By Tim Mastro

MIDDLETOWN — A two-year wait was worth it for Dover High senior Erika Synoski.

And it highlighted another historic performance for the Senator girls’ tennis teams.

Dover swept the singles championships, winning all three, en route to its second consecutive girls’ team state title at the final day of the DIAA tennis championships on Thursday, hosted by St. Andrew’s School. The Senators won the first team championship in school history in 2019, and were favored to repeat in 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic canceled the spring season.

Thursday’s title was Synoski’s first at No. 1 singles and her second overall as she won the 2018 No. 2 singles state title as a freshman. Synoski fell in the No. 1 singles title matchup as a sophomore in 2019 and did not get a chance to compete for one in 2020 due to the pandemic.

“It left me hungry for that title,” Synoski said. “I was feeling good about my tennis even though I lost and that year off was disappointing at first, but I took it as time to prepare for the next year and keep training.”

Synoski is the third Dover girls’ player to capture the No. 1 singles title, joining Allison Popen (1996, 1997) and Victoria Anyanwu (2018).

Junior Olivia Anyanwu won the No. 2 singles championship on Thursday and sophomore Evie Snyder was victorious in the No. 3 singles title match to make it a clean sweep for Dover. It was the first time a girls team won all three singles championships since Tower Hill accomplished the feat in 2006.

Dover took the team title with 25 points, ahead of second-place Tower Hill who had 22. Dover also got a runner up finish from Shing Lin and Terri Crawford in the No. 1 doubles bracket.

“We’re all fighters,” Synoski said. “Every point and every match we go out there and we know if we trust ourselves and we’re confident we can do anything. We really support each other a lot. It’s just so fun out there to hear your teammates cheering for you.”

Dover coach Kevin Papen credited the Senators for working out on their own went group practices shut down during the offseason due to COVID-19 restrictions.

“Luckily tennis is like the best COVID sport,” Papen said. “I know a lot went out and hit all the time.”

“It was sad for them because they work so hard, they put in so much time and so much effort,” Papen added about the 2020 season. “This is like double worth it.”

Tower Hill won the boys’ title with 23 points and Caesar Rodney was second with 19. CR’s Darin Jawahar was the lone downstate champion on the boys’ side as he earned the title at No. 2 singles. Archmere freshman Andy Zhu won the boys’ No. 1 singles championship.