Cougars Tennis Defeats Hauppauge in First Contest

Score: 5 Commack, 2 Hauppauge

Records: Commack: 1-0 (1-0), Hauppauge 0-1 (0-1)

The Heroes: Dominant singles performances from Michelle Graziosi, Lara Fishbane, and Kelly Hall put the Cougars ahead right off the bat, allowing them to wrap things up within the first hour. Despite giving up an early set to Hauppauge's Heather Carroll, Karen Schaub stormed back to win the second set, and eventually the match, with a few well-placed, wide-angle, cross-court shots.

The Turning Point: Michelle Graziosi's second singles victory put the Cougars three matches up, one match away from victory. With a battle being fought in first singles, Graziosi's victory ensured a team victory. The third doubles match-up of Commack's Rebecca Lisowski and Tracy Rosenlicht against Hauppaugge's Briana Schoen and Chelsea Falco concluded shortly afterwards with a Cougars win, putting them ahead early 4-0 in a seven match series.

The Quote: "This showed tremendous effort and determination today," said Commack coach Shane Helfner after the victory. "We showed depth, and now we know what we need to work on."

The Bottom Line: Commack dominated out of the box with more mature play, especially on such a windy day. Consistency and solid performance eliminated the potential for mental error. With minimal unforced errors and consistent winners the Cougars repeatedly exploited Hauppauge's weaknesses and eliminated all potential for an unnecessary loss.

Key Stat: Unforced errors - virtually nonexistent in Commack's winning matches. Fishbane, Graziosi, and Hall didn't even think about beating themselves. Solid ground strokes and winners made for a quick victory. However, they plagued Karen Schaub, making it a tough match.

Who's Next? Harborfields at Commack, Sept. 15 at 4:00pm

Box

                              1S 2S 3S 4S 1D 2D 3D

Commack 3      7 7(7) 6 6 6 6 6 6 1 1 1 4 6 1

Hauppauge 6   6 5(3) 0 1 0 0 1 1 6 6 6 6 6 1