The Council Rock South Golden Hawks girls tennis team was truly golden last October.
The Golden Hawks beat Conestoga 3-2 to win the District One 3A title and beat ’Stoga 3-1 two weeks later to claim the PIAA title.
CR South lost only two points in PIAA play during its run to the 3A team state championship. Five players on that seven-member team return. Most notably Michelle Lerman, now a junior, played No. 2 singles while senior Anya Zubenko played the third singles slot.
“With the season we had, I realized how much more of a mental sport tennis is. Obviously physical plays a huge role in the game itself but if your mind is all over the place,” Lerman pointed out, “you’re not going to get far in your game. Working on how I come to the court mentally is definitely something I approach more now since states.”
Zubenko agrees and candidly admits her past struggles with the mental side of tennis. “Taking it slow between points and bouncing the ball a few extra times is really important,” Zubenko added. “If your mind is not focused you’re going to lose point after point and it is going to snowball. It will be really hard to get it back together.”
Although South graduated the PIAA singles bronze medalist Dasha Chichkina, who now plays at St. Francis, the Golden Hawks return Kim Chen from first doubles and both Ava Bograd and Elizabeth Krachik from second doubles.
The doubles tandem of Lerman and Zubenko nearly made it two state golds for the Golden Hawks. The duo won their first three PIAA matches by 6-0, 6-1 or 6-2 before falling to the Spring-Ford senior team of Mia Matriccino (now at Loyola Maryland) and Evelyn Mejia in the 3A doubles final. It earned Lerman/Zubenko a PIAA silver medal.
“The best part of Anya’s game is probably her consistency and her power. She doesn’t just push the ball over and when she gets going, she can be unbeatable,” noted CR South head coach Eric Scholl.
Lerman is ranked as one of Pennsylvania’s top dozen players in her class by one tennis publication. Scholl jokingly called her a “freak” because of her style and “she doesn’t miss. I don’t think she has ever lost at second singles,” Scholl continued. “They’re very similar: Anya and Michelle. Anya is a little more of a grinder. Michelle finishes points a little quicker.”
Lerman pointed out that the camaraderie of the South team played a big role in spurring on individual performances. “As soon as we were finished our match, we would rush to see if anyone else was playing and cheer them on. We did that throughout the whole season and I think it played a big role in keeping our heads up,” Zubenko shared.
Lerman/Zubenko enter fall as the reigning District One doubles champions. Despite being a 5 seed, Lerman/Zubenko knocked off Matriccino/Mejia 6-2, 6-3 in last year’s District One semifinal, before topping Conestoga seniors Kate Emmanuel and Jennifer He by the same score in the district final.
Both Lerman and Zubenko were 6 or 7 years old when they first picked up a racket. “I played three different sports competitively. Tennis stuck. I liked it the most,” Zubenko remembered. She took some time off due to burnout but “I started playing again for high school,” she added.
For Lerman, winning brought confidence, which brought more winning. “My aunt used to play tennis and I started playing with my family friends. They convinced me to keep going,” Lerman recalled. “I tried my best and got pretty far in my journey.”
The Golden Hawks journeyed as far as they could go last fall, while Lerman and Zubenko hope to journey to one more win in Hershey.
“There are always things to look forward to. We’ll see how the new dynamic will work and how we adapt to each other,” Lerman said. “But I think we could win states again. Our team is deep. We aren’t one-and-done. We have good players. If we all stay on top of games, we could do well again.”
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