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Net success: Hingham High girls tennis poised for a great run

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4 months ago

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Net success: Hingham High girls tennis poised for a great run

The girls tennis team won the Patriot League title and made it to the Final 4 for the first time since 2017

HINGHAM – The success of the Hingham High girls tennis team surprised some this season. Bringing in a new head coach to lead a team filled with young players who had little to no varsity experience in a league as tough as the Patriot League isn’t exactly traveling a road paved for success.

More: Championship chase: Six Hingham and NDA spring teams qualify for state semifinals

But that’s exactly how the Harborwomen rolled this season, winning the Patriot League title and getting to the Final Four of the Division 2 playoff bracket for the first time since when the 2017 team won the South sectional portion of the old tournament and then lost to Wayland in the state finals.

Hingham finished with an overall record of 18-4.

“I think we surprised some people this season. We even surprised ourselves after coming into the season with just three returning players and seven more coming up from our JV program,” said Steve Berger, who stepped up as head coach after serving for several years as a volunteer with the tennis program. “There were lots of new faces in the program this season, but this team found a way to pull together and our confidence kept growing as the season went along.”

A regular season record of 15-3 did nothing but boost that growing confidence Berger spoke about. Their only league loss came against Duxbury High, but Hingham exacted its revenge by beating the Dragons the next time they played as well as in the state tournament. The season’s only other losses came against state championship finalists Boston Latin (Div. 1) and then two matches against Notre Dame Academy-Hingham (Div. 2).

Given the fourth seed in the Division 2 bracket, the Harbormen dispatched Walpole, North Attleborough, and then Duxbury before losing in the Final Four to NDA.

Berger praised the work of senior captains Ellie Clark and Simran Vaishnava with helping to build a group of talented tennis players into a team. Also leaving the program will be seniors Tess Green, Izzy Whitlock, and Samira Giannoros.

Sophomore Sam Ruddick had an opportunity to test herself every match at first singles against the best tennis players across the Patriot League. “Sam ended up with an individual record of 8-10 and really helped solidify our line-up each match by competing against really talented tennis players,” said Berger. “She made a big jump from playing third singles as a freshman to as our fitting in at first singles this season.”

Junior captain Sanya Khadivi (14-3) was a star at second singles, making it to the second round of the re-instated state individual tennis tournament. Another member of Hingham’s youth movement, sophomore Hannah Mello, played a lot of matches at third singles this season.

The strength of Hingham’s doubles team was a driving force in the team’s success this season. They swept doubles in many of their matches, leaving them the opportunity to win just one singles match to clinch the victory. Berger credited assistant coaches Gretchen Price and Jennifer Platt with getting the doubles teams ready for competition.

“We could always count on getting one or two wins each match from the doubles teams. That’s a big help in getting the overall victory,” Berger said.

Sammy Price (15-2 this season) and Gabi Magner (16-2) won nearly all of their matches together at first doubles. The junior duo of Mia Sacco (11-4) and Maddie Cusack (11-3) had a great season at second doubles.

Ruddick, Price, and Khadavi were all named league all-stars. The senior captains split the other league awards with Clark winning the Sportsmanship honor and Vaishnova taking home the Patriot League Scholar-Athlete accolade.

As the memories from a great spring season still sink in with Berger, his attention already is starting to turn to doing it all over again in 2025.

“I’m already looking forward to next season. We’ve got all of the starters coming back and there’s some talent in the younger players that’s going to push them for playing time,” said Berger. “I’m excited for what’s to come.”

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