Amherst's Bussard, Mags locals stumble during semifinal defeats

BATH TWP. — The semifinal round was not kind to Lorain County on Saturday.Amherst's Kayla Bussard and the Magnificat doubles team of Adriana Guillermo and Elizabeth Ammori, an Avon resident, fought hard, but ultimately lost their semifinal matches at the Division I district tennis tournament hosted by the Springside Athletic Club in Bath Township.Bussard battled back in her second set, but ultimately fell 6-1, 6-4 against North Canton Hoover's Addison Sheil. She finished fourth after falling to Shaker Heights' Ameya Bole 7-6 (5), 6-2 in the third-place match. Sheil lost to Hudson's Emma Liu 6-1, 6-2 in the final.Magnificat won the first set and held a 4-1 lead in the second in its semifinal against Claire Schlak and Lily Hantz, but the Medina Highland duo won 12 of the next 16 games to advance 2-6, 7-5, 6-3. The Blue Streaks ultimately finished fourth after Akron Hoban's Karlie and Diana Nicolae won the third-place match 6-3, 6-4. Highland lost to Perry's Haylee and Makenzie Fearon 6-0, 6-1 in the final."I'm excited to go to state," Ammori said. "I know it's going to be tough because we have to play a (No.) 1 seed in the first round. But if we play really well, I feel like we can try and make it really far."Avon's Aslhey DeHaven also had a rough semifinal, albeit in the back draw. The junior was not able to punch her ticket to the state tournament, losing to Strongsville's Mallory Koch 6-4, 6-2 in her consolation semifinal, which was a rematch of a three-set sectional semifinal from Oct. 4 at the same site, except Saturday they played indoors.The only good news to come out of a semifinal came in the back draw where Magnificat's Marissa Packer, an Avon Lake resident, and partner Molly Williams defeated Cara and Lindsay Nejak of Willoughby South 6-1, 6-1 to qualify for the state tournament. They finished fifth, defeating Massillon Jackson's Ashley Helle and Halley Smith 6-4, 5-7, 6-0.All three area qualifiers will compete in the Division I state tournament at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason on Thursday and Friday. The Blue Streaks also qualified for the state semifinals of the Ohio Tennis Coaches Association team tournament, which will be held in Mason on Oct. 18."It's my first state tournament so I'm pretty excited," Packer said. "I think both of us were pretty tired after the second set of our match. We just wanted to get off the court as fast as possible and keep our energy high."Bussard took a 31-0 record at singles into the district semifinals, but was unable to stay perfect. She is now 33-3 overall (2-1 at doubles) and 91-29 for her career. She and Sheil combined for three straight breaks to open the first set before Sheil rattled off four straight games to close out 6-1.Sheil broke Bussard in a 16-point game to take a 2-1 lead in the second set, but Bussard broke right back with an emphatic backhand return winner that looked to give her some momentum. Unfortunately for Bussard, Sheil settled in and won the next four games.Bussard battled back to trail 5-4 heading into the final game and fought off two match points before Sheil closed out the set.Against Bole, Bussard broke back to tie the opening set at 4-4. Both players held the next four games. Bussard took a 5-3 lead in the tiebreak, but Bole won the next four points. The Shaker Heights freshman took a 5-1 lead in the second, then the players exchanged breaks to finish the match."I'm just looking to enjoy state," Bussard said. "I definitely need to work on getting out of my head when I'm playing people. I know I can beat them, I know I can keep up with them, but I just keep putting myself down and I need to not do that."Magnificat's semifinal against Highland may have been the match of the day, lasting two and a half hours, but it didn't start off that way. The Blue Streaks won the first four games, including an epic 28-point hold on Ammori's first service game. Each team had six game points, but it was the Blue Streaks who finally converted on a backhand volley winner from Guillermo. Magnificat ultimately won 6-2.It looked as if Magnificat was heading to the final after taking a 4-1 lead with a pair of breaks to start the second set, but Highland won the next four games to go up 5-4 on serve. Guillermo held, but Highland won the final two, capping the set with a break of Ammori.Neither team could hold serve for the first four games of the final set. In fact, Highland secured the only hold among the first eight games then held again with an 18-point win on Hantz's serve. Magnificat had two chances to break and fought off four match points before the Hornets clinched the match on Schlak's overhead smash.Against Hoban, the Knights took a 4-3 lead before winning the next two in the first set, then built a 5-2 lead in the second. Magnificat broke back to make things interesting, but Hoban closed out the match on the next game."It's really cool to go to state since we're freshmen," Guillermo said. "It's been really fun (to play with Ammori). I'm hoping to improve my volleys for the state tournament. We didn't play any doubles during the season, but we're working together well and we know our styles so it's easier to play."Packer and Williams secured the only wins amongst area players Saturday, needing just 14 games to punch their ticket to the state tournament. In the fifth-place match, Jackson rallied to force a third set, but the Blue Streaks settled in and swept the Polar Bears 6-0."I'm happy I get to go to state with Marissa and my senior year," Williams said. "Knowing we were tired, we still had the energy in us to play that third set. We played through it, knowing how important it was, and wanted to win."Contact Chris Sweeney at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Follow him @CSweeney1686 on X.