Mepham Girls Tennis Falls to MacArthur in Conference Finals

The MacArthur Generals girls tennis team went 25 years without a conference championship, but it now has two in its last two seasons after defeating the Mepham Lady Pirates by a score of 6-1 on Thursday afternoon at Garden City High School for the Conference III title.

"We were actually IV-A last year and we got moved up to III-A and stayed extremely competitive which is why I'm very proud of the girls," said MacArthur coach Tara Preston after winning the Conference III championship. "It's all about the work that they put in on a daily basis at practice. They gel, they're a good group, they get along and they work hard."

With the win, MacArthur finished the season with a 13-1 record. They were also the Conference III-A champions.

Mepham also finished 13-1.

While the loss certainly is disappointing for the Lady Pirates, who were undefeated coming into Thursday's match and were the Conference III-B champions, first-year coach Claire Cohen was still impressed with the way her team played.

"I'm proud of their effort," Cohen said. "It's tough doing what they had to do. … MacArhur had more rest than we did. But I'm proud of them no matter what and next year we'll do it again."

MacArthur freshman Cameron Moskol led the Generals to victory by defeating Lena Diller, 6-0, 6-0, in first singles. Moskol's blistering serve was tough to stop and her forehand return was equally as impressive.

"Cameron is our first singles obviously," said Preston of her star freshman. "She came onto the varsity team as an eighth-grader last year where she played first singles as well. She is a U.S. Tennis Association ranked player; the top in her age group. She is extremely skilled and she will hopefully continue to play with MacArthur tennis until her senior year."

Sophomore Corryn Chaimowitz won Mepham's only match of the day by defeating Victoria Macchia, 6-3, 6-0. Chaimowitz's strong return gave Macchia a lot of trouble early on.

In the last singles match of the day, Nicole Juszczak defeated Lady Pirate Shayna Lupu, 7-6 (8-6), 6-0. The first set was impressive on both ends and one point was played for close to two minutes.

"They were a wonderful and competitive group of girls," said Preston of the Mepham team. "It was just one of those situations where it felt really good to win the way that we did. … They were very gracious and it was a good day."

The doubles teams were the strength of the Lady Pirates all season, but the Generals swept doubles play on Thursday.

Clarissa Shenocker and Emmy Yam defeated Mollie Bienstock and Shannen Gaffney in first doubles, 6-4, 6-4.

Brianne Dorney and Nina Juszczak defeated Alison Ferris and Rachel Gordon in second doubles, 6-3, 6-0.

In the longest match of the day, Stephanie Malin and Rebecca Shuchman defeated Julia Tolin and Teresa Winger in third doubles, 7-5, 4-6, 7-5.

Mia Katz and Melissa Slyper defeated Tess Larsen and Ilana Maurer in fourth doubles, 1-6, 6-2, 6-2.

"Today they just happened to play great tennis," Preston said. "We really stepped up to the plate in our doubles teams.  They played well together, they communicated and they just seem to have outplayed Mepham. … It's very exciting."

Despite the loss, Cohen was grateful for her squad's effort all season long.

"It was amazing and that's because they are amazing girls, very dedicated," Cohen said. "They play their hardest, they really do, and it shows; that's why we went undefeated."

Cohen added: "I'm very sorry to lose my five seniors. It's going to be very sad. I'm just very pleased and I hope to repeat it next year."