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Marchant, Birze district champs
(by Tony Lange - October 18, 2012)
Marchant, Birze district champs
By TONY LANGE
Without losing a single set throughout sectionals and districts, Kenston's double team of Mandy Marchant and Natasha Birze has cruised this postseason and is on course to contend for a Division I state title.
The state tournament starts at 9 a.m. Friday at Ohio State University's outdoor varsity tennis courts.
During the Northeast District tournament last week, Marchant and Brize defeated their opponents from Revere, 6-1, 6-0, and then defeated their opponents from Canfield, 6-0, 6-1, en route to their semifinals matchup against North Canton's Hoover on Saturday.
Marchant said she had a good feeling going into the tournament.
"My partner and I have just been playing some of the best tennis we have all year," she said. "I've definitely had my best year of high school tennis."
A Dayton recruit, Marchant has more than 100 career wins, including a 27-4 record this season as the Lady Bombers' No. 1 singles player, and this will be her fourth straight year playing at the state tournament.
Birze, a sophomore, is on pace to match those career numbers as she is 29-2 this season as the Lady Bombers' No. 2 singles play, and this is her second year playing doubles with Marchant at the state tournament.
Entering the district semifinals against Hoover on Saturday, the game plan was to come fast out of the gates and build a quick lead in the first set, Kenston head coach Greg Aten said.
"It was one of our goals to come right out of the gate and play extremely aggressive and not let them get any momentum or confidence that they could play with us," he said. "And the girls really came out in the first set and took it to them and played extremely well."
Marchant and Birze executed without error as they won, 6-0.
In the second set, however, they started down three games to none and faced adversity for the first time all postseason.
"Well, in the first set, I feel like they just didn't really know what to do with us, because we were just moving around and putting a lot of pressure on them and closing the net a lot," Birze said. "But then in second set, I felt like they obviously settled down and got used to what we were doing, and I think our nerves started to get the better of us, because we just started to make some dumb shots, but we got together and pulled it out, so that was good."
Kenston ended up beating Hoover, 7-5, in that second set to advance to the finals against Mayfield's Mitsuki Fukamachi and Jamie Vizelman, which was a rematch of the sectional finals from the previous week, when the Lady Bombers won, 6-1, 7-6 (10-8).
In the district finals, however, the Lady Wildcats wouldn't be so slow to start.
Marchant and Birze pulled off a not-so-decisive first set, winning, 7-5.
Serving miscues plagued the Lady Bombers early on, Marchant said.
"My partner and I both had a couple of double faults, but once we realized we just had to strategize more and just keep the ball in play and not go for too much, we started getting our stuff together," Marchant said.
In the second set, Kenston cleaned up and defeated Mayfield, 6-2, for both the match win and the district title.
During his time coaching at Kenston since 2000, it was the Lady Bombers' first district championship in doubles, Aten said.
"So it's exciting to go to Columbus as a No. 1 seed and kind of be the team to beat," he said. "We're going to continue to keep working hard at it, and we'll see what we can do in representing Northeast Ohio, and so we're excited."
Last year, Marchant and Birze finished third at districts.
"It was really fun to win the whole thing this time," Birze said. "We're going to have a lot of confidence going into states this weekend, so we're very excited."
Last year at the big show, Marchant and Birze won their first match, 6-3, 6-1, but then lost, 6-3, 7-6 (7-2), to the eventual state champions - Dublin Jerome juniors Laruen Bellinger and Sarah Stein.
That pair won't be defending their title, however, as Bellinger is contesting the singles court and Stein is playing with her freshman sister at the opposite end of the bracket as Kenston.
As the tournament draw sits, Marchant and Birze are favored to play against the DiLorenzo sisters from New Albany in the semifinals. They did not compete at states last year.
Whether or not Marchant and Birze advance to the state finals and match up against the Stein sisters, or even Mayfield again, remains to be seen, but it's all about staying mentally prepared at this point, Marchant said.
"This week just goes into getting as much doubles practice and strategy as possible, but mostly it's mental, because you've just got to control your nerves," she said. "You can't tense up out there. You can't have a bad day. You have to be on top of your game, because everybody is good down there."
