Monday, October 10, 2011

Marielle McIntyre of Freedom High School wins the District 11 Class AAA girls singles tennis title

FROM THE EXPRESS TIMES

Lights, camera, action.

After a shaky start, undefeated Freedom High School senior Marielle McIntyre dominated the second set and captured the District 11 Class AAA girls singles tennis championship 7-6 (7-1), 6-1, over talented freshman Brittany Poje of East Stroudsburg South on Monday at Westend Racquet Club's hard-court surface.

"I needed to calm down," McIntyre (21-0) said about falling behind early in the final. "I was tight, with all the TV cameras and stuff. I was third last year (at District 11) and fourth the year before. Since I've come close before I really wanted this. Being the first seed, I felt pressure."

Title in hand, she advanced to the state championships at Hershey.

"Now that I've made it to Hershey, I'm just going there to play and enjoy the experience," she said.

The first set lasted 55 minutes.

McIntyre won the toss and served first, but Poje broke serve and then held her own serve to go ahead two games to love. McIntyre's first win came in a long game that went to deuce three times, but Poje held her serve again and led 3-1. McIntyre stormed back to leads of 4-3, 5-4 and 6-5, but Poje hung in and forced a tie-breaker.

With a run of six consecutive points, McIntyre won the tiebreaker 7-1. She maintained that momentum by taking the first four games of the second set. She trailed in fourth game 15-40 but rallied with powerful serves and shots near the sidelines to take command of the match.

McIntyre won match point in style, getting back and returning a deep lob with a line-drive winner.

"Once she got on top of the ball, started hitting with topspin, she started making good shots," said Freedom coach Mark Sigmon. "She started hitting the ball hard and putting it where she'd make her opponent run to return it. She started setting up opportunities to rush the net and score the kill and she kept on doing it. Things started to snowball in her favor. Her strengths as a player are really good strokes, especially the backhand. Also, and this is a big thing, she's really mentally tough. She's been working hard for this."

Only the district champion advanced to the state tournament so if McIntyre had lost, her season would have ended.

"I gained confidence when I went ahead in the tiebreaker," McIntyre said. "She had a tough serve, just like her sister (who McIntyre defeated in a three-set semifinal) but when she started missing first serves, I could come up a bit."

McIntyre's Freedom teammates watched the match and congratulated her at the triumphant conclusion. McIntyre started playing at age five with her cousin Matt Potts, a former district champion from Liberty.

"From there, she's been a serious player ever since and she started playing anywhere there was competition. She wants to learn and practices what she learns, always working to get better," Potts said.

"I'll play somewhere next year," McIntyre said, "but I haven't made a college choice yet."

Robyn Ferraro of Southern Lehigh defeated Audrey Abel 6-1, 6-0 of Blue Mountain for the Class AA title.

http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/sports/index.ssf/2011/10/marielle_mcintyre_overcomes_ea.html

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