DANE FUELLING
WZBD.com
UNIONDALE – Bellmont defeated Adams Central for the second time this season and advanced to the sectional championship match Wednesday with a 4-1 victory at Norwell. The Braves will face the Knights after they defeated Huntington North 5-0 on the opposite courts.
Bellmont won all three singles matches in straight sets to secure advancement.
In doubles, coach Kyle Arnold was especially impressed with the determination shown by Isabelle Ortiz and Marisol Jackson.
“They split sets to start with the AC girls,” said Arnold. “But they closed out the match with a convincing 6-0 set. They played very well down the stretch to pull away.”
“Bellmont will have a great finale tomorrow,” predicted AC coach Jessica Disinger, whose team can boast an ACAC title this season. “Hillary (Tobias) knew that (Liv) Selking would be hard and she never gave up. I am proud of our No. 2 doubles team for scoring a win despite losing as a team.”
Arnold and his Braves now have to prepare for Norwell.
“When we played Norwell earlier this season,” noted Arnold, “we pulled out a very close 3-2 win at our own courts and I said then that I expected to see them again in sectionals. We’re going to have to play well in order to leave the courts with the trophy tomorrow night. I expect Norwell to come fired up on their own courts and to bring a lot of energy that our girls will have to match if we want to win.”
Bellmont have not won a sectional title since 2011, when that team won a sixth sectional in seven years.
Bellmont 4 Adams Central 1
No. 1-Olivia Selking (B) d. Hillary Tobias, 6-4, 6-1
No. 2-Emy Faurote (B) d. Melanie Bertsch, 6-2, 6-0
No. 3-Leila Jin (B) d. McKayla Ringger, 6-0, 6-1
No. 1-Isabelle Ortiz/Marisol Jackson (B) d. Alexa Brotherton/Anna Leyse, 7-6, 5-7, 6-0
No. 2-Alaina Bertsch/Alayna McCullough (AC) d. Kaelyn Snyder/Alyssa Coffey, 7-5, 6-4