PORT CHESTER – The fantastic Norwich duo of senior Makenzie Maynard and Caroline Stewart had high hopes for 2016 – and just how they wanted to end their postseason run.

When Maynard and Stewart walked into Sound Shore Indoor Tennis Center on Oct. 29, for the first round of New York State girls varsity tennis championship's they did so with a goal.

“Our goal coming into the states was to win a round in the main draw, accomplish something that has not been done by any Norwich girls tennis player that has played in the last 20 years – four different doubles teams. A big goal that would put us in the top 16 in the state,” said Norwich head coach John Stewart.

The massive first round of main draw matches for the doubles NYS tournament featured 32 different duos matching up for 16 matches.

The Tornado duo made the best of their draw when they were set to face Madeline Dering and Jenna Nimmer of Bethlehem.

“We got a great first round draw playing the second place finishers from section II (Albany Area). We had seen the team from Bethlehem earlier in the year at the same pre-season tournament and knew it was a team that we could beat,” said coach Stewart. “We played a strong consistent game, we served well, we attacked at the net. And our play from the baseline limited there net play.”

Stewart explained that although Maynard and Stewart fell down to a 4-3 deficit in the first set of the matchup, the Norwich duo was able to reverse the trend early on and claim the 7-5, and 6-3 win.

“We were down 4-3 in the first set with their weakest player serving. We broke her serve to tie at 4-4. Caroline served the ninth game with solid serves which set up Makenzie at net and the Norwich duo never gave up the lead the rest of the match,” said coach Stewart.