While the weather has certainly not been conducive to playing tennis, the Marblehead High boys and girls tennis teams are still winning matches. The boys are 4-1 (4-0 in the NEC) after beating host Beverly, 4-1 to end another week on April 18, while the girls have since battled back from their opening day loss to powerhouse Winchester to improve to 3-2 overall, 2-1 in the conference.
Boys sweep the week
Prior to that Beverly match, coach Elisabeth Foukal took 15 of her players to Winthrop on April 16, and proceeded to shut down the Vikings on a blustery day, 5-0.
Junior T.J. Kelly dominated Winthrop’s Jackson Faber in first singles, 6-0, 6-0. Senior Austin Bacon also took his Winthrop foe Joe Disney to school in second singles, 6-1, 6-0. Junior Adam Loughlin completed the singles sweep against Brazilian exchange student Jaquiam Pexeta, 6-1, 6-4.
The first doubles team of senior Quinn Sullivan and sophomore Alex Boehning maintained the dominating trend against their counterparts Jimmy Delaney and Junior Sarnaglia, 6-0, 6-0. Seniors Quinn Fletcher and Graydon Waller, teaming up in second doubles, blanked Owen Munson and Tate Montgomery, 6-0, 6-0.
In sub-varsity action, Nico Altonian and Filip Wabno came out on top, 6-2.
The Magicians then came home to beat non-league Malden Catholic the next day, 4-1. “I’m really proud of how our boys competed throughout the lineup,” said Foukal after the MC match. “Three of our players played against their top seven players, and were able to come away with solid wins, which shows the depth in our lineup.”
Senior Anthony Vizy lost to Jack Burgess, who is a human backboard, according to Foukal, in first singles, 6-2, 6-4. “Anthony competed well, and was even trailing, 5-2 in the second set, before winning back-to-back games to tighten things up,” Foukal said.
Sophomore Ty Cooper turned in a solid win against junior Lucas Wang in second singles, 6-0, 6-0. “Ty was consistent from the baseline and aggressive on his approach shots by following them into the net,” said Foukal.
Boehning beat junior Drew Ryan in third singles, 6-1, 6-1 to continue the team’s comeback march. “This was the best tennis that I’ve seen from Alex,” said Foukal. “He was calm, cool and collected.”
Senior Leo Winocour, who has been sidelined with an injury, joined the lineup for the first time this year to team up with Loughlin to beat Mateo Peledge and Daniil Orbits in first doubles, 6-4, 6-1.
Altonian and Wabno, making their top seven debuts, beat brothers Harry and Hugo Brown in second doubles, 6-1, 6-0. “Nico’s passing shots and Filip’s tricky lefty game won them many points,” Foukal said.
In sub-varsity play, seniors Quinn Fletcher and Graydon Waller won in straight sets, 6-0, 6-2.
Girls complete another week of close encounters
The Marblehead girls began a brand-new week on April 14 with a heartbreaking loss to rival Swampscott, 3-2.
“The ancient rivalry could not have been any closer. There were some great individual matches all-around,” said coach Tracy Ackerman.
Swampscott got the first point, when Nikki Carr defeated Samara Dosch in first singles, 6-1, 6-1. But the Marblehead doubles teams won the next two points. Lani Gilmore and Reese Friedman won in first doubles, 6-1, 6-1, before Josie Reers and Caroline Bruett came out on top in second doubles, 6-0, 6-4.
Sophomore Callie Gilmore turned in a valiant effort, while making her varsity debut, before falling to Lily Carr in third singles, 6-4, 7-5.
After four individual matches, the score was tied at two, setting the stage for the second singles match between Marblehead’s Nina Johnson and Ana Eccells to break the stalemate. They split the first two sets, followed by the decisive third set that lasted three hours. It went back and forth with even a tiebreaker thrown-in for good measure until Swampscott finally prevailed in the marathon encounter. For the record, Eccells beat Johnson, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.
“That was a super competitive high school tennis match,” said Ackerman afterwards. “It really could have gone either way with a few points here and there. I was very proud of Nina. She did not give up, while playing hard throughout for every single point.
“Callie Gilmore had a close match in third singles,” added Ackerman. “It was her first varsity match, and she will continue to get better and better. As usual, I could count on my doubles teams to win their matches.”
Commenting further on the Big Blue, Ackerman said, “Swampscott has strong singles players, which I’m sure will continue to make them competitive this season.”
The Magicians then faced Masco on Tax Day at home, but it turned out that both teams needed an extension thanks to Mother Nature, when the skies opened up with the score tied at two.
With one match still going on – third singles – rain delayed the outcome. Each player won one set. Both teams will now get together on a day yet to be determined to watch Marblehead’s Abbie Goodwin and Masco’s Sophia Dowmellan square off again in the decisive remaining set to see which team comes out on top.
The Chieftains powered through the first two singles matches, when Teagan Skullwy defeated Dosch in first singles, 6-1, 6-0, followed by Ria Kundsalina’s second singles victory over Johnson, 6-1, 6-0.
The Magicians then answered back with two wins in the doubles matches. The first doubles team of Gilmore and Friedman won in straight sets, 6-1, 6-0. Reers and Bruett were victorious in second doubles, 6-4, 6-2.
In the yet to be determined third singles match, Dowmellan took the first set, 6-4, but Goodwin battled back to win the second set, 6-3. Check back hopefully soon to find out the ultimate winner.
“Masco has won the state championship the last two years, so for us to be competitive with them is great for our program,” said Ackerman. “Abbie (Goodwin) really hung in there against a tough opponent to win the second set. It should be a close third set, but win or lose, our girls played a great match.”
The Marblehead girls then had a couple of days to prepare for host Beverly on April 18, and the extra time paid off with a 4-1 win.
Before the match, the traditional Peanut Butter Food Collaborative Drive to benefit Beverly Bootstraps got underway.
Once the match began, it was another close encounter for the Magicians. “We had four of the five matches go three sets, which made this a great competitive contest,” said Ackerman. “Beverly is always a solid team.”
Dosch had her best match of the year so far, beating Beverly’s Adeline Kontos, a formidable foe, in first singles, 6-4, 5-7, 6-2.
Johnson then lost to Grace Adams in second singles, 2-6, 6-3, 4-6. “Both players showed tremendous sportsmanship throughout,” said Ackerman.
But Marblehead was able to recover from that close loss, when Goodwin persevered in third singles over Sophie Litterer, 2-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-1.
Gilmore and Friedman arguably had their most competitive match to date, but were able to survive two tiebreakers against Sophia Gallo and Ella McLeer to remain undefeated on the season, 6-7 (4-7), 6-1, 7-6 (7-5). “They were trailing, 5-3 in the third set, but then had an incredible comeback to win it,” said Ackerman.
Callie Gilmore and Reers easily came out on top in second doubles against Claire Fitzgerald and Caroline Kerney to help secure the overall victory, 6-0, 6-2.
