Tennis titles for South Side

Trailing the No. 1 seed by four games in the third and final set of the Nassau County girls’ tennis doubles championship match, it would’ve been easy for South Side’s Deana Davoudiasl and Rachel Shenker to accept runner-up status and a trip to the state tournament.

But they weren’t about to let the title slip away. They staged a furious rally and won six straight games to stun Roslyn’s Melissa Edelblum and Paige Mintz, 5-7, 7-5, 6-4, at Oceanside on Oct. 17, capping an unlikely crown for an unseeded senior duo that spent the regular season as the top two singles players for the Lady Cyclones.

“For a while the wheels were really coming off the bus,” South Side coach Chris Colesanti said. “It’s a long way back from four games down, but I told the girls to take some deep breaths and relax. It was such an up-and-down match. I knew they could do it.”

Davoudiasl and Shenker also fought off a match point in the second set. They’ll compete in the state tournament Nov. 6 at Eastside Racquet Club in Manlius.

“Throughout our whole high school tennis careers, both of us have been dreaming about winning the county championship,” Davoudiasl said. “It’s so unreal.” 

On the first day of the tournament on Oct. 16, Davoudiasl and Shenker defeated Lisa Petruzillo and Hayley O’Rourke of Syosset in the first round, 10-1 (Pro-Set format), Briana Biancardi and Brianna Krackow of Kennedy, 10-2, in the second round, and Alexa and Jackie Froccaro of Port Washington in the quarterfinals, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2. In the semis the next day, Carey’s Samantha Perri and Courtney Sokol went down 6-1, 7-5.

“The first set of the semifinals was Deana and Rachel’s best of the tournament,” Colesanti said. “They came out and dominated, and I think that’s when their potential to win the whole thing really hit them.”