Lily Castka lifts Bayport-Blue Point to small schools tennis title
Bayport-Blue Point's Lily Castka competes in the Suffolk girls tennis small schools team championship on Sunday at Shoreham-Wading River. Credit: Elizabeth Sagarin
When it came down to it, Bayport-Blue Point junior Lily Castka had what it took.
The Suffolk County small school girls tennis championship was a close competition right to the final rally. No. 2 Bayport-Blue Point claimed its fifth consecutive Section XI title in a 4-3 decision over No. 1 Ross in Shoreham on Saturday.
The title was ultimately decided by a neck-and-neck first singles match between Castka and Ross sophomore Brooke Saracco. Long after every other match had concluded, Castka and Saracco had all eyes on them. Castka fought back from a 0-5 deficit in the second set to win the three-hour battle, 5-7, 7-5, 7-5.
“Even when I was down 0-5 in the second set, I just knew I had to keep fighting and hitting the ball even if I missed,” Castka said. “We lost to Ross during our regular season so we had a chip on our shoulder coming into this match. We expected this to be a challenge but we were prepared for it.”
Castka recently claimed her first Section XI individual title in singles on Oct. 21 and will compete at the NYSPHSHAA Individual Championships at the USTA National Tennis Center in Queens on Monday. Coach John Selvaggio said seeing Castka thrive this season comes as no surprise.
“It all comes down to [Castka’s] training, the time she invests into getting better and the high-intensity situations she puts herself into,” Selvaggio said. “Lily is never someone that’s too high or too low. She keeps it even keel and she just had the right stuff today. She’s built for this.”
But Castka couldn’t clinch the team title alone. Bayport-Blue Point fourth doubles pair Julie Willems and Phoebe Brownie brought the Phantoms within reach when they defeated Ross pair Sofia Arce and Chloe Stone in a 5-7, 6-0, 6-0 decision to tie the match at 3-3.
“We took the disappointment and the anger we had from playing such a close set and we used it to bring the energy,” Willems, a freshman, said. “It kind of took the focus off the points that we lost so we could build more momentum off the points we won.”
After dominating the remainder of their match following the first-set loss, Brownie said much of the pair’s success comes from complimenting each other’s style of play.
“We're both really positive people when we’re hot, but we also know how to pick each other up when we’re down,” Brownie, a junior, said. “[Willems] is so consistent and I can finish it at the net so we make the perfect combo.”
The crucial fourth doubles match highlighted Bayport-Blue Point’s depth and reinforced the team’s mentality that every match counts. Selvaggio said he knew it would take some grit to come out on top, but that he trusted his athletes every step of the way.
“In order to beat a team like Ross, the plan is to win as many courts as possible by as little as possible,” Selvaggio said. “That means a lot of three-setters and tiebreakers which require so much confidence and trust. There’s no other group I’d rather go to battle with than this group of girls.”
With the title win Bayport-Blue Point’s record improved to 18-2 and the team will now face Cold Spring Harbor in the hunt for its second straight Long Island championship. The Phantoms slipped by Cold Spring Harbor, 3-2, last season. Ross concluded its season 18-2.
“It takes everyone to have this kind of success,” Castka said. “We’ve proved our depth and that we have so many amazing players from the first level to the fourth level, so we’re just excited to see what comes next.”
