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Danville’s Bendle wins repeat D4 singles title, beating Muncy’s Dohl

By Jon Gerardi 6 min read

After receiving her championship medal, Danville's Josie Bendle joked about sitting down to do a post-match media interview. She had just sprained her ankle a week ago and was still recovering a bit from it.

It may have been a tad sore on Monday afternoon at the Central PA Tennis Center, but getting a gold medal probably made the pain a bit more bearable. Bendle played well in the finals against Muncy standout Zoe Dohl, beating Dohl 6-3, 6-0, to claim a repeat District 4 championship title in girls tennis.

"It feels great. It really just shows that I've been working for this since I was 7 years old with my dad and coaches," Bendle said. "I'm very grateful that they got me here and doing it on a sprained ankle? I'm so excited and happy."

For Dohl, she didn't win gold but she still finished as runner-up and qualified for the state tournament for the first time in her career.

"It means a lot. I started playing like two years ago, so it's like a big deal for me," Dohl said. "I guess all my hard work paid off from the two years I've been playing."

Dohl and Bendle played tough throughout the first set. Bendle took a 3-0 lead before Dohl recorded a win. Bendle went ahead 4-1, but Dohl wouldn't be denied. The Muncy tennis standout kept battling and doing what she could to win points and cut it to 5-2 and 5-3 before Bendle closed it out for a 6-3 win in the first set.

"So in the beginning I kind of took the approach of making her miss and pushing a little bit more, but when she started to get some games off me I had to change it up," Bendle noted. "So, I started hitting it more aggressively and it kind of helped me get that lead in the second set."

In the second set, Bendle cruised by winning 6-0 and not letting Dohl get a point against her. But despite that, Dohl was happy with how she played and competed against the defending district champion.

"Even though she blew me out in the second one, I felt it was a great match. We had really close points," Dohl said.

Bendle spoke highly of Dohl after the match with how well she played against her and pushed her.

"She just has some nice strokes. She had good form. They were some nice strokes and her serves were nice," Bendle said. "She was just a good player, so it definitely just a little bit harder to play especially when I'm not able to move, she moved me a lot."

Dohl seemed to try to paint the corners of the court and get Bendle moving back and forth and take advantage of her ankle sprain and mobility. But Bendle still was able to get to most of Dohl's returns and serves and not let her shift the momentum in the first set.

"She hits the ball really hard, so I had to recover as soon as she hit the ball," Dohl said.

Bendle noted that after spraining her ankle a week ago, she changed a bit of how she had to play. But regardless, it didn't impact her much as she cruised through Saturday's first three rounds and won convincingly in the semifinals to reach the finals. 

"Definitely because I couldn't really move as well. Sometimes I'll push, but I couldn't really do that since I couldn't move the best so I had to take a more aggressive approach," Bendle said. "But I could push through, thankfully."

In the semifinals, Bendle competed against Loyalsock's Caroline Crawford and secured a 6-0, 6-0 win against the Lancer to get back to the district final and qualify for states.

"It was nice to keep it short because of my ankle, but she played amazing," Bendle said of Crawford. "I just took the approach of pushing, just keeping the ball in play. I couldn't force an error for her. It was nice to keep it short."

Dohl just started playing tennis two years ago, and is more than glad to not only reach the state tournament next week, but become a runner-up for the Indians and be Muncy's first state qualifier in girls tennis this century.

"It feels really great," Dohl said with a laugh. "I'm proud I could represent my school the way that I did."

Entering the second set against Bendle, Dohl noted that she knew she had to stay focused mentally and not get down on herself and think negatively.

"It was like just keeping my mental game up. The first thing that makes you lose is if you start thinking down on yourself," Dohl said. "So, I kept my positivity so it helped me in the end."

Dohl played a fantastic semifinal matchup against Loyalsock's Emily Crawford. The two went back-and-forth in the first set before Dohl secured a 6-3 win. Crawford tied it at 1-1 before cutting the deficit to 43-2. Dohl went up 5-2 before Crawford won again, but Dohl closed it out for the 6-3 win.

In the second set, Crawford went ahead early and held on. She led 3-0 before Dohl won and cut it it to 3-1 and eventually 4-2, but Crawford won two to close it and force the third set.

But that third set was all Dohl's as the Muncy standout cruised to a 6-0 win, routinely placing good returns and solid serves to move Crawford around.

"I was thinking I have to play my game no matter what," Dohl said. "I didn't want to get nervous and hitting it softer because I was scared. I was trying to keep that out of the way so I could play."

For Bendle, being back at the state tournament means she knows exactly what to expect this time around in terms of the competition she will be facing.

"I would say I was pretty timid my first time at states, but now going into it with attitude of putting it all out there and play my best. See where it takes me," Bendle noted.

DISTRICT 4 SINGLES TOURNAMENT

FINALS--Josie Bendle, Danville, def. Zoe Dohl, Muncy, 6-3, 6-0. SEMIFINALS--Josie Bendle, Danville, def. Caroline Crawford, Loyalsock, 6-0, 6-0; Zoe Dohl, Muncy def. Emily Crawford, Loyalsock, 6-3, 2-6, 6-0.

Starting at /week.