Tennis teams mirror one another in action-packed week

After taking diverging paths over the first few weeks of May, both the CHS boys and girls tennis teams produced strikingly similar results across three matches last week.

Not only did the two squads both go 2-1 with a loss to Foxboro and wins against Attleboro and Oliver Ames; they did so by the same final scores — a 4-1 loss on Monday followed by wins of 5-0 and 3-2 on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Senior captain Tiffany Ha (Mike Barucci photo)

For the boys team, Monday’s defeat at the hands of the Warriors was only their second in the last nine matches, and head coach Leo Nelson said it was a wakeup call for the improving squad.

“We learned a valuable lesson about never underestimating your opponent and a team can always be beat,” said Nelson. “Since then I have seen our team step up and play at a higher level and to a point that they don’t want to lose again.”

With a renewed sense of urgency, the Bulldogs took on Attleboro the next afternoon and completely dominated the matchup, led by freshman Jeevith Chandrasekar and senior captain Nathan Maltz, who both won handily 6-0, 6-0. Sophomore captain Jake Wolicki capped off the singles matches with a 6-0, 6-2 win, and the two doubles teams followed suit with wins of their own: 6-2, 6-2 for Jack Mullin and Sean Meenan and 4-6, 6-3, 10-4 for Dillon Anderson and Justin Diep.

In the OA match on Wednesday, Maltz continued his run of excellence with a 6-2, 6-3 victory — his third of the week and fourth in as many matches. Wolicki also prevailed in straight sets (6-1, 6-1), as did the doubles duo of Mullin and Meenan (6-4, 6-4).

Meanwhile, in the girls matches, senior captains and doubles partners Tiffany Ha and Sarah MacQuarrie strengthened their case for all-star recognition with a 3-0 week, including the team’s lone victory against perennial power Foxboro. The duo won in three sets against the Warriors and then made quick work of their next two opponents, winning 6-1, 6-0 and 6-0, 6-1.

Other multiple winners on the week included senior captain Carly Scanlon and sophomore Skylar Jabbour at first and second singles, respectively. Scanlon won 7-5, 6-0 against Attleboro and then came up huge against a tough OA opponent, winning 6-0, 6-1.

“Carly led from the get-go, showing serving precision, hitting forehands with strategy and purpose,” noted head coach Joel Chamberlain. “Just an all-around impressive performance.”

Jabbour was a force in the Attleboro match, using ball placement and a dominating serve to secure the 6-0, 6-0 win. She also played well against her OA opponent before the opponent was forced to withdraw due to a medical issue.

Canton’s third singles player, senior Jude Aboukhater, earned a win in the Attleboro match (6-4, 6-3) and gave her OA opponent quite a battle in an eventual 6-3, 7-6 defeat. “She played her heart out,” Chamberlain said.

The coach also praised the second doubles team of Talya Mayman and Julia Burkowsky for their performances last week, particularly Tuesday’s three-set win over a strong Attleboro team (6-3, 4-6, 7-5). “They showed a lot of heart in staying with their opponents during a long match and being able to put them away in the third set,” Chamberlain said.

Overall, the girls improved to 4-8 and now sit in third place in the Hockomock Davenport Division. Chamberlain said the OA victory in particular is proof of how far they have come as it came on the road against a team they had previously lost to.

“This was a match they really wanted, since OA matches up closely with us and getting this win showed how much progress has been made since the start of the season,” he said. “I’m proud of the way they played, especially in the hot conditions we had last Tuesday.”

Both the boys (7-5) and girls teams were due to play three more matches this week — Monday against Milford, Tuesday versus Franklin, and Wednesday against Stoughton. The two teams will then close out the regular season with matches next week against division-leading Sharon and one final nonleague match — Quincy for the boys and Milton for the girls.

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Posted by Jay Turner on May 20 2016. Filed under High School, Sports. Both comments and pings are currently closed.