The four players who made it to the District 11 girls tennis singles championships had to deal with something unexpected along with a quality opponent — a hot day in October.
A day that felt a lot more appropriate for seeing 4th of July decorations than the Halloween stuff tested Moravian Academy’s Francesca Bartolacci and Northwestern Lehigh’s Mallory Conner in the 2A finals and Liberty’s Helena Lynn and Parkland’s Lexie Warsing in the 3A championship match.
Bartolacci and Lynn persevered through the heat a little bit better and repeated as district champs at Freedom High School.
In earning her third district singles gold in four years, Bartolacci won 6-4, 6-0, while Lynn had to go through three grueling, hard-hitting sets with Warsing before pulling out a 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 victory in a rematch of the 2022 finals.
“It was super tough and it was really hot out,” said Lynn, a junior who was The Morning Call’s tennis player of the year last year. “We had long really long points and I just had to hang in there and do my best to stay hydrated.”
Lynn had just lost to Warsing in last week’s Eastern Pennsylvania Conference tournament in the No. 1 singles final. Warsing, a sophomore, kept the momentum going early in the match in rallying from a 5-3 deficit to take the first set.
“At the EPC tournament I didn’t play my best,”Lynn said. “I was disappointed I lost the first set today, but I just tried to regroup and not think about it and tried to keep executing my game plan. Lexie is definitely my toughest opponent. I wouldn’t say it’s a rivalry, but every time I play her I know I am in for a tough match. She’s such a great opponent and always gives her all. Much respect to her.”
In the post-match medal ceremony, Liberty coach Chris Conrad said of Warsing: “There is no better battler in high school tennis. She is fierce and constantly fighting for every ball. She made Helena’s life very difficult today and has made it difficult the last two years. She is one of the best players District 11 has ever had and it’s a shame that only one advances to states.”
After the ceremony, Conrad reaffirmed the thought that this is a great era for local girls tennis with two outstanding players such as Lynn and Warsing leading the way in the EPC and District 11 3A.
“There is no better player than Lexie except for Helena in the district finals the last two years,” he said. “Without a doubt, she is one of the best players I’ve seen in this district in a long and it’s unfortunate in a sense that we have two of the best players in the state at the same time.”
The differences between the two players are minimal. Conrad said that it came down to a few less unforced errors by Lynn.
“We had a different return strategy that had an effect,” he said. “When they played in the EPCs, Helena was missing more returns than she did today. She had less unforced errors on the return today and that helped her. There’s no doubt that Helena is a better player today than she was last year. She plays every day and has great competition. Her dad works with her. She just puts in so much work. She’s definitely a better player.”
Warsing said she wasn’t expecting the warm weather.
“Last week when we played in the EPCs it was a lot cooler and I feel like I did better in those conditions,” she said. “Helena definitely deserved this. I felt like I couldn’t put in 100% the entire match. I tried my hardest and feel like I gave everything I had. It just wasn’t there.”
The second-seeded Warsing said it was a long two days. The tournament began with two rounds of play on Monday at Lehigh and then resumed Tuesday morning.
In the semifinals, both Warsing and Lynn won handily, posting 6-2, 6-1 victories.
After they split the first two sets, they took a 10-minute break before starting the deciding set.
“This championship was more satisfying than last year just because the match was super tough,” Lynn said. “I was little nervous coming into it. It feels really good and now I am excited to go to states.”
The PIAA tournament doesn’t begin until Nov. 3 and ends the following day at the Hershey Racquet Club.
At Hershey, Lynn will see Bartolacci who made it four district titles in as many years — three in singles and one in doubles as a sophomore.
“It feels really good because I’ve worked hard to this point and just played a really hard match in the heat,” Bartolacci said after claiming 2A gold. “I’m really happy with the outcome and I thought I played really well to win this. The heat was definitely different from the past few weeks because it was pretty cool. But I play in the summer. I play at the beach, I play at the shore and it can get pretty hot when the sun is out.”
She said she has to readjust on serving and hitting overheads.with the sun so bright.
Bartolacci and Conner know each other from the Northwood Racquet Club but haven’t played each other very often.
“This past season I have just been concentrating on getting the balls in and playing steady,” she said. “I want to be consistent and have worked on my serve and have tried to come to the net a little more and volley more. Consistency is the key.”
Bartolacci said she’s looking forward to states, but knows it’s going to be tough.
“There are so many good players and you can’t control everything, but I am going to work my hardest and see what happens,” she said. “I’ve been playing tennis since I was 5 or 6 and I like seeing a lot of kids playing tennis. It’s great to see them learn the sport and come to love the sport. That makes me happy.”
Conner was happy to reach the finals as the third seed and had an impressive victory over Allentown Central Catholic’s Madelyn Groff in the semis.
What’s especially notable about Conner is that Northwestern Lehigh doesn’t have a tennis team, so everything she accomplishes she does on her own.
“My shoulder bothered me, but [Barolacci] definitely earned it,” Conner said. “She’s a senior and a great player, but I will be back.”
As for her injury she said “I reached down and my shoulder kind of came out. It got some biofreeze and it definitely was a bit of an issue and affected my serve a little bit and overheads. The heat didn’t affect me. I play all year ’round, including the summer, so I am used to it.”
Conner, a sophomore, said it’s different for her not to have a team to hang out with in the fall, but said she’s training all year.
“I am proud to represent my school,” she said. “It’s a good school and we’re good at a lot of other sports. Unfortunately, we just don’t have tennis but we’ve figured out ways to still play.”
