SCHENECTADY -- Since it was their last tennis match in Section II, Saratoga Springs seniors Sara Bjork and Rebecca Mangona made it a memorable one.
The duo topped the sister tandem of Mitali and Shibani Das of Emma Willard, 6-4, 5-7, 6-2, on Wednesday at Sportime to win the doubles championship at the Section II Individual Championships. Bjork and Mangona, the section's No. 1 doubles seed, will play in the State Girls Tennis Championships for the second straight year, beginning Nov. 7 in Manlius. Last year they made it after winning the consolation doubles final.
Bjork and Mangona are the fifth sectional doubles champions to come from Saratoga Springs and the 44th and 45th Blue Streaks to reach the state championships.
During the regular season, the pair plays singles, but the girls look forward to their doubles pairing come sectional time.
"I think doubles is a good change of pace for us," Mangona said.
Winning the title in their senior years also was on the players' minds.
"We would have been sad if we couldn't do it as seniors," Bjork said.
"It's definitely important as seniors," Mangona added. "It's your last hurrah."
The match had its share of subplots. Das and Das took an early 3-1 lead, winning their third game on an out call that Bjork and Mangona notably disputed - just one of several that had taken place so early in the match. After that game, the roving United States Tennis Association official went over to their court to watch the next few games, which seemed, on some level, to help Bjork and Mangona, as they won the next four games and eventually closed out the set.
Things looked like it might be a quick day in the second set, as the Saratoga duo - behind the quick hands of Bjork at the net and Mangona's long, fluid strokes - built leads of 3-1 and 5-3. Das and Das, however, started making more shots and took advantage of a number of Saratoga errors to win the second set.
"They picked it up a bit and we let them back into it," Mangona said. "But they played great. They're a good team."
Each team broke one another to start the third set, but Bjork and Mangona broke Das and Das twice more to close it out. Bjork had several big points at the net.
"Usually my reflex shots go in if I'm not thinking about them and just react," Bjork said.
The Saratoga team also said it benefitted from the 10-minute rest before the third set.
"We were just ready to go," Bjork said. "The 10-minute refresher feels, like, forever."
Bjork and Mangona struggled with their first serves all day, but they never double-faulted. And they also had to deal with Das and Das' strategy of having the net person stand very near the serving box.
"We've seen it before," Bjork said, "but after they return, if they don't move over, it opens up more of the court for us."
"It worked against them," Mangona added, "because we went down the line a lot."
Bjork and Mangona finished in the top 16 at last year's state tournament and have set a goal of the top eight this year.
In other action Wednesday, Shaker's Cat Crummey, the fifth seed, defeated No. 4 seed Amanda Rosati of Holy Names for the singles title, 6-4, 6-2.
The consolation singles crown went to Scotia eighth-grader Claire Schmitz, who beat top-seeded Jessica Macaluso of Shenendehowa, 7-6, 1-6, 6-4. The Guilderland team of Rachel Gallelli and Lauren Fehervari defeated Bethlehem's Sarah Rubin and Alexa Grossman, 6-4, 6-1, to win the consolation doubles title.
Posted in Girls on Wednesday, October 21, 2009 10:55 pm Updated: 10:32 am.
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