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Uh, not according to Leah Rutt.
"I'm super excited, times a billion," said Rutt, who captured the L-L AAA title Monday at Conestoga Valley High School with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Hempfield's Chelsie Yacks.
It was Rutt's first L-L title after losing to another Hempfield player, Lauren Hankle, in the final the last two years. Hankle, who graduated, took the crown last year by outlasting Rutt 7-6 (8-6), 7-5.
Lancaster Country Day senior Laura Habecker took the Class AA crown with a 7-6 (7-3), 6-0 win over Lancaster Mennonite's Erin Ipsen.
"I was a lot more nervous last year. I felt a lot more confident this year coming into it," said Habecker, who lost to Pequea Valley's Katelyn Acker in last year's championship. "I thought I played really well. It was a great match for both of us."
Rutt, a Lancaster Christian junior who played with McCaskey as part of a cooperative between the two schools, was given her toughest test of the season after steamrolling the L-L competition in the regular season. No player had won four games in a match against her.
"I lost a little bit of my focus," said Rutt, who actually trailed 4-1 in the second set. "I was a little concerned. But I knew what I had to do. I knew I wasn't going to get frustrated at shots I was missing and it was important for me to just keep my focus at that time.
"(Yacks) was playing very well. … It's always a tough match, no matter what the score is."It wasn't that tough in the their regular-season meeting, at least not on paper, with Rutt taking a 6-1, 6-2 decision. It didn't appear it would be much closer Monday after Rutt won the first two games and then the last three for the 6-2 win in the first set. But Yacks' strategy and some mistakes by Rutt turned things in the second.
"My strategy was to hit mostly to her backhand and keep my slice low," said Yacks, also a junior, who missed six months of action and is still rounding into shape after breaking her wrist in a trampoline accident. "Just move her around and stay focused.
"I was doing much better at it than the first set," she said about gaining the 4-1 lead.
"She won that first match 6-2, and then all of sudden she's down 4-1 because she's pressing the issue a little bit too much," said McCaskey coach Juan Galarza.
Galarza said all the pressure then was released after Rutt, trailing 4-3 at the time, hit a smash that would have sailed long but instead hit Yacks to end the game and make it 4-4.
"Her mental approach this year compared to last year is a lot different," Galarza said. "This year, when she missed a shot, she would gather herself, take her time and take a deep breath."
"I was missing some important shots — and all of a sudden I was down 4-2," said Rutt, who had a string of easy putaways near the net that uncharacteristically went into the net.
Then the important shots became winners and Rutt reeled off five straight games for the victory.
(1593) (1218) (878) (842) (800) (622) (537) (434) (388) (310) (284) (242) (197) (105) (93) (33) (12) (11) (10) (8) (7) (7) (6) (4) (2) (2) (2) (2)"I just started playing more aggressively, believing in my shots and playing my game more," Rutt said.
Rutt and Yacks advance to the District Three AAA Tournament, scheduled for Saturday at 9 a.m. at Cedar Crest High School and Monday at 1 p.m. at Elco. Joining them will be Manheim Township freshman Lauren Stauffer and Manheim Central senior Melanie Nolt, who lost 7-5, 6-4 to Stauffer in the third-place match.
In Class AA, senior Whitney Breneman of Donegal earned the third spot from the L-L with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Habecker's twin sister, Annie.
In doubles competition, Manheim Township's Caroline Barry and Stauffer defeated Hempfield's Yacks and Mackenzie Smith for the Class AAA title, while Lancaster Catholic's Lindsay Filling and Tammy Saunders topped their teammates, Maria Morrison and Grace Kirchner, 6-4, 6-3, in Class AA.
L-L All-Stars: Winning Section One honors in voting by the coaches were Rutt, Yacks, Stauffer, Barry and Warwick senior Jenna Greaser.
In Section Two, it was Nolt, Breneman, Cocalico senior Alison Fetter, Filling and Lampeter-Strasburg sophomore Andrea Hufnagel.
League all-stars were Barry, Nolt, Rutt, Stauffer and Yacks, with Rutt named player of the year and Warwick's Ron Wanner as coach of the year.
E-mail: pglatfelter@lnpnews.com
