Girls Tennis Advances In State Tournament

The girls tennis team is moving on in the MIAA Div. 4 state tournament after a convincing 5-0 victory over the Tyngsborough Tigers Sunday afternoon. The Whalers entered the match as the #12 seed in the Div. 4 tournament while Tyngsborough arrived for the Round of 32 matchup as the #21 seed.

“We’ve really been working the girls hard the last week,” Nantucket head coach Luke Thornewill said. “Right up through last night. Our doubles teams are by far the strongest they’ve ever been – understanding how to move on the court, strategize. We’re super excited about the strength of the doubles teams. These girls are our staple. They’re peaking too. I think we got a great shot at the next round.”

The scores were as followed:

Top single Joan Harris won her match in straight sets 6-0, 6-1.

Second single Lily Chibnik won her match in straight sets 6-3, 6-4.

Third single Lauren Cutone won her match in straight sets 6-2, 6-1.

The first doubles pairing featured Hannah Gerardi and Chloe Marrero. They beat their opponent in straight sets 6-0, 6-0.

Thornewill made it a point to highlight the efforts of his top doubles pairing for their sacrifice and selflessness all season long.

“Hannah and Chloe graciously moved to doubles,” Thornewill said. “They decided they weren’t going to try and compete for singles even though they have both played singles in the past, which was a captain’s move in a sense of that was a team move. They weren’t jockeying for the number one spots. I’m really proud of those girls over there for doing that and they are really enjoying it too. They’re really enjoying doubles. It’s a different game than singles.”

The second doubles pairing featured Viktoria Bozhkova and Vicky Todorova. They won their match in straight sets 6-0, 6-1. Thornewill said Bozhkova and Todorova really impressed coaches in recent days, which led to the opportunity to be the team’s second doubles pairing.

“It was an odd match because when you play them, they’re pretty much all pushers out there and it’s actually difficult because all of our girls are much harder hitters comparatively, but to adapt your game to a pusher, all courts had to do that,” Thornewill said. “Normally, we only come against one court that’s a pusher but today I was like ‘Oh my god.'”

Nantucket will now face #5 Ipswich, who just beat #28 Bourne 4-1, in the Round of 16 on the road Tuesday, June 4 at 2 p.m. according to Nantucket Athletic Director Travis Lombardi.

All photos by Current photographer Chris Tran.