time the two players met a year and a half ago in a USTA tournament, Napolitano said, Chaillo again had the upper hand.

“She crushed me [last time],” Napolitano said. “I was glad to get five games [this time].”

Despite being the older player, the first set yesterday, at least, indicated that Napolitano has closed the gap. After Chaillo went up a break to 5-3 in the first set, Napolitano broke right back to 5-4. In the next game, Chaillo needed another break with the score 30-40 to secure the opening set.

“She’s improved a lot since the last time I played her,” Chaillo said.

The most useful weapon for Napolitano in the first set was her first serve, the more powerful serve between the two players. While Chaillo pounced on Napolitano’s soft second-serve offerings, the sophomore’s ferocious first serves bothered her opponent early.

“Someone’s first serve, give them credit, they’ve got a weapon, you’re gonna lose some points on first serves,” Marshall coach Robin Crider said. “But you get your opportunities on the second, so you wait for that.”

After Napolitano’s valiant fight to start, though, Chaillo began to return Napolitano’s first serve with more frequency, and it appeared that the break to win the first set took the wind out of Napolitano’s sails. Chaillo quickly grabbed the first three games of the second set — Napolitano’s only victory in the second set came on serve in game four, in which she fought off two break points from deuce to claw her way to 3-1.

After dropping the fourth game, Chaillo then breezed through the last three games of the second set as she did the first three to take the match. For the second set, Chaillo smacked 11 winners to Napolitano’s four, and made seven unforced errors to Napolitano’s 14.

“I tried to move her around as much as possible, but she just got everything back,” Napolitano said.

Added Lindsay: “Chaillo obviously is a girl that has a ranking and has a game to back it up. She can move, she can go to net, she keeps you deep.”

For Napolitano, the tail end of the postseason didn’t go as she had hoped. In addition to yesterday’s defeat, she fell to Loudoun Valley’s Northwest Region player of the year, Kiersten Pappas, in a three-set match in the region singles final May 19. In team competition, Napolitano again lost to Pappas as Albemarle fell to Loudoun Valley 5-2 in the Northwest Region final May 22, and the Patriots fell 5-4 to Frank W. Cox in the Group AAA quarterfinal May 26.

With two years left in high school, though, Lindsay knows that Napolitano is bound to get deeper into postseason play.

“I told Megan coming in [to the postseason] last year, ‘You’re a freshman, just come in and enjoy it,’” Lindsay said. “I used the exact same speech this year.”

Chaillo’s semifinal match is scheduled for today at 9 a.m. at Jefferson District Park in Fairfax. She will face the winner of Thursday’s quarterfinal between Alex Ritter of First Colonial and Yasmin Fotovat of Atlee.