Although she hasn’t earned too many victories against him over the years, on Thursday afternoon Dartawan clinched her second straight Section 2 girls’ tennis individual championship.

“He’s the reason I started. Since I was 12, I was able to hit with him. It was always my goal to beat him,” Dartawan said of her brother, Ricky. “I beat him once. It was when we were visiting him at college, and I was really happy about it.”

Dartawan, the top seed in this year’s tournament, defeated Shenendehowa’s Jolie Chichak 6-0, 6-2 to clinch the individual girls’ title.

Dartawan, a sophomore, won a pair of first-round matches on Monday, and a quarterfinal on Tuesday, advancing to a semifinal contest on Wednesday against Greenville’s Bryn Fitzmaurice.

“In the semifinal, I played Bryn, and in the first set, I was surprised at how many balls she was sending back,” Dartawan said. “I wasn’t expecting it, and I actually got a little frustrated. I started to panic, and had to calm myself down.”

With the top three competitors advancing to the state tournament, Thursday’s bout against Chichak was solely for the right to be called champion.

“Jolie is a lefty, so her serve is pretty hard to return, and she’s also a great player,” Dartawan said. “For me, it was just about staying focused and being smart with my shots. Also to have fun and enjoy it.”

In the third-place match, Holy Names’ Riley Schmitz defeated Fitzmaurice 6-2, 6-0, securing a spot at the state tournament.

In doubles action, Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake’s Sam Ostrander and Lydia Koivula prevailed over Bethlehem’s Rayka Kogut and Hope Brown, 6-1, 6-2.

“We’ve only known each other for a year, so it’s been a short amount of time we had to create this bond,” Ostrander said of teaming up with Koivula this season.

After winning three matches between Monday and Tuesday earlier this week, Ostrander and Koivula advanced to face No. 1 Saratoga Springs on Wednesday in the semifinals.

Despite dropping the first set to the defending champions Saratoga Springs’ Clare Dooley and Addison Jones, the Burnt Hills duo rebounded to win in three sets.

“They were the No. 1 seed and it was a three-setter yesterday. It was a lot of hard work, but we made it through,” Koivula said of taking down Saratoga. “The momentum really switched in the second set and we were able to capitalize.”

“We really wanted this, and we both knew that we had nothing to lose,” Ostrander added. “All we could do was go out there and play our best, and that’s what we did.”

In the doubles third-place match, Dooley and Jones kept their season alive with a dramatic win over Guilderland’s Angela Li and Meghan Uzzilia.

The Blue Streak duo went to a tiebreaker in the first set, winning 7-5, before clinching a spot at states with a 6-0 win in the second set.

“It was scary, and in the first set today we were tight,” Jones said of the duo’s season being on the line. “We got up 5-3 and had a set point, but didn’t make it. We ended up winning 7-5. After that, it felt like we could breathe.”

On the individual side, Dartawan, Chichak and Schmitz all advanced to states. The doubles teams of Ostrander and Koivula, Kogut and Brown, along with Dooley and Jones will all get to make the trip to states.

The NYSPHSAA tournament will be held at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens, which is the home of the U.S. Open. Previously, the girls’ tennis state championships was hosted by Section 2.

“I’m really excited to go back to states, especially now that it’s in the city and we get to travel a little bit,” said Dartawan, who was the runner-up at states last season.

“It really has been a goal to get to play there,” added Jones, who is a junior. “The boys get to play down there and we played here. It didn’t really feel like states when we played here, since it’s home. Traveling to the city, it feels like it’s a much bigger deal.”

Ironically, while Jones has never visited the Billie Jean King Tennis Center, her eighth-grade doubles partner has.

“I go to watch the US Open every year, but I’ve only played on that court once,” Dooley said. “We’ll go in thinking that there’s nothing we can lose. We’ll do our best, stay loose and have fun.”

“I’m glad it was changed to New York City this year,” Ostrander added. “It’s going to be fun to travel together and get that experience.”