EASTHAM — In a rare tennis doubleheader necessitated by two rainouts of a match initially scheduled to be held at Wareham in April, the Nauset Warriors dispatched the Wareham Vikings twice, 4-1 and 5-0, on May 12. With the wins the Nauset girls tennis squad brought its record to 7 and 6, which puts the team in a solid position for the upcoming state tournament. They started the day ranked 17th — one spot out of a first-round home match.
The team showed no ill effects after last Thursday’s 5-0 loss to undefeated Martha’s Vineyard, which sits atop the Division 3 rankings. Nauset jumped out to early leads that proved to be insurmountable in four of their opening five matches.
The only exception was at number one singles, where junior Anjali O’Brien engaged in a struggle with Evelyn Francis, her lanky Wareham opponent. A courageous O’Brien hung in against repeated drop shots from Francis interspersed with lasers directed to the corners. Late in the contest, O’Brien broke Francis to make it 5-7 but could not take further advantage as she lost the subsequent game and the match, 5-8 (each individual match was decided by a single first-to-eight-wins pro set).
Sophia Votteler and Haley Jackson won handily in the second and third singles slots, respectively. They were joined in victory by the doubles teams of Faye Adams and Callie Murphy at number one and Elexa Malouin and Addie Kelsey at number two.
In the nightcap, the lineups remained the same and so did the result, with one notable difference. O’Brien, acting on Coach Kathleen Tringale’s instructions to anticipate her opponent’s intentions, particularly regarding drop shots, took early command of her match. Unlike the Celtics, who recently gave in to their collapse, she won going away, 8-3.
“I wasn’t prepared at first, but then I focused more on what she was preparing to do,” said O’Brien, crediting her coach’s advice about being ready for Francis’s moves.
“That was a nice win for her,” said Tringale of the junior from Brewster. “Anjali really turned her game around, and I am happy for her.”
One other impressive showing, among a good many, was displayed by the second doubles team of Malouin and Kelsey. The seniors had never played together in a match but that was not evident on the court as they stormed to two victories, including an 8-0 win in their second match.
Kelsey, from Brewster, took two years off after playing as a freshman and has substituted in second doubles as needed this year. On Monday, she was intending to support her team as a booster when she got a text from Tringale as she was leaving school, informing her that she would have a more important role that day. “I was going to help at the bake sale. I didn’t even have socks,” said an ebullient Kelsey after the match.
“I think we worked together well,” said Eastham’s Malouin, who, like Kelsey, was thoroughly enjoying the moment.
The Warriors have a busy week as they hosted Monomoy on Wednesday and return home Friday against Dennis-Yarmouth.
