Phil Glatfelter was in lovely Myerstown on Monday afternoon for the district girls’ tennis championships, where Leah Rutt, a Lancaster Christian student playing for McCaskey, won the Triple-A singles title. Here is Phil’s story from Tuesday’s New Era:
MYERSTOWN — Leah Rutt had plenty of reason to focus, playing in her first District 3 Triple-A girls’ tennis championship match.
Lauren Hankle also had reason to focus, though it was more difficult for her to do so.
Rutt did her part, downing Northern York’s Jenna Hessert 6-2, 6-4 to capture the district championship Monday at Elco High School.
Hankle, a senior at Hempfield, had to quickly regroup and refocus after she was upset by Hessert in the semifinals, 6-1, 6-1.
But the defending district champ and top seed in this year’s tournament rebounded in the consolation match, defeating Central York’s Jennifer Learmonth 6-1, 6-4 to earn the third and final berth in the state tournament.
“I’m happy, times 100,” said Rutt, a sophomore at Lancaster Christian who plays for McCaskey as part of a cooperative agreement between the schools. “I’ve been working really hard for this. I really focused. I wanted to stay mentally on track, and just staying aggressive really helped. I was trying to move her around a lot. But she does a great job of running things down.”
Rutt, the No. 2 seed, had met Hankle in the Lancaster-Lebanon League championship match a week ago, which Hankle won 7-6 (8-6), 7-5.
“When I got second in leagues, I wanted this really, really, really bad,” Rutt said. “I’ve been training hard on my net game, moving in, moving forward. Like my match point, I finished at the net.”
Rutt advanced to the final after beating Learmonth 6-1, 6-2 in the semifinals.
She losing the first game to Hessert, but prevailed in the first set, then outlasted Hessert in the second.
“She was really hitting the ball with pace deep,” McCaskey coach Juan Galarza said.
Hankle, who expressed her obvious desire to repeat as L-L and District 3 champion prior to the season, showed some frustration both during and after her semifinal match.
“As the defending champ, I’m sure she was initially disappointed that, ‘OK, I’m not defending’,” Hempfield coach Whit Evans said. “But she definitely picked it up. And we said, ‘OK, now let’s regroup, let’s focus, you still have a shot at getting into States.”
Hankle’s frustration was still apparent as her consolation match got under way, but she was able to counter.
“I just tried to focus on the (consolation) match,” Hankle said, “not on the (semifinal). It was kind of hard, but once I got out there, I had to start playing and not think about it.”
Rutt and Hankle will return to singles play Nov. 2-3 in the PIAA Tournament, to be held at the Hershey Racquet Club.
“What happens with (Rutt), is she wins the first set, is rolling along in the second and then she let’s up,” Galarza said. “Then all of a sudden she realizes, whoa, the second set is getting tight, then steps it up again.“You can’t do that at States.”
NOTES: Martha Blakely of Wyomissing won her fourth straight Double-A title, downing Jill Saunders of Kutztown 6-1, 6-0. Blakely lost one game in four district matches. … The District 3 doubles tournament got under way today at 11:30 a.m. at Cedar Crest High School. Five Lancaster County teams were competing in Class Triple-A: Jennie Eckhart and Liz Beck of Conestoga Valley; Melanie Nolt and Rebekah Roland of Manheim Central; Jenna Greaser and Megan Krak of Warwick; Leah DeMasters and Caroline Barry of Manheim Township; and Hannah and Madison Pipkin of Hempfield. In Double-A, it was Lindsay Filling and Tammy Saunders of Lancaster Catholic, and Stephanie Coleman and Katelyn Coleman of Donegal. Semifinals and finals are Saturday at Elco.
