Lions Make State!!
Oct 9, 2025
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More than a decade after the Lady Lions shocked the Ohio tennis world with a Cinderella run to the 2014 state title, Orange tennis is headed back to the final four!
The Lions defeated Hawken in the regional final Wednesday in Gates Mills after beating Hathaway Brown in last week's semi-final. Wednesday the Lions dominated on all three singles courts as sophomore Genevieve Hayden, sophomore Melanie Statsevych and freshman Zoey Ro all won in straight sets.
On the doubles courts, particularly first doubles, the Hawks showed much more fight. At #2, Orange senior captain Lily Guiler and sophomore partner Ivy Berlin fought off the Hawken team of Simpfendorfer and Sethi in a 6-3 first set before prevailing by a more decisive 6-1 margin in the second.
The match of the day was at #1 doubles where the Orange #1 team of junior Raina Patel and sophomore Adele Tokmazeysky dropped two close tiebreakers in a three set loss to the talented Hawken duo of Kislyansky and Grossman.
In the decade since their last trip to state the Lions watched rival Hathaway Brown capture 9 consecutive state titles. Several times, most notably in 2021, and last year in 2024, the Lions came tantalizingly close before coming up just short.
As the Lions have finally gotten over the hump against their rivals they have also started to immerge from the shadow of Orange's most successful sports program, the boys tennis team (winners of five straight regional titles and the 2021 and 2025 state titles). Many members of that program were on hand Wednesday to support their counterparts as they clinched their own trip to the final four.
With the win the Lions are now 15-1. Their first opponents in the final four will be Maumee Valley Country Day from the Toledo area. Before that happens the Lions will be in action Friday and Saturday at the NEO D2 district tournament where their singles and doubles players will attempt to qualify for state as individuals.
10-08-2025
Orange 4, Hawken 1
Hayden (O) def. Forte 6-3, 6-0;
Statsevych (O) def. Siscu 6-0, 6-1
Ro (O) def. Naik 6-0, 6-1
Kislyansky-Grossman (H) def. Tokmazeysky-Patel 7-6, 4-6, 1-0
Guiler-Berlin (O) def. Simpfendorfer-Sethi 6-3,