For the sixth time since 2005, Rye Racquet Club captured all three Flight 1 divisions of the A, B, and C women’s doubles competition in the Metropolitan Interclub Tennis League (MITL).

 

For the sixth time since 2005, Rye Racquet Club captured all three Flight 1 divisions of the A, B, and C women’s doubles competition in the Metropolitan Interclub Tennis League (MITL). And their C2 team, in Flight 1 of the Hudson Valley Tennis League (HVTL), shared in a three-way championship tie.

Topping off the outstanding season, Rye Racquet also won the A division of the MITL’s end-of-season Barbara Williams Cup.

The club’s MITL A team ended the season with 21 points, just three points ahead of Saw Mill Club. “We had a mid-season wake-up call when we lost to New Rochelle 0-4, although three of the four matches went to three sets,” said Carolyn Cruz, team captain and director of tennis and operations at Rye Racquet. “We then knew we had to win the next two matches, 4-0, which was not an easy task, but the team rose to the occasion in their usual fashion and won the next eight points, which was enough to clinch the division,” said Cruz.

“We were deep in all three MITL divisions,” said Kit Byron, Rye Racquet owner and team coach. According to Byron, the A team, champions for the past eight years, had a strong and steady season with a solid group of players. “The B season was a horse race, as it usually is, but we spread it out towards the end and always against good competition. The C team ran away with it.”   

The B team finished strong with 34 points, an eight-point lead over New Rochelle.

The C team only lost one match and celebrated the season with 27 points, a nine-point lead over Mt. Kisco. “This is the fifth year in a row that we’ve taken our flight, and we are pretty happy about our winning streak,” said Captain Young Kim. Further, she said the team is “raring to go” next season, with eight returning players and two new members, all of whom trained with Byron since the fall.

In the MITL Barbara Williams Cup, the Rye Racquet duo of Joy Cummiskey and Corinna Bode defeated Erin Mills and Susan Padgett of Westchester Country Club in the A finals, while Margaret Grasso and Alex Nicklas were finalists in the C division.

For the C 2 team, the HVTL provided a season of surprises and close matches yet no losses to any teams, according to Rye Racquet team coach Go Inagawa. Captain Andrea Mancini said, “It was an exciting season. We weren’t in first place until the very last match,” when it was determined that Rye Racquet, Chestnut Ridge, and Kela Tennis each accumulated 18 points and all three were declared winners.