It was a strange twist from the tennis gods when they penciled New Paltz wild-card doubles Johanna Cohen and partner Emma Snook -- who usually play at number three and two singles, respectively -- into the bracket that would meet the number two seeded doubles team in the semifinal round. And who was that other doubles team? Why none other than New Paltz’s Gina Abrams and Julia Cohen, Johanna’s (who is a senior) younger sister (and a promising eighth-grader). It wasn’t the first time that teammates battled in one round or another or even, like in this year’s tournament, for the championship -- with Wallkill’s Ariel Haber defending her MHAL title with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Panthers’ teammate Olga Ostrovetsky -- but sisters playing against each other is a league first.

Cohen and Snook eventually defeated Cohen and Abrams 6-2, 6-2, in a match much closer than the final score indicated. “There was a lot of hard hitting, lots of points, lots of great play by both sides...and of course I was completely neutral,” said New Paltz coach Scott Taylor. “It was a terrific match that I thought would be closer than the actual final score. I think it was that Johanna and Emma are just bigger hitters than Gina and Julia, whose game essentially is at the baseline and they usually can return everything hit at them, so it made for some long games.”

Moving to the final round against Spackenkill’s Martha Engle and Allyson Finck, Cohen and Snook fell behind 5-2 in the opening set, before rallying to win 7-5, 6-3. “They were playing tentative and from the baseline, so on a changeover I talked to them and told them to be more aggressive out there, to relax and play one point at a time. Don’t play fearful. Attack the net...and they made a great comeback that first set, then cruised through the second to win it,” said Taylor.

In winning the doubles title, Cohen and Snook won the first MHAL girls’ title for New Paltz since Yael Leibovitch and Mary Bostwick won the doubles title in 2004. Katie Ott is the only MHAL girls singles winner for New Paltz, accomplished in 1993.

Cohen and Snook got to the semifinals with a round of 16 win over Emily Eldridge and Emily Langdon of Saugerties 6-1, 6-0; and Cohen and Abrams with a win over Samantha Guercio and Olivia Lee of Wallkill 6-0, 6-2. New Paltz’s other doubles hopefuls, Nicole Kurek and Aliyah Cohn, fell to Marlboro’s Eliza Shillitoe and Angela Corrado 10-3 in the first round (of 32).

In singles play, New Paltz’s Jessica Staub beat FDR’s Jess Schroedel 6-0, 6-1 in the Round of 16, then dropped a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 match to Red Hook’s Ella Lindholm-Uzzi in the quarterfinals. “Jessica had that great second set and looked to have a chance to move into the semifinal (where she would have played Haber), but Ella went lights out in the third set and took it,” said Taylor.

For Highland, Gabi Lichtenstein defeated FDR’s Taylor Giancarlo 11-9 in the opening round, then fell to Spackenkill’s Erin Biskup 6-0, 6-1 in the Round of 16; while in doubles Stefani Turk and Rebecca Jacobini fell to FDR’s Amy Maxwell and Ingrid Richter 10-6 in the opening round; and Amy Jacobini and Vanessa Robinson lost to Red Hook’s Katie Totten and Melissa Haggerty 11-9 also in the opening round.

This Tuesday-Wednesday, October 26-27 in the Section 9 championships at NFA (too late for this edition of the New Paltz Times), with Johanna Cohen and Emma Snook and Julia Cohen and Gina Abrams qualifying in doubles, and Jessica Staub in singles.