Emma Way Leads Westhampton Girls Tennis Team To Suffolk County Final

Emma Way slammed down an ace, turned to her coach and let out a scream.

The Westhampton Beach senior, in shock at what she’d just accomplished, earned a three-set win, 1-6, 6-4, 6-4, on Monday to send the Hurricanes — with a 5-2 victory over William Floyd — to the Suffolk County final.

“I definitely froze for a second, thinking, ‘What just happened?’” Way said following the win. “I just wanted to finish strong, be aggressive, attack at the net and defend at the baseline — all the basics.”

Westhampton Beach (15-1) played at No. 1 Half Hollow Hills East (17-0) on Tuesday for the county title. Results occurred too late to appear in this week’s issue, but can be found on 27east.com.

After dropping the first set, Way bounced back to claim the second, before she and her William Floyd opponent asked for line judges for the tiebreaking set. Westhampton Beach head coach Matt Reed was one of two to step onto the court to see the match through.

“Being that close definitely made me even more nervous,” Reed said, laughing. “Like we needed any more stress, I look across the courts and see the final doubles teams tied and heading into a third set. It was intense.”

At that point, the Hurricanes were ahead, 3-1, with wins at first, second and third singles. Senior Katelyn Stabile earned a victory at the No. 1 spot, 6-0, 6-0. Her younger sister Julia, a sophomore, secured her win at No. 3 singles, 6-0, 6-0. Freshman Matilda Buchen defeated her opponent at the No. 2 spot, 6-1, 6-0, to put Westhampton Beach out front.

“We knew we were going to put up a fight,” Katelyn Stabile said. “This is a big win today.”

The match was a much different outcome from the first time the two teams met back on September 21, where William Floyd edged Westhampton Beach, 4-3. It’s the only loss the Hurricanes have suffered thus far.

“This has been a match we’ve been looking forward to. I know all the girls wanted this,” Reed said. “I know Emma, understandably, was very upset by the loss, so for her to come through for us is huge.”

But defeats at No. 1 and No. 3 doubles — seniors Alexandra Sielaw and Emily D'Alessandro lost, 1-6, 0-6, and freshmen Mia Failla and Melina Pinonzek fell, 2-6, 1-6, — made the match much closer down the stretch. While Way was making her way through her third set, her younger sisters, Kylie, a sophomore, and Ana, an eighth-grader, were leading in the second, but their Colonial adversaries managed to tie the match 4-all before taking the set to force a deciding third.

While the doubles team took a break, Emma Way was busy earning a few aces and winning some rallies with hard hits at the back corners of the court.

“She definitely swung through the ball a lot more,” Reed said. “I think in the first set she played a little too tentatively and was nervous, because it’s a big match, of course. This third time around, she was definitely a lot more relaxed, her forehand was on fire and her serve was there — she was hitting all the angles, and it was beautiful.”

The senior even moved up the court for a few soft taps to earn easy points at the net, humming to herself the whole way to keep calm. Once she won, the William Floyd doubles team bowed out, taking the loss, 4-6, 6-4, DNF, to avoid injury.

“I kept playing better and better,” Way said. “I wanted to prove to my team and everyone else that we had this. I’m so excited. This really lifts us up. We feel invincible at this point.”