Westhampton Beach - Even the unbeaten, unchallenged, perhaps unstoppable Westhampton Beach girls tennis team felt nervous. Its semifinal challengers, the Eagles of Hauppauge, were convinced they could compete, a hurdle most teams fail to clear going into the match.

Hauppauge hung in, but in the end, like it tends to do, the Hurricanes' depth was too much. Behind three quick doubles wins and a pair of victories at singles, Westhampton rolled into Wednesday's Suffolk County final with a 5-2 victory on its home court.

The 'Canes now face League III title-winner Sayville (15-1) in the championship match (Wednesday, Oct. 31, at 2 p.m. at Smithtown West). With the county title at stake, the second-seeded Golden Flashes will look to avenge their only loss of the season, a 5-2 defeat at the hands of Westhampton on Sept. 27.

"I'm really proud of the girls," Czartosieski said. "It's good to be back in the finals, and we're going to turn around last year's disappointing loss." That loss came to the team Westhampton (17-0) thought it might face in the finals – Half Hollow Hills East. Instead, Sayville cancelled the rematch by beating the Thunderbirds 4-3 in their semifinal match Tuesday, Oct. 30.

Nonetheless, the Hurricanes are excited about getting another crack at the Suffolk crown. "We're hoping that this year we can win it," said Westhampton senior Allie Harding. "Last year, we were really excited, but it ended in a loss. Hopefully, we can win it this time. That would be fun."

Teaming Up
Doubles was where the top-seeded Hurricanes really made a killing. Opponents squeezed out just one point in doubles, and Hauppauge would fail to do so in the semifinal. At the top spot, Christine Cassaro and Diana Vamvakatis cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 victory, and the second doubles team of Stephanie DiCapua and Sarah Haupt won by the same score.

Jamie Hahn and Allie Lehrer came up the match clincher, as Lehrer rifled a backhand deep that Hauppauge's Heather Carroll couldn't return, polishing off the Westhampton tandem's 6-3, 6-0 win and chalking up the Hurricanes' fourth point. "My team is so deep all the way down to third doubles, and we showed that today," Czartosieski said. As convincing as the doubles wins were, Elli Vamvakatis at fourth singles was first on the board for Westhampton. The sophomore proved to have too much pace for the Eagles, taking the first set from Hauppauge's Adina Raso 6-1 before coasting at love in the second. For good measure, third singles player Lindsay Kantor came from 5-4 down in the first set to win 7-5, and trailed 2-3 in the second before roaring back to win 6-3.

"I knew that, for us to win, we needed a fourth point somewhere, and that even the third would be tough," Hauppauge coach Chris Messina said. "This is the best team I've seen. They were exceptional."

Hauppauge, though, had two exceptional players in the top two singles spots – sophomore Jennifer Kellner and senior Katherine Hanson. That they had surrendered a set to their opponents all season was cause for concern on the Westhampton side. "Our whole team was a little nervous," Harding admitted. "During the season, we beat East Hampton 7-0 and 6-1, and this team beat them 5-2. We knew we were up against a good team with two really good players."

Looking at the big picture, Westhampton Head Coach John Czartosieski fielded the same lineup that got the 'Canes to that point. "A couple players came up to me and said they were concerned about what the other lineup was going to look like," Czartosieski said, "but I thought 'Why fix it if it's not broken? We went with our strongest lineup. We played it straight up just like we've played all season."

Kellner and Hanson prevailed with relative ease, beating Harding and Brooke Pottish, respectively, in straight sets. However, the 'Canes survived the match, and they're one step away from their first county title since 2004. Said their coach: "We have to play every match seriously and every point seriously. If we play to our ability, we should come out OK."