Lenox Advances to Round of 16
LENOX, Mass. – The Lenox girls tennis team might just play Mount Greylock again if they could.
The Millionaires’ second doubles team of Lauren Romano and Brooklyn Butler Thursday earned a 6-1, 6-2 win to clinch Lenox’s fifth win this spring over the Mounties – this time in the first round of the Division 4 State Tournament.
“We were excited,” Lenox’s Julia Zanin said after winning her second singles match in straight sets. “We were excited to stay in Berkshire County and play at home. And it’s a good match.”
After beating the Mounties three times in the regular season and once in the championship match of the Western Massachusetts Class C Tournament, the Millionaires were a little concerned about the law of averages catching up to them.
“Definitely, we know it’s hard to play a good team four or five times,” Zanin said. “So we knew we had to come in and play our best, because it definitely does get hard playing the same team over and over.
“And they’re a very good team.”
Good enough, in fact, to be ranked 23rd in the state. But the Mounties reward was a trip to play No. 10 Lenox, a team that beat Mount Greylock by the same score, 4-1, in the four previous meetings.
History repeated on the Lenox Community Center courts on Thursday.
Caity Giardina took a 6-0, 6-0 win at third singles in the time it took most of the matches to get through a set. Then the first doubles pair of Reeva Patel and Bella Giardina walked off with their 6-1, 6-1 win.
And just after Romano and Butler clinched the team win, Zanin finished off her 6-1, 6-0 win to give Lenox four team points.
Just as she had done in the previous four meetings, Mount Greylock No. 1 Scarlett Foley, the reigning individual champion in Western Mass, helped the Mounties avoid a shutout, prevailing, 6-1, 6-4.
Lenox moves on to the Round of 16 to face either Leicsster or seventh-seeded Bourne, who play on Friday afternoon.
They will do so with the momentum of one more win over a county rival that has provided some of the toughest tests for the 17-0 Millionaires.
Of course, the Lenox players test one another every day they are not facing another team across the net.
“We do challenges basically every week,” Zanin said, referring to the intrasquad matches that help set the lineup for interschool competitions. “I’ve played [No. 1 Katie Shove], I’ve played Caity [Giardina]. We all play each other, and it only makes us a better player.
“Playing Katie, it’s made me so much of a better player – playing harder opponents with harder serves and harder shots.”
Shove pushed Mount Greylock’s Foley on Thursday, but, as she has in 17 other team matches this spring, Foley pulled out the win.
The seventh grader is part of a strong returning core for the Mounties, who graduate just one senior, No. 2 singles player and captain Charlotte Towler.
“We just want to get better,” Mount Greylock coach John Jacobbe said. “My kids got better this year. They worked super hard. We had a lot of matches and rainouts and not a ton of practices. So, now, in the off-season, it’s the time to get better.
“But I think they love the game of tennis, or at least like the game of tennis. And they were great kids to work with, and we improved a lot. Making it to the Western Mass Finals was a huge accomplishment for this team.”
Singles
No. 1 Scarlett Foley, MG, def. Katie Shove, 6-1, 6-4.
No. 2 Julia Zanin, L, def. Charlotte Towler, 6-1, 6-0.
No. 3 Caity Giardina, L, def. Tilly Shaddock, 6-0, 6-0.
Doubles
No. 1 Reeva Patel/Bella Giardina, L, def. Alex Franz/Molly Karampatsos, 6-1, 6-1.
No. 2 Lauren Romano/Brooklyn Butler, L, def. Lila Bergeron/Maddie Love, 6-1, 6-2.