Keaton McAuliffe
Reporter
After dominating in the quarter and semifinals, girls’ tennis fell to Fairfield Ludlowe in the FCIAC final on Wednesday, May 22.
In the quarterfinal last Thursday, May 17, the Lady Rams bested Wilton 5-2. In No. 1 singles, Jensen Lee dueled Wilton’s top player, Maddi Stow, who was able to come out with a win. Wilton’s second and final point came from their number two singles player, Brooke Connolly, after she defeated New Canaan’s Kate Howard.
Both Emily Brand and Caroline Gordon came out of their singles matches victorious, raking in the points for the Rams. The doubles teams swept the competition as well, adding 3 points to the Rams’ score with the duos of Kristin Laub and Sara Greene, Amanda Merjian and Sarah Lovejoy and Guiliana Savini and Emma Gruber all winning their matches.
In the semifinals, which took place on Monday, May 20, the Rams took on the number one seed, Greenwich. It was a tight match with the final score at 4-3 New Canaan, but it was enough to get them a spot in the finals. The Rams kept the same lineup, with wins coming from Emily Brand and Caroline Gordon in singles, as well as Kristin Laub and Sara Greene, and Amanda Merjian and Sarah Lovejoy in doubles.
Finally, on Wednesday May 22, the Lady Rams traveled to Wilton to face off with Fairfield Ludlowe. The Rams fought hard, yet they were squeezed out by just a point, losing the championship with a final score of 4-3. Caroline Gordon rose as the shining star in singles, winning her match. In doubles, the top two seeds of Kristin and Sara, and Amanda and Sarah also won their matches, giving the Rams two more points to add to their total score of 3. Two matches were the deciding factors in this game, with Kate in singles, and Giuliana and Emma all going to split sets, each just barely missing victory in the 3rd set.
Despite the loss, girls’ tennis successfully kept their reputation as one of the top teams in the FCIAC. Going into the finals, Giuliana admits that there was some pressure for them to maintain their high position, “This year, the playing field is more even than it’s ever been,” she said. “So we had something to prove- that we were still one of the dominant teams in the FCIAC.”
This season had great depth, as many of the teams were on an even playing field. The regular season gave no hints as to which team would rise to the top. Many of the matches ended with unexpected and unpredictable results, “No one’s match is guaranteed,” Giuliana said. “So it will be a battle, for every point and every game.”
One of these unexpected matches was the Rams’ double defeat of Greenwich, who was seeded No. 1 throughout the regular season. “We are the only team in the FCIAC to beat Greenwich this year,” Kate said. “And to do it for a second time and secure a slot in the FCIAC final made it that much sweeter.”
Despite their loss in the FCIAC final, the Rams look back on the season as a successful one. Giuliana said that she saw a lot of improvement from the girls throughout the transition into the championship season, “A lot of the matches showed great improvement from when we played Ludlowe in the regular season,” she said. “Everyone battled for every point, the effort was there, but things didn’t go our way that day, and that’s just tennis.”
