By Donald Daniels

Excitement and relief were the two emotions that beamed from the smiling face of Oldfields’ Nini Lui. After her championship match on Friday at Roland Park Country School, Liu, proved why she was more than capable of defending her singles championship crown. The Oldfield senior defeated RPCS sophomore Katie Tutrone (21-14, 21-19) to win her second straight IAAM title.

“It was my last season so I enjoyed it a lot,” said Liu.

“She has had an unbelievable season, Nini is the most talent athlete I have coached and it’s been a privilege all year,” said Oldfield coach Scott Hubbard. “Not only is she a great athlete, she is also a great person. She always has smile on her face and she always has a great attitude.”

Tutrone’s gritty and feisty performance was out weighted by Liu’s remarkable footwork and fluid like delivery.  In the first game Liu went on a 10-4 run to open and cruised to victory. The second game Liu saw her biggest scare as the game had 12 ties, Liu never trailed in that set.

Even though, at times, Liu looked as though she was playing with ease, the defending singles champ felt as though protecting her crown was far more difficult than winning it the first time.

“I had a lot of pressure from my school, my friends and my teachers to repeat as champion so I tried to push myself even further,” said Liu.

Moments before the doubles championship semi-finals match, Friends senior Ani Wong was filled with anxiety after realization that her shoes were missing. In the biggest match of her life, Wong, slipped into her kung-fu shoes as she and senior teammate Sarah Pidcock pressed on. Even in the wrong footwear, the duo of Wong and Pidcock took down tournament host Roland Park doubles mates of Polk/Marbler (21-11, 21-12) and Gaines/Steadley (21-11, 21-17) in the semi-finals and the finals, respectively.

“In the last couple of games it is really about having a power game,” said Wong.

“It is also about hitting a lot of deep clears, backhands and smashes,” added Pidcock.

The Friends tandem combined for 30 smashes in the championship round as Wong and Pidcock simply overwhelmed the Reds with the powerful shots. Pidcock and Wong only trailed three times in the title clinching match.

“We are usually aggressive players and we’ve got each other’s back,” said Wong. “It’s a really nice finish for our senior year.”

Despite not having a champion in either the doubles or single competition, Roland Park won the IAAM team title by having the most overall points, Friends was awarded with team runner-up honors.

“It’s great, we had a very deep team this year,” said Roland Park coach Jane Seibert. “We worked really hard for the last five years to bring this team to the athletic level that is now. It is really exciting to be the team [IAAM] conference champion.”