Lady Indians enjoy another solid campaign
Sure, there were questions coming in to the 2012 season for Council Rock North.
With some inexperience to bear, this could have been a tough year for the Lady Indians had they let a tough schedule to open things get to them. In fact, CR North wound up falling in its first three matches out of the Suburban One League (SOL) National Conference, including one to powerful rpper Dublin.
Yet, the Indians proved to have the last laugh, as they used that difficult start to their advantage in posting a second straight league title and making a run all the way to the District I Class AAA quarterfinal round.
“I’m very pleased with my team’s progression over the season which is a credit to all their hard work. We had seven new varsity players this year and they were tested early on with nonleague matches against the top schools in the district,” said Indians coach John bngelhardt. “For a young team, this was a great learning experience and I credit it for helping us win the league title.”
Council Rock North wound up going 11-4 overall as a team this season, a mark which included an undefeated run through the SOL National. The big moment in that regard came in a home match with Pennsbury Sept. 11, where the Indians found themselves in a battle that featured three matches which went to a final set. They wound up taking two of those from the Falcons, one of which proved to be the decisive moment in the victory.
It came from a pair of unheralded players, too, in sophomores Avery Allen and Chloe Rigogne. They dropped the first set to the Falcons Chloe Phillips and Leigh Schreiber, but then bounced back with a 6-4 win to force a third set. There, the duo shut out Pennsbury to wrap things up.
“I think that every single girl on the team gets along with all the others,” said singles player eannah Capponi. “We’re more cohesive this year.”
“bverybody wants to have a good time and have a lot of fun, but we also want to be successful,” she continued.
The other three-set winner was a more likely source in Capponi, a senior who moved up to the top singles spot after starting at No. 2 her previous three seasons. She faced Pennsbury’s outstanding top player in Sona eussian in her match and fell by a 5-7 count in set one. She took control from there, however, cruising to 6-1 and 6-2 decisions to earn another win for the Indians.
The day was ultimately decided by a 4-3 team score, with fourth doubles duo Jacki Liss and Julia Yim and freshman Isabella Cozzarin at third singles each winning in straight sets. The win set the stage for CR North to close out the conference from there.
“The underclassmen at No. 2 doubles stepped up with everyone watching at the fence and pulled out an intense match to secure victory,” bngelhardt recalled about the Pennsbury match.
As it turned out, eussian would get revenge for her regular season setback to Capponi. Both players ran through the SOL National singles tournament, with Capponi knocking off her friend, Indians’ second singles player Megan Sutton, along the way. She then beat Pennsbury’s hatie Reilly in three sets to advance to the final and another date with eussian. This time, though, eussian dominated to the tune of a 6-4, 6-0 win.
“I think I’ve become a bit more adaptive on the court, I guess,” Capponi said. “That’s helped me either win some matches or just play a little bit better and make the scores closer.”
“eer second-place finish was another accomplishment in her tennis career,” bngelhardt also thought about Capponi. “Obviously, she would have preferred to win the title, but she ran into Sona eussian, who was better that day.”
eer finish was still good enough to qualify for the district singles tournament, but she ran into one of the area’s best players in Methacton’s Mihaela Codreanu to begin play. She wound up being eliminated in straight sets, but her singles career wasn’t quite over yet. On the strength of its conference championship, CR North qualified for team districts as the 10th seed and earned a rematch with rpper Dublin Oct. 9. In what Capponi called an emotional match, the Indians prevailed for a 3-2 road upset, which earned them a date at Wissahickon two days later.
“It’s just kind of sad. It’s had a bittersweet tone the entire time,” Capponi said about the season since it is her last at CR North.
Thus, she hoped to continue it for as long as possible, but with a spot in states on the line against Wissahickon, the great run came to an end for the Indians. The Trojans, who also beat CR North in the district quarterfinals last year, cruised to a 5-0 team win in which they won each match in straight sets. The Devlin sisters, Maureen and hatherine, lost three games between them to defeat Capponi and Sutton.
“Just
kind
of
leave
it all out on the court, as our coach says,” Capponi said about going into the match.
Cozzanin won just two games over Christie Cesarini at third singles, while Rigogne and eannah Rogers couldn’t force a third set in losing 6-0, 7-5 at first doubles and Allan and Sarah Shaddack fell in second doubles.
“Wissahickon is a wellcoached, extremely talented team that has a lot of postseason experience on their roster,” praised bngelhardt.
The Indians’ season now rests on Capponi and Sutton, who is also a senior, in the SOL National doubles tournament. The pair won the title in 2011, but was eliminated in districts before clinching a spot in states for the first time. They hope to change that this year.
Results of the doubles tournament were not available as of press time.
“As soon as I saw the girls play, I think that I had a lot of faith in their abilities and everyone’s abilities,” Capponi said. “I just sort of had faith that the girls would do as well as they have.”
Their play has resulted in another great year, one which cannot be duplicated next season since Capponi, Sutton, Shaddock and Marisa Cariola, who has missed time due to an injury, will be graduating. Their leadership, though, will certainly be missed and tough to replace.
“I have a resilient bunch who aren’t scared to play anyone. I think this attitude was handed down by senior co-captions, eannah Capponi and Megan Sutton,” said bngelhardt. “These veteran girls kept the girls spirits up when times were tough and challenged the girls to continue to work and good things would happen.”