Girls’ tennis qualifies for state tourney

After securing its ninth win of the season in last Friday’s 5-0 win over Fontbonne Academy, the CHS girls’ tennis team qualified for the state tournament for the first time since the 2008 season.

After going 1-2 the week before, Canton rebounded to go 3-1 last week with 5-0 wins over Franklin, Oliver Ames and Fontbonne. The team is now 9-4 on the season. 

Last Monday against Franklin, Canton’s three singles players, Keishorea Armstrong, Micaela Nannery and Eleni Pappadopoulus, cruised to victory over their respective opponents. The doubles matches were closer, but Canton still came away victorious in both. The first doubles team of Carol Berman and Tilly Golledge won 7-5, 7-5 and the second doubles team of Divya Harpalani and Aimee Pina bounced back from losing the first set to win 2-6, 6-2, 6-1. 

Last Wednesday was more of the same, with Canton sweeping Oliver Ames. Armstrong led the way at first singles, following up her 6-0, 6-0 win against Franklin with a 6-1, 6-0 win against her opponent from OA. 

Head coach Sheila Conneely decided to rest Pappadopoulus and Carol Berman last Friday against Fontbonne, but Canton was still able to pick up a routine victory. Tilly Golledge filled in at third singles, while Eva Panciocco and Kendall Sceviour filled in at second doubles. 

The only blemish last week was a 3-2 loss to Mansfield on Thursday. Armstrong and Nannery accounted for Canton’s points, but the Bulldogs were unable to avenge a 3-2 loss to the Hornets from earlier in the season.  

“Looking forward in the next few weeks, I would like to see more consistency and focus across the board,” Conneely wrote in an e-mail to the Citizen. “An example of the inconsistency is easy to see if we juxtapose the two Mansfield matches — two 3-2 losses, but we won our points from four different sources between the two matches.” 

Still, in her nine years coaching high school varsity tennis — the last three at CHS — Conneely said this team is “by far the highest skilled team I have ever coached.”

Canton hosted Foxboro on Wednesday and will travel to North Attleboro today (Thursday).

Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=2427

Posted by Jeffrey Pickette on May 13 2010. Filed under High School, Sports. Both comments and pings are currently closed.