Marchant, Birze district champs
By TONY LANGE
Without losing a single set throughout sectionals and districts, Kenston's double team of Mandy Marchant and Natasha Birze has cruised this postseason and is on course to contend for a Division I state title.
The state tournament starts at 9 a.m. Friday at Ohio State University's outdoor varsity tennis courts.
During the Northeast District tournament last week, Marchant and Brize defeated their opponents from Revere, 6-1, 6-0, and then defeated their opponents from Canfield, 6-0, 6-1, en route to their semifinals matchup against North Canton's Hoover on Saturday.
Marchant said she had a good feeling going into the tournament.
"My partner and I have just been playing some of the best tennis we have all year," she said. "I've definitely had my best year of high school tennis."
A Dayton recruit, Marchant has more than 100 career wins, including a 27-4 record this season as the Lady Bombers' No. 1 singles player, and this will be her fourth straight year playing at the state tournament.
Birze, a sophomore, is on pace to match those career numbers as she is 29-2 this season as the Lady Bombers' No. 2 singles play, and this is her second year playing doubles with Marchant at the state tournament.
Entering the district semifinals against Hoover on Saturday, the game plan was to come fast out of the gates and build a quick lead in the first set, Kenston head coach Greg Aten said.
"It was one of our goals to come right out of the gate and play extremely aggressive and not let them get any momentum or confidence that they could play with us," he said. "And the girls really came out in the first set and took it to them and played extremely well."
Marchant and Birze executed without error as they won, 6-0.
In the second set, however, they started down three games to none and faced adversity for the first time all postseason.
"Well, in the first set, I feel like they just didn't really know what to do with us, because we were just moving around and putting a lot of pressure on them and closing the net a lot," Birze said. "But then in second set, I felt like they obviously settled down and got used to what we were doing, and I think our nerves started to get the better of us, because we just started to make some dumb shots, but we got together and pulled it out, so that was good."
Kenston ended up beating Hoover, 7-5, in that second set to advance to the finals against Mayfield's Mitsuki Fukamachi and Jamie Vizelman, which was a rematch of the sectional finals from the previous week, when the Lady Bombers won, 6-1, 7-6 (10-8).
In the district finals, however, the Lady Wildcats wouldn't be so slow to start.
Marchant and Birze pulled off a not-so-decisive first set, winning, 7-5.
Serving miscues plagued the Lady Bombers early on, Marchant said.
"My partner and I both had a couple of double faults, but once we realized we just had to strategize more and just keep the ball in play and not go for too much, we started getting our stuff together," Marchant said.
In the second set, Kenston cleaned up and defeated Mayfield, 6-2, for both the match win and the district title.
During his time coaching at Kenston since 2000, it was the Lady Bombers' first district championship in doubles, Aten said.
"So it's exciting to go to Columbus as a No. 1 seed and kind of be the team to beat," he said. "We're going to continue to keep working hard at it, and we'll see what we can do in representing Northeast Ohio, and so we're excited."
Last year, Marchant and Birze finished third at districts.
"It was really fun to win the whole thing this time," Birze said. "We're going to have a lot of confidence going into states this weekend, so we're very excited."
Last year at the big show, Marchant and Birze won their first match, 6-3, 6-1, but then lost, 6-3, 7-6 (7-2), to the eventual state champions - Dublin Jerome juniors Laruen Bellinger and Sarah Stein.
That pair won't be defending their title, however, as Bellinger is contesting the singles court and Stein is playing with her freshman sister at the opposite end of the bracket as Kenston.
As the tournament draw sits, Marchant and Birze are favored to play against the DiLorenzo sisters from New Albany in the semifinals. They did not compete at states last year.
Whether or not Marchant and Birze advance to the state finals and match up against the Stein sisters, or even Mayfield again, remains to be seen, but it's all about staying mentally prepared at this point, Marchant said.
"This week just goes into getting as much doubles practice and strategy as possible, but mostly it's mental, because you've just got to control your nerves," she said. "You can't tense up out there. You can't have a bad day. You have to be on top of your game, because everybody is good down there."
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