J.F. wins Seminole District

Jefferson Forest boys and girls tennis teams have found that their best competition often comes in practice, especially for their top two seeds.

Tuesday, the two teams swept the Seminole District tournament titles in convincing fashion, with the girls shutting out Amherst in singles, 6-0 at Heritage High, and the boys clinching a 5-2 win over Brookville in the first doubles duel at Amherst Middle.

JF’s girls lost a total of just 12 games in the six singles tilts, though coach Jeff Ranowsky said that was deceptive.

“The matches have been actually closer than the scores indicate,” Jeff Ranowsky said. “The girls have played some good, long points. It’s been fun to watch.”

A perfect example was the first game of the first set between JF’s Emily Mezzano and Amherst’s Lindsey Pryor at No. 4.

“They probably had 20 deuce points,” Ranowsky said. “Most of the other courts had two or three games in and they were still in their first game.”

“It was a long game,” Mezzano added. “It took like 15 to 20 minutes. It kept going back and forth. It was pretty intense. She was good. It was a fun match.”

Mezzano wound up winning 6-0, 6-4. She welcomed the competition to get ready for next week’s Region III tournament.

“It was a good thing right before regionals to have a tough match,” Mezzano said. “We usually dominate our district and it was good practice to have a challenging match that you actually struggle in. It’ll make us more prepared for regionals.”

JF sophomore Sarah Ranowsky, who has moved up from No. 5 to No. 2 singles this season, beat Brittany Freshour 6-3, 6-2, in a match between players of like styles.

“They both hit flat and hard,” Jeff Ranowsky said

Sarah Ranowsky recently was promoted from the No. 3 singles spot after giving JF’s top-seeded Morgan Huff her best challenge match this season, falling 9-7.

In the semifinals of the individual doubles tournament, also at Heritage, the Pioneers’ duo of Brittany Wilson and Alison Reynolds pushed JF’s Morgan Huff and Meghan Canter to three sets before falling 6-1, 3-6, 6-4.

It was the first time in three tries Heritage had taken a set from Forest.

“We played well together, especially at the net,” said Reynolds, who moved up from No. 4 to No. 2 singles this season while Wilson, a sophomore remained at No. 1. “We have a young team.”

Liberty’s Liza Mackey and Allison Witt overcame a first-set loss to rally past Staunton River’s Megan and Kallie Holdren 6-7 (3), 7-5, 6-4 in the other semifinal.

Witt triggered the comeback with her play at the net in the second set, when she inadvertently returned one Holdren volley with her knee for a winner. Later, leading 6-5, Witt won the last three points with an overhead, baseline groundstroke and volley to force the third set.

At Amherst, JF’s boys avenged two regular-season losses to Brookville, turning the tables on the Bees to defend their district tournament team title.

“It’s always good to beat Brookville,” said JF No. 1 seed Josh Ranowsky, who beat Lucas Vosiger 6-1, 6-0 before teaming up with No. 2 seed Tyler Johnston to defeat Brookville’s Vosiger and Logan Weston 6-0, 6-1 at No. 1 doubles. “We might meet them again at regionals.”

The match was more competitive in the middle seeds than it was at the top, with three of the matches going to three sets.

“Josh and Tyler both played singles and doubles and their individual doubles (semifinal) match before one of our singles players was off the court,” JF coach Susan Ranowsky said.

That was Matt Courtney, whose No. 3 match against Zach Tyree had to be suspended after nearly three hours with Courtney leading 7-5, 2-6, 4-3.

“He had a long match,” Josh Ranowksy said.

Ranowsky has high aspirations for his senior season before joining his brother Geoff at West Point next year.

“I’m going to try to make it to the state this year,” he said.

JF’s boys will travel to Alleghany for the Region III team quarterfinals on Monday while its girls host a first-round match.