Girls’ tennis earns split in opening week

The CHS girls’ tennis team split their first two matches of the season last week, falling to North Attleboro 4-1 Tuesday on the road and beating Attleboro 5-0 two days later at home.

Junior Erika Nannery (Mike Barucci photo)

The sole winner in the North Attleboro match was junior Erika Nannery, who easily defeated her competitor 6-2, 6-0 despite the cold and blustery conditions. At second singles, senior Eleni Papadopoulos couldn’t find her stride and fell in straight sets (6-2, 6-0), as did classmate Jude Altabbaa. Also losing their matches were the doubles teams of seniors Aimee Pina and Kristen Burns and senior Pujitha Ganni and junior Pranathi Ganni.

The Bulldogs did manage to bounce back in their second match of the week, with five victories in five tries against visiting Attleboro. Both first and second singles players won in straight sets, Nannery doing so 6-0, 6-0 and Papadopoulos winning 6-4, 6-4.

Altabbaa initially struggled at third singles, but then she rallied with some encouragement from her coach, Bill Kates. When the third set went to a tiebreaker, Kates pulled Altabbaa aside and encouraged her to “go out on a good note” before embarking on a month-long excursion to Germany. That she did, with an ultimate win of 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-5).

With Burns missing the match due to an injury, Pina was paired with Pujitha Ganni at first doubles, and the girls rebounded from a first-set loss to take the second set 6-4. Then, an injury for Attleboro led to the end of the match, with the win going to Canton. In second doubles, Pranathi Ganni and junior Amberly Diep volleyed to a 6-1, 6-1 victory.

Coach Kates, returning for his second season with the girls’ tennis team, has high hopes for the squad this year. “We have a good team and I’m confident we’ll make the state tournament,” he said, adding that he likes to take it “one day at a time.”

The action will continue this week with matches against Franklin on Tuesday and Milford on Wednesday.

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Posted by Holly Erickson on Apr 11 2013. Filed under High School, Sports. Both comments and pings are currently closed.