After press time:
North Reading defeats Wareham 3-2, will play Newburyport in the Round of 16 on June 4.
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Published May 30, 2024
By STEPHEN MARTELLUCCI
LYNNFIELD — Last Thursday afternoon, the North Reading High girls’ tennis team lost 5-0 at Lynnfield in the final match of the regular season. With that loss, the Hornets finished at 9-9 overall and 6-7 in the Cape Ann League as the Pioneers swept the season series.
“They have a really deep team and should go far in the Division 4 tournament,” said Hornets head coach Matt Tiberii about the 12-6 Pioneers.
North Reading ended up in third place in the CAL Kinney Division behind Newburyport and Lynnfield.
At first singles, Althea Bradley fell, 6-3, 7-6 (7-0 in the tiebreaker). Freshman Matilda Ton lost 6-1, 6-3, at second singles.
Vanessa Wright, at third singles, lost the first set 6-0 but won the second set 6-1. They played a 10-game tiebreaker in the third set since the match was already decided at that point and she lost 10-7.
In doubles action, the first team of Bhagy Bandara, and Addison Stetson lost in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3.
The second doubles team of Aniya Taneja and Shenaya Verma also lost 6-2, 6-3.
Lynnfield won the first meeting, 4-1, back on May 10.
The day before the Lynnfield match, the Hornets shut out host Triton, 5-0, up in Byfield. Due to the heat that day, the coaches decided to do 10-game pro sets
“The girls did well even with the heat that day,” recalled Tiberii, as the Hornets swept the Vikings this season.
Bradley won, 10-0, while Ton won, 10-2. Wright also won by a 10-2 count at third singles.
Bandara and Stetson won, 10-5, as did Taneja and Verma.
The bracket came out for the MIAA Division 3 state tournament over the weekend and the Hornets are the 15th seed. They will host Wareham on Friday, May 31 at 4:30 p.m. in the opening round.
Wareham is the 18th seed and they enter the match with an impressive record of 15-2.
