Darien edges Staples, 4-3, for second straight FCIAC girls tennis crown

Darien’s Kateri Martin and Staples’ Alyssa DiMaio were the last two tennis players standing in a thrilling FCIAC girls tennis final Tuesday afternoon at Wilton High School

With the match knotted at 3-3, Martin, a senior, pulled in front to win a three-set match 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 and nail down a second consecutive FCIAC championship for the Blue Wave.

“I guess really what helped me grind out the third set was my teammates,” Martin told John Nash of the Stamford Advocate. “I’ve been here four years and I just put them above myself. I wanted to do it for them. When you have so many people counting on you, that helps you fight through. Alyssa hasn’t had that much experience with that kind of pressure yet, but she’ll get it.”

“There was no given out there, it always came down to the wire,” Darien coach Anne-Lise Brown told the Darien Times. “And Kateri pulled it out for us in the end. It was very suitable for her in her senior year.”

Darien won three of the four singles matches, while Staples took two of three doubles contests. Three of the matches went the full three sets.

• For more on this story from John Nash of the Stamford Advocate, click here

• For more on this story from Steve Buono of the Darien Times, click here

FCIAC Girls Tennis Championship – Darien 4, Staples 3

Singles

Kateri Martin (D) def. Alyssa DiMaio 5-7, 6-3, 6-3

Lilly Ma (D) def. Olivia Foster 6-4, 6-2

Emilia Callery (D) def. Tess Rubin 6-1, 6-0

Vanessa Mauricio (S) def. Emily Neuner 6-1, 6-2

Doubles

Megan Brown and Kristin Butler (S) def. Mia Dursht and Daphne Gray 6-2, 4-6, 6-2

Susie Alptekin and Elaina Cummiskey (D) def. Gabriela Vega and Hannah Bjorkman 6-3, 7-5

Lily Smith and Olivia Gundy (S) def. Quin Wolters and Juliet Homes 2-6, 6-4, 6-2