The Girls Tennis three game winning streak was finally snapped this past Saturday as the team lost to a tough Choate squad in a close 6-9 match. The squad’s performance was still impressive nonetheless, as the girls played without two of their key players: Captain Alyssa Hill ’06 and Arianna Van Sluytman ’08. In the end, it was Choate’s depth that defeated the depleted Andover team. Despite forfeiting Maffione’s match due to injury, the girls still managed to win two of the singles matches, with wins coming from Lauren Wilmarth ’09 and Elena Jacobson ’08. The two have yet to face a worthy opponent, and are still undefeated on the season. Wilmarth ’09 defeated her senior Choate opponent 6-2, 6-3, while Jacobson ’08 playing the number two position for the squad, rolled over her opponent 6-0, 6-1. Senior leader Lucretia Witte ’06 lost her singles match in a nerve racking second set tiebreaker. While barely tapping back Witte’s powerful ground strokes, the Choate player managed to win the match 4-6, 6-7 (3-7). In the doubles matches, the Big Blue pulled out two of three, but it was not enough to claim the overall victory for the team. Witte and Wilmarth took down their opponents 8-3, while Jacobson and Archie Rajender ’07 claimed a demanding win 8-5 in an eight game pro set. Foster Jebsen ’08 and Trey Meyer ’09 won 8-3 in the first doubles match against St. Paul’s Friday, sparking Andover’s 10-5 road win. Andover has relied heavily on its depth and young talent for guidance this season, and this pair exemplified such strength. “Once again, the doubles was an important part of our team victory. The doubles wins set the momentum in our favor at the outset,” said Coach Greg Wilkin. Andover jumped out to an early lead, taking two out of the three doubles matches. Jebsen and Meyer finished first, and Andrew Chan ’08 and Toby Clark ’07 won soon after. Captain Dan Wagman ’06 and Matt Schubert ’07, who teamed up at the second position, squandered a 7-6 lead and lost 9-8. Under the Independent School League scoring format, each doubles match counted for one point, so Andover took a 2-1 lead into the singles competition. Andover had lost to St. Paul’s last season, but the singles results from Friday characterized a dramatic reversal of fortunes. While St. Paul’s lost last year’s top three players to graduation, Andover gained some new talent and retained its top two players. Captain Wagman battled at number one but ended up losing in straight sets. Following the ISL format, each individual set counted for one point in the overall match score. This loss from Wagman gave St. Paul’s a 3-2 lead. Toby Clark ‘07, breaking his recent winning streak, lost in straight sets at number six and put Andover down 5-2. Andover would need to win at least six more total sets to secure a team win. The Andover squad stepped up admirably. Though Chan’s match at number five became more competitive than would have been comfortable in the second set, he overpowered his opponent with heavy forehands. He came out on top in the second set and secured the team victory. Schubert won soon thereafter on the strength of a late-match run and secured a 10-5 win for the team.
