Despite a clutch comeback victory from Borkeny Sambou ’12 and Midori Ishizuka ’11 in the second doubles match, Andover girls tennis suffered its first loss of the season 2-5 against Deerfield last Wednesday. The pair started the match playing back in the court, and the opponents quickly jumped on the opportunity to drop shots in front. Andover fell behind, so it changed its strategy to get back on top. Forcing its opponent to constantly move forward and back, Andover played closer to the net and hit short shots and lobs exceptionally well. “They had really good variety and changed momentum of the game,” said Coach Martha Grant. Sambou and Ishizuka’s change of pace brought them into the lead, and they finished with an 11-9 victory. “Getting on a roll is tough and we fell behind, but I think we just decided to focus on staying consistent and keeping the ball in the court and that worked for us. Patience was important,” Ishizuka said. The team changed scoring formats in this meet, which was a difficult adjustment. Instead of winning the best out of three sets, each player aimed to be the first to win ten games. Said Coach Martha Grant, “If anyone got a slow start with the ten-game format, it was really hard to come back.” Katherine Lee ’13 earned Andover’s only other win on the day, as she pummeled her opponent 10-4 in three slot. Said Grant, “Katherine was really a standout today, and she’s been just superb all season.” Co-Captain Eliza Flynn ’10 took the court in the first singles position still not fully recovered from a concussion, and fell to her opponent 4-10. Fay Feghali ’12 also lost 4-10 in the second singles position to a quick and agile opponent. Elizabeth Kelly ’11 played in the fourth singles position, and battled her opponent until the last shot. Kelly rallied with a strong finish, but couldn’t tie it up and left the court with a final score of 7-10. Co-Captain Stacia Vladimirova ’11 and MJ Engel ’13 teamed up in the first doubles position, but suffered a 7-10 loss. Though Andover failed to keep a lead, it had great offensive success, but Deerfield remained really consistent returning shots. “We were forcing play, they were just getting points,” Grant said. “Everybody at this level is good competition. We can’t rest easy, and I think that was our problem today,” said Grant. Because of easy success against Deerfield last year, Andover expected a smooth victory today and was caught off-guard. Andover will play rival Exeter this weekend.
