It was certainly an eventful Tuesday in Springfield for the Greenfield High School boys tennis team.
The Green Wave took a 5-0 victory over Sci-Tech to open the afternoon, then followed that with a tight 3-2 defeat to Pioneer Valley Christian in a pair of Tri-County League matches at Blunt Park. The loss ends Greenfield’s chances at a league title, as the squad will finish one game back of TCL champion Turners Falls (11-2, 9-1).
In the win over Sci-Tech, Brandon Siow (6-0, 6-0) and Jacob Frank (6-0, 6-3) earned singles victories to set the tone for the Wave. At first doubles, Matthew Lavoine and Gabe Larouche defeated Elyjah Guzman and Ryan Chasse, 6-1, 6-2, while the No. 2 doubles squad of Zong Lin Li and Christian Larouche made an impressive debut with a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Brandon Tsang and Michael Rivera.
In the loss to Pioneer Valley Christian that capped the doubleheader, it all came down to second singles. With the match tied 2-2, Greenfield’s Anjou Kang-Stryker pushed his opponent, Kevin Sharpe, to the brink in a third-set. But Sharpe held on for a 7-5, 2-6, 7-6 (9-7) nail-biter to hand the Green Wave a TCL defeat.
“One of those see-saw matches that just came down to the very end,” Greenfield coach Andrew Varnon said.
Greenfield (9-4, 8-2) swept the doubles matches to earn its two points. At No. 1, Gabe Larouche and Frank were 6-1, 6-3 winners over Brandon Aikman and Sam Shively, while the second doubles tandem of Daniel Pena-Chadee and Petru Cojocaru swept a 6-0, 6-0 decision over Kyle Witherow and Cayden Garvey.
Pope Francis 3, Frontier 2 — Powerhouse Pope Francis was pushed to the brink by host Frontier, but the visiting Cardinals had just enough in the tank to keep their perfect league record alive, Tuesday. Pope Francis edged the Red Hawks, 3-2, in a TCL North match in South Deerfield.
“The girls played a really tough match against a really strong team,” lauded Frontier coach James Fitzgerald of his club. “I can’t be disappointed in the way they presented themselves today.”
Frontier’s Tori Speth picked up an impressive win at No. 1 singles, where she was a 6-3, 6-3 winner over Elizabeth Goncalves.
The other win came at second doubles, where Sofia Patten and Jalen Sullivan held off Pope Francis’ Madelyn and Gabrielle Letendre, 6-2, 7-5.
Frontier had a shot at first doubles, where Cassidy Bardwell and Coleman Hartner fell to Mikayla Messier and Madalyn Ferreira, 7-5, 6-1.
Next up for the Hawks is an away match at Pioneer Valley Christian, today.
Greenfield 5, Mohawk 0 — Jenna Keith won the closest match of the day, as the Greenfield second singles player upended Mohawk’s Paige King, 6-3, 6-1, to help the visiting Green Wave blank the Warriors, 5-0, in a Tri-County League girls tennis match Tuesday in Buckland.
At first singles, Lilya Georgitsa was a 6-1, 6-1 winner over Mohawk’s Avery Dupree, and Greenfield teammate Ngawang Tridytsang capped the singles sweep with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Maddy Lilly at No. 3.
Greenfield (8-1, 5-0) dropped just two games combined in its two doubles victories. Estera Covalenco and Kaitlyn Phillips were 6-2, 6-0 winners over Mohawk’s Lizzy Lynch and Haley Randall at No. 1, while Dina Samake and Eva Pruitt-Dahl grabbed a 6-0, 6-0 win at No. 2 against Sophie McNeil and Isabelle Canon.
Athol 3, East Longmeadow 1 — Zach Aldrich came through with a monster offensive night, putting down 20 kills to help Athol pick up a 25-21, 25-19, 21-25, 25-17 victory over East Longmeadow in a PVIAC East boys volleyball match, Tuesday.
Aldrich added two aces and four assists for the Red Raiders, which improved to 8-11 with the win.
Matt Willhite amassed eight kills and four aces, while setter Colby Soltysik dished out 31 assists in addition to eight kills. Issac Dodge (three kills), Owen Willhite (two) and Luke Innis (one) all aided the offensive effort.