WILMINGTON – After a three-set defeat in the state championship last year, Rebecca Wang and Valentina RAmos did not want to experience that feeling again. On May 21 at the Dupont Tennis Center, the Archmere juniors took that final step, defeating the duo of Bridget Heinle and Lily Leung from Tower Hill in straight sets for the first doubles title.
Their teammates Lauren Nguyen and Jessica Li, both freshmen, added to the excitement for the Auks. They needed three long sets before downing Tower’s Sophie Chen and Subhi Yadav for the second doubles crown.
Auks junior Susie Shipley, seeded third, also reached the championship at third singles, falling to the top seed, Ellen Kirifides of Tower Hill. Those performances lifted Archmere to second place in the team competition, just behind Tower Hill. The Hillers had finalists in all five events and won three of them to take the trophy with 24 points. Archmere finished with 22.
Wang said last year’s final was on their minds as they faced off against Heinle and Leung.
“It’s almost a culmination of two years worth of work because in past years, we’ve lost to them, and not by a little bit,” she said. “The progression of getting better and better, and then this year we won [during the regular season], it’s like you can see the development. It’s a wonderful feeling to see that.”
Ramos said the pair has developed great chemistry on and off the court, which is crucial when they play.
“Just as much as we’ve been growing as tennis players over the past three years, we’re also good friends. We’ve gotten to know each other better as well, which I think is really important,” she said.
“Part of what we need on the court is understanding what each other needs in certain moments, especially the tight moments, and how to motivate each other.”
Nguyen and Li both practice at Dupont, but they did not start playing together until this season at Archmere. They won the first set, but the Hillers rebounded to take the second, setting up the winner-take-all third.
“In the middle, we played a little bit down, but we talked with our peers and the coach, and we got it back,” Li said.
Nguyen said the pair thought a state championship was a possibility after they defeated Chen and Yadav in the final match of the regular season. They’ll keep working this summer with the future in mind.
“We might keep on practicing together,” she said.
Archmere’s boys tennis team came in fourth overall, but the Auks did have a state champion. Charlie Rittereiser, a senior and the top seed, defeated Johannes Chow of Wilmington Charter. He had also beaten Chow in three sets during the regular season.
Wilmington Charter won the boys’ championship.
Photos by Mike Lang.
