Tiffany Ren can make even a high-stakes competition with a championship on the line seem like a practice session. So composed and unflappable she is, and fluid in her movement, it often looks as if she isn’t exerting energy.
“She’s an incredible player,” Our Lady of Lourdes girls tennis coach Ray Raiche said of Ren, marveling at her range and quick reaction. “She’s smooth and moves so effortlessly on the court. Her game is very refined for a 14-year-old.”
Emphasis on that last part. Because, for as much guile and precision as Ren has demonstrated and for as dominant as she has been this season, it’s all even more impressive when taken with the fact she is only a freshman.
But she again breezed through the competition, continuing an undefeated season, and captured the Mid Hudson Athletic League singles title on Wednesday. Ren won each of her four matches in the two-day tournament at Franklin D. Roosevelt High School and stood victorious alongside teammates Elia Bonavoglia and Emma Berardis, who won the doubles championship.
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“I’m extremely proud of them,” Raiche said of Lourdes sweeping both brackets. “They've really evolved this year, especially the doubles team. They were my second and third singles, but they learned to play together for this tournament and won.”
Each member of that triumphant trio was among the better singles players in Section 9 this fall, helping lead the Warriors through a sterling regular season. Bonavoglia was also undefeated but, with Ren as the No. 1 seed entering the MHAL tournament, the coach said, “it made sense” for the others to compete in doubles. They began practicing about 10 days ago and quickly developed chemistry.
Olivia Raiche and Amy Tomann, the third-seeded doubles pair, will join their teammates in advancing to the Section 9 championship.
Ren has won each of her 11 matches this season, dropping only six games along the way. She beat second-seeded Isabel Luzzi of Red Hook, 6-2, 6-1, in the MHAL final. Her 4.97 UTR tennis rating, Ray Raiche said, “is amazing for any high school player, let alone a ninth-grader.”
Bonavoglia and Berardis, who were seeded fifth in the MHAL, upset Spackenkill’s No. 1 tandem of Thanya Tran and Alison Lee, 6-2, 6-3, in the semifinals. They then battled in the final, rallying to top Emma LaPolla and Gwen Benninger of Marlboro, 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, for the title.
“I'm not only glad for of our players who won today, but I’m proud of the entire team,” said Ray Raiche, whose squad won a section title in 2022, back in Lourdes’ inaugural season in Section 9. “To have five of our seven starters qualify for the section tournament, that's incredible for us.”
Stephen Haynes: shaynes@poughkeepsiejournal.com; 845-437-4826; Twitter: @StephenHaynes4
This article originally appeared on Poughkeepsie Journal: Girls tennis: Lourdes' Ren, Bonavoglia and Berardis sweep MHAL singles and doubles
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