GREENFIELD — The Greenfield girls tennis team began its season in harsh rain on Thursday with a matchup against Frontier.
The Green Wave swept the singles matches, all of which were won in two sets, to pull away with a 3-1 victory over the Redhawks.
In the No. 1 singles match, Greenfield senior Jenna Keith defeated Frontier senior Emma Clancy, 6-2, 6-0. After two years of COVID-19 wreaking havoc on the tennis season, Keith said she’s excited to have a full schedule of matches ahead of her.
“I’m looking forward to playing more games because we didn’t play a lot last year,” Keith said.
The other two singles matches were won by Greenfield senior Estera Covalenco (No. 2) and junior Kaitlyn Collins (No. 3). Covalenco defeated Frontier’s Maddie Powers, 6-4, 6-0, and Collins knocked off Sam Scanlon, 6-0, 6-2.
Both Covalenco and Collins are focused on what’s to come for the rest of the season.
“I’m looking forward to getting more wins than last year and being able to serve consistently,” Covalenco said.
The Redhawks had a positive note on the day when Sam Baker and Sydney Scanlon beat Greenfield’s Rory Crownen-Townsend and Kaitlyn Phillips 6-3, 6-0 in the No. 1 doubles match. The No. 2 doubles match wasn’t contested due to rain.
“The conditions were really rough, but we all worked really hard and we still had fun,” Scanlon said. “We’re looking forward to our next game.”
With the loss, Frontier falls to 1-1 while Greenfield sits undefeated at 1-0. Both teams have a lot of matches remaining and plenty of time to improve.
“I see improvement in them with every day,” said Frontier’s head coach Dave Reading. “They put in amazing effort [today] despite the conditions.”
Greenfield coach Alexis Silk is in her fourth year coaching the program. Silk said the freshmen that she first coached are now seniors, and seeing them participating in their final season is quite the sight.
“I’m excited to see them play in their senior year matches, which will be so sad,” Silk said.
However, Silk said she’s ready for what the future holds for the girls tennis program. The team currently has eight underclassmen on the roster, as well as some players who have never picked up a racket.
“We also have a lot of new players that have never played before, but they’re out here and they’re trying hard and improving,” Silk said. “I look forward to building our team.”
Both teams return to play on Monday. Greenfield hits the road to face Mohawk Trail and Frontier will look to bounce back in its match against PVCICS.
Pioneer 11, Mahar 1 — Jared Hubbard tossed five scoreless innings for the Panthers, striking out 12 and allowing a mere two hits as Pioneer defeated the Senators, 11-1, in a Bi-County North contest in Orange on Thursday.
Ethan Quinn smacked three hits while Hubbard, Ian Simpson and Peter Loud each had a pair of hits, with Hubbard and Loud recording RBIs as well. Hugh Cyhowski smashed a double while Braeden Tsipenyuk, Sean Allen and Ben Werner hit safely for Pioneer (2-0, 2-0). Tsipenyuk, Cyhowski, Allen (2), Alex McClelland and Werner each had an RBI in the win.
Cole Johnson struck out five for Mahar (1-1, 1-1) and added a pair of hits at the plate. Nate Danielson and Jayden Delgado each tallied a hit in the loss.
Frontier 3, East Longmeadow 2 — The Spartans didn’t make things easy for the Redhawks in their home opener at Goodnow Gymnasium.
Frontier earned 25-18, 25-20 set wins to take a 2-0 lead but East Longmeadow rallied to take the third set, 25-21, and then won the fourth set, 25-15, to force a fifth set.
With the game tied 12-12, the Redhawks scored the final three points to hold on for a 3-2 victory.
“We were pretty smooth in the first two sets but then we got in our head and made errors in the third and fourth sets,” Frontier co-coach Sean MacDonald said. “We showed mental toughness there late. It was a good gut check to win the game at home. We had a great student section tonight, we hope to see them come out like that again.”
Ngawang Deter led the way with five kills and three aces for the Redhawks (2-0). Jesse Kurkolonis tossed nine assists and put down five aces and kills, Payton Sladeski had four aces and came up with 17 digs and Aleks Carey had four kills in the winning effort.
Ludlow 3, Athol 0 — The Lions took the opening set and didn’t look back, pulling away with a 25-18, 25-13, 25-16 sweep of the Bears on Thursday in Athol.