Berks players Lin Robertson, Sammi Snyder win District 3 singles titles
HERSHEY>> The Berks League came away with both District 3 singles champions Monday afternoon at Hershey Racquet Club.
Sammi Snyder of Exeter and Lin Robertson of Berks Catholic were crowned champions in Classes AAA and AA, respectively.
Snyder was awarded the AAA gold medal when her opponent in the final, Yvonne Peters-Washington of Central York, withdrew due to illness midway through the second set. Under the weather for the duration of the tournament, Peters-Washington had to rally from a set down to defeat Ali Snyder in the semifinal, a grueling 3-set, 2-hour and 46-minute affair that drained whatever energy the Central ace had left.
Robertson won AA honors with a 6-7(2), 6-3, 6-3 win over Northern Lebanon foreign exchange student Maja Andersson, classified as a senior stateside, despite being just 16-years-old.
A couple of days shy of two weeks since winning the Berks League title at Fleetwood, Snyder added a D-3 gold medal to her trophy case with the 6-0, 4-2 (ret.) verdict.
It may have felt like a bit of a back-door way to win it, but Snyder approached the entire weekend as underdog anyway, even though she was the top seed in the AAA bracket.
“I’ll take it,” Snyder said. “Of course, it feels kind of strange; I definitely earned it, but I feel for both Ali and Yvonne because they had to play such a long match. Wish they had time to recover, because it was kind of unfair I had such a short match.
“Especially during the first match, I was really consistent, but I really went for my shots, too. I feel like I was hitting more winners than I usually do. In Yvonne’s match, I knew she was really tired but I had to move her, had to make her run.”
Sammi took care of her semifinal business with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Lampeter-Strasburg’s Taylor Capoferri, then waited around for nearly two hours to find out if she’d face her sister in a rematch from the Berks League title encounter, or Peters-Washington.
Peters-Washington knocked out Ali with a roaring comeback. Down a set and trailing 1-4 in the second, she reeled off five consecutive games, then carried the flow over to the third set to prevail 5-7, 7-5, 6-4. It got Peters-Washington the PIAA berth she coveted, but left her gassed for Sammi.
Robertson’s path was more conventional. In her final shot, the Berks Catholic senior routed Katherine Long of Trinity 6-0, 6-0 in a 36- minute semifinal match, while Andersson was busy beating Lenea Riehl of Pequea Valley 6-3, 6-0.
Andersson, at nearly 6-feet tall, had a considerable reach advantage in the final and used it from the baseline to grab a 4-1 lead in the first set. But Robertson steadied herself and began chipping away. She did not capture the first set — losing a 7-2 tiebreak — but her game was stabilizing as the match progressed.
“Whenever I start missing I always say ‘bounce-hit’ to myself to get my timing back,” Robertson said. “When the ball bounces to my side, I go ‘bounce’ in my head and then ‘hit’. It helps with my concentration and timing, and that’s what I did to come back.”
The approach paid off; Robertson fought through a tough portion early in the second set to grab the lead at 3-2 and never trailed again.
Both Snyder sisters advance to states; Ali later won her third-place match over Capoferri 6-1, 6-1.
District 3 singles championships
AAA
Final
Sammi Snyder (Ex) def. Yvonne Peters-Washington 6-0, 4-2 (ret.)
Semifinals
Sammi Snyder def. Taylor Capoferri 6-0, 6-0
Peters-Washington def. Ali Snyder (Ex) 5-7, 7-5, 6-4
Third place
Ali Snyder def. Capoferri 6-1, 6-1
AA
Final
Lin Robertson (BC) def. Maja Andersson (NL) 6-7(2), 6-3, 6-3
Semifinals
Robertson def. Katherine Long (Trin) 6-0, 6-0
Andersson def. Lenea Riiehl (PV) 6-3, 6-0
Third place
Riehl def. Long 7-6(1), 6-4
