What a difference a year makes.

The Bears and Trojans joined forces this fall and Friday, Kutschke and Mincarelli teamed up to win the doubles title at the Lakewood YMCA.

“What’s been cool about Grace and Dani, being from two different schools, two singles players, they came together and connected really well as a doubles team,” Frewsburg/Southwestern head coach Jamie Sposato said. “Here’s a perfect example of two players from two different schools coming together to get first place.”

Falconer’s Myla Brainard rolled through the singles bracket to improve on her third-place finish a season ago with a title Friday.

Maple Grove’s Meghan Lockwood lines up a forehand during the CCAA Tennis Doubles consolation match Friday at the Lakewood YMCA. OBSERVER Photo by Matt Spielman

After beating Jamestown’s Jazmyn Tonkin 6-0, 6-1 in Wednesday’s second round, Brainard beat teammate Rachael Swanson 6-1, 7-6 (7-5) in the semifinals Friday morning.

“That’s the best part of coaching, watching these girls deal with adversity and overcome it,” Falconer head coach Jamie Glatz said. “I can’t say enough about both of these girls. The thing is they are like best friends. They handle having to play against each other so well.”

Then, in the championship match, Brainard cruised past Chautauqua Lake’s Eden Ludwig 6-1, 6-1.

“At the beginning of the season she gave me a goal sheet, and her goal was to go undefeated and win this county tournament,” Glatz said of Brainard. “She’s a very goal-driven individual. She was pretty dominant.”

Swanson, who represented the CCAA in doubles at last year’s sectional tournament, earned the third-and-final qualifying spot Friday with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Fredonia’s Nella Darrell-Sterbak, last year’s CCAA champion.

Frewsburg/Southwestern’s Grace Kutschke, left, and Dani Mincarelli celebrate after winning the CCAA Tennis Doubles title Friday at the Lakewood YMCA. OBSERVER Photo by Matt Spielman

“She is a natural-born leader. It is awesome to be around strong, independent women who realize that the world doesn’t give you anything, you go out and take what you want,” Glatz said of Swanson. ” … She’s mature way beyond her years.”

Ludwig, who also finished second in singles last year, reached the final with a 6-3, 1-6, 6-2 victory over Darrell-Sterbak.

“I learned long ago not to ever underestimate anything that either one of my girls can do. I certainly can look back at last year with Eden coming out of the blue,” Glatz said. “I think we can go up (to sectionals) and actually make a little bit of noise from the CCAA.”

Kutschke and Mincarelli reached Friday’s semifinals with a 6-0, 6-3 win over Maple Grove’s Kate Verdonik and Kamryn Seekings in the second round and a 6-2, 7-5 victory over Fredonia’s Charis LaBarr and Olivia Balch in the third round Thursday. Then, Friday morning, Frewsburg/Southwestern’s top two singles players during the regular season beat Maple Grove’s Meghan Lockwood and Megan McGee 6-2, 6-2 in the semifinals.

That set up a championship showdown with Olean’s Lina Chauhdry and Natalie Snyder — the Huskies’ top two singles players during the regular season.

Chauhdry and Snyder won the first set 6-4 after winning break point to go ahead 5-4. Snyder then served out the set.

“I did not have any doubts. I felt like they just had to get themselves going a little bit,” Sposato said. “Once their serves started coming alive and their net game, if they could just grab that momentum, we could get them to the third (set).”

In the second set, Kutschke and Mincarelli jumped out to a 4-1 lead before Olean made it 5-4 with a break. But the Frewsburg/Southwestern duo evened the match by breaking the Huskies’ service.

“Even from Day 1 when we had those girls come together for the first day of practice, they bonded so well. I was a little nervous about it, but even after that first week, the girls got along really well,” Sposato said of the merged team. “They had a goal in mind. I could sense that if Grace and Dani went together, it could be something positive for our school districts.”

In the third-and-deciding set, Olean broke serve to take a 4-3 lead, but Kutschke and Mincarelli won the final three games to win the title and leave Chauhdry and Snyder in second place for the second straight year.

“Grace has a great first serve,” Sposato said, ” … just being able to get that back in their favor was huge.”

Lockwood and McGee earned the final sectional spot in doubles with a 7-6 (7-2), 6-2 win over Falconer’s Elena Barie and Lauren Whitmore.

The Section VI tournament will begin at noon Friday at the Miller Tennis Center in Williamsville. The tournament will conclude next Saturday beginning at 2:30 p.m.

Semifinals

Singles

Myla Brainard (Fa) d. Rachael Swanson (Fa) 6-1, 7-6 (7-5); Eden Ludwig (CL) d. Nella Darrell-Sterbak (Fr) 6-3, 1-6, 6-2

Doubles

Grace Kutschke and Dani Mincarelli (F/S) d. Meghan Lockwood and Megan McGee (MG) 6-2, 6-2; Lina Chauhdry and Natalie Snyder (O) d. Elena Barie and Lauren Whitmore (Fa) 6-4, 6-2

Finals

Singles

Brainard (Fa) d. Ludwig (CL) 6-1, 6-1

Doubles

Kutschke and Mincarelli (F/S) d. Chauhdry and Snyder (O) 4-6, 6-4, 6-4

Consolation

Singles

Swanson (Fa) d. Darrell-Sterbak (Fr) 6-3, 6-3

Doubles

Lockwood and McGee (MG) d. Barie and Whitmore (MG) 7-6 (7-2), 6-2