No. 2 Longmeadow girls tennis completes perfect season with first D-II championship since 1995

CAMBRIDGE — The Division II state championship has been a very familiar sight for Longmeadow girls’ tennis in recent history.

Last June, the tournament saw the same matchup between the Lancers and Notre Dame Academy (Hingham) in the state quarterfinals. But on Saturday, Longmeadow rewrote history.

After getting beat by Notre Dame Academy (Hingham) 4-1 last year, Longmeadow made it their mission to even the score this year. They did that as the Lancers took down Notre Dame Academy (Hingham) 3-2 in a first singles match that came down to the last point at MIT’s duPont Tennis Courts on Saturday.

“I am just beyond blessed,” Sarah Tiru said. “Obviously, I have lost to her in the past, and as much as it was in my mind, I had to keep that in the back of my mind.”

Tiru fell into a hole early, losing the first set handily by a score of 6-1.

“It was a mental battle for me,” Tiru said. “I know I have the skills and endurance to do it, but it’s all up here that really makes the difference. I knew I couldn’t get down on myself and put negative thoughts in my head because that would let her get away with it easily, and I wasn’t gonna give that up.”

Between the first and second sets, both doubles matches ended in favor of Longmeadow.

Second doubles finished first as Longmeadow’s Marly Ducharme and Ellen Kennedy beat Notre Dame Academy (Hingham) Molly Dunigan and Julia Walsh (6-1, 6-2) to put the Lancers up 1-0 in the match.

Not far behind them was the conclusion of the first doubles as the Lancers’ Lia Manoussoff and Grace Tyler defeated Notre Dame’s Skye Bunge and Clara Healey (6-3, 6-3). Now up 2-0, Longmeadow needed a single matchup to fall in their favor.

The second set of the first singles started as a different match, as Tiru took a 4-0 lead to start the second set. Tiru had the serve working and focused on letting her opponent make mistakes down the stretch.

Notre Dame’s Amelia Maw stole one back from Tiru on her serve turn, but that momentum was short-lived as Tiru forced a third set, winning 6-1.

As the second set finished, we saw the conclusion of the second singles between Longmeadow’s Sophie Dove being defeated by Notre Dame’s Sophia Lirio (6-2, 6-2). 

Dove was an X-factor this season for the Lancers, as she was 12-1 coming into Saturday’s match. This was her first year in high school tennis, and she dominated singles all season.

“She was the difference this year,” Longmeadow coach Michael Framarin said. “She was phenomenal for us in singles all season. She lost to a phenomenal opponent today but was the difference this year. We would not have won without Sophie Dove.”

This news spread around the courts as Dove got knocked off, allowing Notre Dame Academy (Hingham) to pull within one.

At this time, first and third singles were tied up at one set apiece. Third singles finished before first singles as Notre Dame’s Vivienne LaGrassa defeated the Lancers’ Bailey Downes (7-5, 3-6, 6-4).

With the match tied at 2-2, all the lights shined on the outcome of the first singles third set.

“I knew I had the skills to do it,” Tiru said. “I knew it was tied two-to-two and that the winner of our match was the champion. But I also knew it didn’t matter. Whether we won or lost, my teammates would have my back regardless, and the outcome would still have been a great season.”

Although the outcome would have been acceptable in Tiru’s eyes either way, she turned it up in the third set.

Coming out strong, Tiru took the first two set points and a commanding lead that carried her momentum from the second set. In the third set point, Maw earned one back from Notre Dame Academy (Hingham) through Tiru’s faults on serves.

As the two switched sides, Tiru kicked it up a notch by winning the following two set points off Maw’s errors and forcing Maw to play a faster game of tennis.

“She made an adjustment,” Framarin said. “Sarah (Tiru) was playing a more aggressive game in the first set, so we had her slow down and play at her pace. It’s the first time she had to make that adjustment, allow Amelia (Maw) to make mistakes, take some off the ball, and control the game.

“Having to make that adjustment down a set in the championship match tells you everything you need to know about Sarah Tiru.”

Tiru was up 4-1. Maw left the door open, allowing Tiru to get back into it. Maw allowed Tiru to make mistakes, hitting the balls out of bounds and messing up serves. 

After making it 4-2, Maw got into a battle with Tiru as we saw a tiebreaker for the seventh set point. 

Tiru started with serve and was down 15-30 when she forced Maw to hit out of bounds. Tying it at 30-30, Tiru took the lead on a back-to-back out-of-bounds hit by Maw. Tiru was looking to take the set point, but it was all over when Maw forced a tiebreaker. 

The tiebreaker saw eight straight points flipping between neutral and advantage Maw when she finally broke through and made the score 4-3.

The next set point saw four straight points by Maw to tie the third set at four apiece.

“I know I can beat her,” Tiru said. “I told myself I have worked all season for this and can beat her. A Lot of stuff that I kept in mind was don’t quit, never give up, and that I believe in myself.”

This knocked Tiru out of her little slide and took two final points. Tiru went down Love-30 and returned to win by making Maw make the mistakes. Tiru let Maw try to make the hero play along the lines, but it backfired.

Now up 5-4, Tiru went down 30-Love once again. Tiru returned the serve back when Maw forced the ball to Tiru’s forehand. Tiru had to catch the ball near the other side of the court and make an almost diving shoe-string hit to barely get over the net and swing momentum.

From there, Tiru forced Maw to make a hero play in the tiebreaker when the ball landed out of bounds, and Longmeadow erupted.

“It feels incredible,” Framarin said. “We all have pure joy right now. We did this for Western Mass tennis because this win is bigger than just us. Credit to Notre Dame; they were the hardest match we had all year, but beating them definitely makes it sweeter.”

Longmeadow (23-0) is the first Division II state champions to go undefeated, for boys or girls. This is Longmeadow’s first state title since 1995.

“I knew this was a special group,” Framarin said. “I knew these seniors were special when I first saw them four years ago. So for it to build up to this over four years, I couldn’t be more proud of them.”