BROOKLINE – Making a bid for their fourth straight south sectional tennis title, the #4 seed Barnstable High School girls (17-3) were eliminated from postseason contention Thursday afternoon at Waldstein Park, 3-2, at the hands of top-seeded and undefeated Brookline (18-0).
The 2015 Barnstable High School girls’ tennis team finished at 17-3.
Photo courtesy of Lou Giglio
The Red Raiders captured their 18th Old Colony League championship title in the past 19 years during the regular season and defeated Walpole (4-1) and Framingham (3-2) en route to yesterday’s semifinal match-up with the Warriors on Brookline’s home turf. Barnstable had the distinction of winning the sectional title the past three seasons.
But Brookline avenged last season’s sectional loss to the Red Raiders yesterday, thanks in large part to ranked New England amateur player Sonya Khudyakov, only a freshman, who had few issues defeating Red Raider number one singles player Lauren Persson, 6-2, 6-2.
That defeat was followed by another substantial blow to the Red Raiders’ hopes of a fourth straight sectional championship by second singles Katie Tynan’s loss to senior Rachel Hechlinger by the same score, 6-2, 6-2.
To make matters worse, whatever hopes Barnstable had in taking home the match fell apart when second doubles team Caroline Young and Olivia Berler defaulted in their match to Allie Greenberg and Clasby Chope when one of the Barnstable girls fell ill midway through the second set and the Red Raiders defaulted on second doubles.
Clasby and Chope won the first set, 6-5, and the second set was tied at 5-5 when one of the Raider girls became unable to continue. Up until that moment, the two teams were tied.
While Brookline took first and second singles, Barnstable third singles player Emma Doe, who had been Miss Consistency throughout the season, continued in that role as she defeated Ndanu Mutisiaf, 6-3, 6-3.
Boston Globe All-Scholastic doubles team Taya Berler and Michaela Cornwall did not disappoint their Red Raider sisters with a match-evening victory at first doubles, but it was not easy.
Taya Berler and Cornwall won the first set, 6-4, over senior Mei Kasif and Carrie Calkins-Tucker, but then the Brookline duo won the second set, 6-3. The Red Raiders prevailed in the tie-breaking set, 6-2, to set up the battle at second doubles that ended, sadly, in default.
“It was a very tough way to lose,” Barnstable High School girls head tennis coach Lou Giglio said. “But there’s always next year.”
The undefeated Martha’s Vineyard girls tennis team is the only girls’ tennis team from Cape Cod that remains in postseason contention. The Vineyarders are undefeated at 19-0 and seeded number one in Division 3.
— Sean Walsh is the sports editor for www.capecod.com. His email is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @coachwalshccbm
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