Ventimiglia Falls in Junior Tennis Championships

A steely nerve took Bayside’s Lisa Ventigmilia all the way to the finals of the BJKNTC Junior Tennis Classic Championships, but it wasn’t enough to win the title yesterday afternoon.

Competing in the Girls 18-and-under division, Ventimiglia defeated the No. 2 seed in a tight, two set quarterfinal match before winning her semifinal against the No. 3 seed in a deciding tiebreaker over the weekend. Today, she erased a 4-1 lead in the first set with strong defensive skills, but eventually became overmatched by the power shots of her opponent, falling 5-7 6-3, 10-5 to Jeannie Lozowski of Port Saint Lucie, Florida (a 10 point 'super tiebreaker' was used in lieu of a third set for all tournament matches).

“I’m usually a pretty slow starter,” said Ventimiglia, who is about to be a senior at St. Francis Prep. “I started to feel more settled as the match went on.”

With Lozowski winning most of the hard-hitting baseline rallies at the beginning of the match, Ventimiglia began to opt for softer shots down the middle of the court, focusing more on placement and consistency.

The plan worked as Lozowski began to overhit, committing numerous unforced errors. Despite having a chance to serve out the set, Ventimiglia continued to track down her opponent’s shots, leveling the match at 5-5. Two games later, a backhand error from Lozowski gave the Bayside native the opening set.

“I’ve been trying to be more aggressive in practice, but sometimes it doesn’t work in matches,” said Ventimiglia. “I had to just go with what was working out there.”

The Bayside native led 3-1 in the final set, but Lozowski began to find the range on her powerful groundstrokes and Ventimiglia did not have an answer to it. Lozowski reeled off five straight games to take the second set, and took a commanding 9-3 lead in the deciding tiebreaker before an error from Ventimiglia wrapped up the match.

The finalist showing continues a string of good form on the court for Ventimiglia in recent months. She won a USTA event in Eastchester last month, her first tournament win in the 18-and-under division.

As the No. 2 doubles player on the Girls Varsity tennis team at St. Francis Prep, she also played an instrumental role in helping the team win the Mayor’s Cup this year.

“I need to get into college next year, so I’ve got to impress them somehow,” said Ventimiglia with a laugh.

Ventimiglia said she will be looking at a number of Division I and Division II schools throughout the east coast, where she will also look to compete on the women’s tennis team.

Check back with Bayside Patch for photos of the match.