MVRHS girls tennis secures spot in semifinals

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Karrine Nivala hits the ball with a doublehanded backhand. -Eunki Seonwoo

In the quarterfinals of the MIAA Division 2 South Sectional, the No. 4 seed Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School girls tennis team came out on top against No. 5 Medfield Senior High School on a Tuesday afternoon at the Ned Fennessy Courts at the high school. MVRHS won four out of the five matches against Medfield. However, it was still competitive. 

“It was a very close match. In a 4 and a 5 seed match up, teams are going to be pretty close in ability,” said MVRHS head coach Bill Rigali. “The matches were very well contested.”

In first singles, Ashley Zilora brought Medfield its only win against Hunter Tomkins with a score of 6-2, 6-0. MVRHS’s Cali Giglio brought down Julia Wilson in second singles in a tie-breaker with a score of 6-0, 7-6 (4). The number in the parentheses is how much the losing team scored in the tie-breaker match of first to 7 points with a margin of 2 points. Karrine Nivala of MVRHS won her match against Mary Paladino in overwhelming fashion with 6-2, 6-1. 

Both doubles matches were decided by tie-breakers. In the first doubles, MVRHS’s Tessa Hammond and Andrea Morse defeated Callie Foley and Grace Keene 7-5, 7-6 (5). A match point was contested by Medfield because the ball hit one of its players, but because MVRHS had called the ball after it was already out Medfield’s challenge did not go through. Paige Anderson and Evelyn Brewer brought MVRHS a win against Cece Cam and Amma Scheck in the second doubles 6-4,7-6 (5). 

MVRHS will face the No. 1 Foxborough this Thursday in an away game for the semifinals.

“We look forward to the challenge. We love playing good teams and good competition,” said Rigali. “That’s what tennis on the Vineyard is all about. It’s a community that has worked hard to give kids an opportunity to go out there and compete well.”