MASON, Ohio — Hathaway Brown's Lauren Gillinov successfully defended her Division II singles state championship by defeating Cloverleaf's Emily Dunbar on Saturday in the 2015 OHSAA state girls tennis tournament at Lindner Family Tennis Center.
Gillinov needed three sets but won, 6-7 (6), 7-5, 6-0. She is the 16th player in state history to repeat as a state champion.
"I can't really believe it," Gillinov said. "Emily really is an amazing player. I just tried to play my own game and be aggressive like I know I can."
Gillinov faced elimination in the second set, trailing, 5-4. But she rallied to win that set and swept the final set to defeat Dunbar, who had won both the sectional and district final matches against Gillinov.
"I had to be really on top of my footwork and try to react very quickly to every ball she hit," Gillinov said.
Dunbar's second-place finish is her best at the state tournament. She qualified in Division I each of the last two years, but lost in the quarterfinals each year.
"It's always difficult after not losing the whole season and losing in the finals at state," Dunbar said. "But I feel pretty good. I won the first set, and I was up, 5-4, rushed a little bit so I lost a game. And then she ended up having the momentum. I lost the momentum and she ran with it."
While Gillinov was playing Dunbar in the singles final, Gillinov's teammates, Catherine Areklett and Ally Persky, were playing in the Division II doubles championship match. They fell to Cincinnati Indian Hill's duo of Caroline Andersen and Meredith Breda, 6-3, 6-4.
Areklett and Persky had to rally from a 5-2 deficit in the third set of their semifinals match against Orange's Alissa Nakamoto and Anjali Kashyap to reach the final match.
"We knew that if we could just stay aggressive, and if we could just come into the net a lot and put a lot of pressure on them that we could make them make the mistake and we could come back and win," Persky said.
Areklett and Persky lost in the state championship match last year as well. They trailed, 5-2, in the second set and rallied to make it 5-4. But they did not win that last game to extend the set.
"They were very aggressive," Areklett said. "They were active at the net. I think that in the end, they would just hit a really hard shot, and we would miss it or we would just have a silly error and that would cost us a game."
For the second year in a row, Hathaway Brown has a singles champion and doubles runner-up.
The Blazers will play on Sunday in the Ohio Tennis Coaches Association team tournament at Reynoldsburg High School. They enter the tournament ranked No. 1 in the state in Division II.
"It's what they're all about. They're the leaders. Lauren, Catherine and Ally are my captains," Hathaway Brown coach Greg Aten said. "They're leaders of our team and they have a lot of heart. It's why they're in that position.
"(Catherine and Ally) were here also last year and lost in the finals. So it's a tough loss today. But they don't realize how great it is just to make it to the finals and to get where they are."
Hudson's Molly Sandberg won her third-place match in Division I singles against Cincinnati Mt. Notre Dame's Kelli Niehaus, 6-3, 6-2. Gilmour's Claudia Althans won the Division II singles third-place match by default because Sandusky Perkins' Olivia Rohrbacher suffered an injury in her semifinal against Gillinov and retired after the first set.
Check out more videos from the tournament here.
DIVISION I
SINGLES
Semifinals: Abele (Cincinnati Sycamore) d. Niehaus (Cincinnati Mt. Notre Dame), 6-3, 6-1; Thomas (Cincinnati Princeton) d. Sandberg (Hudson), 6-2, 7-6 (3).
Third place: Sandberg (H) d. Niehaus (CMND), 6-3, 6-2.
Championship: Thomas (CP) d. Abele (CS), 6-1, 6-3.
DOUBLES
Semifinals: Delaney/Steer (Powell Olentangy Liberty) d. Duma/O'Connor (Cincinnati Ursuline), 5-7, 6-2, 6-4; O. Kompa/P. Kompa (Upper Arlington) d. Jung/Reynolds (UA) 6-3, 6-1.
Third place: Jung/Reynolds (UA) d. Duma/O'Connor (CU), 6-2, 1-6, 6-3.
Championship: O. Kompa/P. Kompa (UA) d. Delaney/Steer (POL), 6-2, 6-0.
DIVISION II
SINGLES
Semifinals: Dunbar (Cloverleaf) d. Althans (Gilmour), 7-6 (2), 6-1; Gillinov (Hathaway Brown) d. Rohrbacher (Sandusky Perkins), 6-0, ret.
Third place: Althans (G) by def. Rohrbacher (SP).
Championship: Gillinov (HB) d. Dunbar (C), 6-7 (6), 7-5, 6-0.
DOUBLES
Semifinals: Areklett/Persky (HB) d. Nakamoto/Kashyap (Orange), 6-0, 3-6, 7-5; Andersen/Breda (Cincinnati Indian Hill) d. Delp/Spinazze (Toledo Central Catholic), 7-6 (5), 6-2.
Third place: Nakamoto/Kashyap (O) d. Delp/Spinazze (TCC), 4-6, 6-4, 6-1.
Championship: Andersen/Breda (CIH) d. Areklett/Persky (HB), 6-3, 6-4.
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