Under the strong doubles play of Elena Jacobson ’08 and Junior Eliza Flynn, the Girls Varsity Tennis team beat Groton on Friday, and followed up with a win against Deerfield. With an exciting record of 4–0 the team is hoping to maintain an undefeated season, and it certainly has a good chance of achieving this goal. On Friday, despite the snowy weather, the team traveled to Groton and won 9-6. Playing the number one position, Jacobson and Flynn were the only doubles team to defeat their opponents, with a score of 8–5. Captain Julia Watson ’07 and Lauren Wilmarth ’09 lost their doubles 6 – 8. Archie Rajender ’07 and Rachel Blake ’08 unfortunately lost their match 5 – 8. However, Maggie Maffione ’08 and Ari Van Sluytman ’08 swept their competion 8 – 2 in the doubles exhibition round. After the doubles matches, they were losing by one set. Despite this loss, Coach Martha Grant commented, “We roared back to take eight out of the 12 singles points to defeat Groton.” Jacobson triumphed over her opponent with two quick defeats of 6 -1 and 6-4. At the number two spot, Wilmarth forcefully took her match, winning 6-1 and 6-1. To round out the top three, Flynn aced her competition 6-0 and then 6-3. Ari Van Sluytman played the number four position and won her first set 4-6 but lost the second 2-6. Captain Watson also won 6 – 4, and then lost her last set 1-6. Blake, playing number six singles, won one of her sets 6-4 and lost the next 5-7. In the singles exhibition round, Rajender lost her first set 2-6, but came back to win her second set 6-3. This past Saturday, the team defeated Deerfield 6-3. Jacobson had an extremely tough singles match against her opponent, yet she still prevailed with an 8-3 win. Wilmarth came through with a close 8–5 win. Flynn had yet another impressively strong match, beating her opponent 8-2. Van Sluytman played the number four singles position and defeated her opponent 8-7 but then lost her second set 3-7. Andover’s next match is at home against St. Paul’s on Wednesday.
