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Canfield duo plays through the pain
By Ryan Buck
CANFIELD
It can be said that the success of the Canfield girls tennis team rests on the shoulders of Allie Pavlansky and Stephanie Carrocce. That’s a tall order when their right ones are aching.
Pavlansky and Carrocce have led the Cardinals to a 13-0 record this season after their team took four of five points from previously undefeated Cardinal Mooney in the most anticipated match of the season Tuesday.
“It was huge,” Canfield coach Robert Stephens said. “I know the girls look forward to some of the local matches, especially with a team that was undefeated coming into the match. A lot of these girls practice together in the offseason, so it’s a friendly rivalry.”
Mooney coach Jimmy Leslie was looking forward to seeing his young, but talented team react to some of the best competition in the area.
“This was a very good match with the best Division I team, in Canfield locally, being undefeated, and I would say that we’re one of the better Division II teams locally,” Leslie said. “Having two good teams play each other really brings out some good tennis.”
Pavlansky, who plans to play collegiately next year, bested Mooney’s Kacey Hagerty in straight sets, 6-0, 6-2 in the number one singles match. She’s overcome pain since her freshman year when she learned she had thoracic outlet syndrome.
“My upper muscles in the thoracic chest area get really tight and I lose circulation in my arm,” Pavlansky said. “It’s something you have to keep up with and you have to know your limitations. You have to find ways to work around it. If I’m hurt, I try and not show it because it’s just a weakness.”
She is now undefeated in singles matches this season.
Leslie, in his second year at Mooney (11-1), sees Pavlansky as the force of Canfield’s team, as well as the area’s best in a competitive year.
“I can’t say enough about her,” Leslie said. “She’s been to state, I believe, the past two years. Having a phenomenal number one in singles strengthens your team all around.”
Carrocce also took her singles match in straight sets, 6-0, 6-3, over Mooney sophomore Gianna Reider.
While Pavlansky’s injury is attributed to overuse, a freak incidence during a match at Kenston High School two years ago plagues Carrocce.
“My rotator cuff is slightly torn,” Carrocce said, draped in an ice bag after a visit to the training room. “I ran into a fence during a match and it popped out. Sometimes my shoulder blade slips out of place like it did a couple days ago. That’s why it’s starting to bother me again.”
Stephens is cautiously optimistic about his top two players.
“They put in so much time in practicing,” he said. “You have those aches and pains, but we just try and monitor how many matches they play and get them ready for the big matches.”
Canfield’s other match wins came from Catherine Brown in third singles against Hallie Yerian, 6-2, 6-4. In first doubles, Paige Zwicker and Ashley Kaleel beat Jamie DiDominico and Dominique Cicchi 6-0, 6-1. Mooney’s lone win came from Gianna Parella and Lizzie Mathews, who defeated Sara Martinko and Briana Slemons, 6-3, 6-1.
Pavlansky and Carrocce will go home tonight and dream of an undefeated senior season and a trip to the state tournament.
But not before a heat wrap, an ice bag and some shoulder stretches.