John Jay Tennis Comes Up Short Against Byram Hills

CROSS RIVER, N.Y. - On Monday Sept. 30, John Jay faced Byram Hills in a girls varsity tennis match, and up a league this year, the competition has been tough.

The Bobcats definitely represented that difficulty and had the Wolves losing every match. But John Jay still showed they could play and gave Byram Hills a run for their money across the board.  

On court one, Penelope Hill was the first Wolf to have a Bobcat worried. A 6-4, 6-4 two-hour marathon, the visitor outlasted Hill on long, lob-orientated baseline points. 

“That’s a tough opponent, because Penny normally drives a lot of pace, and that girl took all the pace away,” said Coach Julie McCaffrey.

Hill’s teammate, Lauren Metro, had a loss of 6-2, 6-2. Long points and long hitting, it was a chess match. 

“I tried to move her around the court. I hit a bunch of different shots,” Metro said.

On the other hand, she admitted that her opponent was more successful at dictating the itinerary. 

“Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t,” said Metro, the No. 2 singles player. 

Onto doubles, Sophie Inana and Farah Ganesan lost in straight sets. 

“We were a lot more consistent in the first set, but in the second set, it got a little more challenging,” said Ganesan. 

A 6-4, 6-0 defeat, the duo worked around some strong volley play in the opening set. 

“One of the girls had a good net game. So, whoever we hit around that area, we pouched a lot of short shots,” said Ganesan.

And the strategy worked in accordance with the partners’ strengths.

“I was pretty good at the baseline, and I helped set up Sophie for a lot of good points,” Ganesan said.

Inana agreed. 

“I’m pretty good at the net, and she’s good at setting up,” she said.

Blinera Tetaj and Miriam Wilson fell 6-4, 6-0 in another doubles match. The teammates were more on their game in set one.

“We would get the ball and hit it down the middle,” said Tetaj. 

The drop off was also easy to explain, according to Tetaj. 

“I get really in my head sometimes, so I either miss the ball or hit it out,” she lamented.

Finally, Lucy Millhon and Kierstin McCarty were on the grind until the end. 

“Every point was pretty close. We had really long rallies,” said Millhon after a 7-5, 6-4 defeat.

That said, the way the Wolves complemented each other verified the point. 

“It was one of our best games working together,” said McCarty.

Millhon knows what they need to do to get better.

“If we lose a game, we get in our heads about it. So, to get better, we need to focus on what we can do better rather than focusing on what just happened,” she said.