Reagan Posorske ’17 and Co-Captain Camille Price ’15 handled St. Paul’s with ease in the first doubles seed with a score of 8-0, contributing to Andover’s 9-0 clean sweep over St. Paul’s on Wednesday. “Last year, [Price] and I played throughout the entire season, so we have a lot of chemistry, which helped during the match. Also, we took advantage of the wind by being aggressive on the volleys,” said Posorske.
Andover’s decisive victory in its home opener brought its record to 2-0. Posorske continued her undefeated singles streak with scores of 6-0, 6-2. “Although I didn’t play as well as I hoped to, I played consistently and executed the shorter shots when I was able to,” said Posorske.
Second through fourth seed singles players only dropped a total of six games across their matches. Second seed Price defeated her opponent 6-1, 6-0, third seed Co-Captain Isabella Haegg ’16 swept her match 6-1, 6-2, and fourth seed Sewon Park ’17 won 6-2, 6-0. Fifth seed Lara Danovitch ’16 prevailed in a nailbiter of a match, splitting sets 4-6 and 6-4, finally winning the tiebreaker 7-4. Sixth seed Lauren Lee ’18 beat her opponent 6-2, 6-2.
Haegg said, “We were really proud of how we played in our home opener. While the temperature was great and it was very sunny out, there was a lot of wind, which posed a physical and mental challenge. It would send the ball flying out or into the bottom of the net, so the fact we were able to overcome that and still play consistently is a great sign of our focus and intensity. The sweep shows that we rose to our potential and didn’t play ‘down’ as we sometimes do when we get nervous.”
In doubles, second seeds Park and Haegg triumphed 8-3, and third seeds Madeleine Mayhew ’15 and Charlotte Welch ’18 won 8-1.
Park said, “[Haegg] and I didn’t play as well as we could have, but just like in my singles match, I just tried to stay patient. The other team was much weaker, and it was our second match, so we were better prepared and also had the home court advantage. The wind was tough, but we moved our feet and stuck with it.”
In its match against Groton on Friday, Andover pulled out a tight 5-4 victory, handicapped by the absence of Price. Posorske, who played as the first seed in her singles match, crushed her opponent 6-0, 6-0 in a quick and decisive match.
Haegg stepped up to second seed to fill in for Price, winning 6-2 and 6-3, one of three singles wins.
Third seed Danovitch fell in a close 6-4, 6-4 match, fifth seed Lee lost 7-5, 6-2, and sixth seed Mayhew lost 6-3, 7-5.
With Andover down 2-3 on the scoreboard, the pressure was on Park to tie the match. She stepped up, winning the longest singles match of the day 5-7, 6-1, 7-4.
After a pep talk from Head Coach Deborah Chase, the girls went into doubles with newfound confidence and determination.
Dariya Zhumashova ’17, who was unable to participate in the match against St. Paul’s due to an ankle injury, paired up with Posorske to win their doubles match 8-2.
Though it was Zhumashova’s first match of the season, Posorske and Zhumashova quickly learned to work well with each other.
Zhumashova said, “I didn’t even have a practice match, so I felt a little rusty, but in the end it was fine. I think [Posorske] and I played well together. We communicated well, and we were pretty consistent throughout the whole match. There were a few games where we started making a lot of mistakes, but it was pretty consistent otherwise.”
Haegg and Mayhew won their doubles match 8-2 to seal the victory for Andover. Lee and Danovitch fell 2-8. In an email to The Phillipian, Chase wrote, “Though I would’ve liked the score to have been better, I was pleased with the win; in a lot of ways it was a great thing for us to be challenged in this way right out of the gate. The girls stepped up when they needed to, especially in doubles.”
Andover looks to extend its undefeated season in its match against Nobles on Friday.
