SOUTH HADLEY – The Belchertown girls tennis team has a lot of things going its way this season.
A combination of youth and experience helped the Orioles to an impressive 5-0 sweep against South Hadley on a beautiful Monday afternoon at Mount Holyoke College. It was one of the nicest days yet this spring, and Belchertown head coach Alannah Grady said she was excited to see her team’s progress against the Tigers.
“I think everybody came ready to play,” Grady said. “We are still adjusting early in the season to having these nice weather days that allow us to be outside with some sort of consistency.”
Both of Belchertown’s No. 1 and No. 2 singles players, Ava Shea and Amber Drummond, respectively, won every one of their games in a pair of straight-set wins. No. 3 singles player Zoe Bates bested Esther Ngure (6-1, 6-1) to complete the singles’ sweep.
“I feel like I did well. There’s some consistency things that I definitely need to work on, serves and stuff,” Drummond said, with Shea voicing her agreement. “(Today) was very much about focusing on what I need to do better instead of my strengths, but I thought it was a good match. I thought the whole team did well. I’m very proud of everyone.”
Both of Belchertown’s doubles teams rounded out the clean sweep with a pair of wins, though their matches were closer. The No. 1 doubles team of Brooke Burrows and Kasey Gibbons won their match 6-0, 6-2 while teammates Alena Karabetsos and Molly Berenson won 6-2, 6-0.
Because it’s still so early, Grady said she’s still working out her doubles teams. There are a lot of players on the Orioles rosters, so she’s been using some of the early practices and matches to try out different combinations.
“Both of my doubles (teams) in particular impressed me today. We’re trying a lot of new and different combinations. I have a big pack of players who are all vying for those two spots. There’s four spots on court, and so everybody’s working really hard to be able to compete against other teams,” Grady said. “(We have) a lot of close challenge matches, everybody’s pushing each other and it makes my decision very hard.”
On the other end of the court, South Hadley is in more of a rebuilding phase this year. Despite the outcome of the match on Monday, head coach Eric Cestero said he’s focused more on his players’ individual improvements than the result at the end of a match.
“I wasn’t looking for the win as a whole team, I was looking for the win as individuals to see how they have progressed from the last two weeks that we started the season,” Cestero said. “I think that they have improved today.”
South Hadley has already enjoyed some wins in terms of the number of players it has on its roster. Last year, the Tigers weren’t able to field a full team with just four players on the squad. This year, they were able to fill all available spots in singles and doubles, and have shown remarkable improvement. Quite a few players on the team are new to tennis as a sport, but have bought into the competitive mindset that Cestero is looking to build. In particular, Cestero is excited to see where No. 1 doubles pair Riley Suchemicz and Maddie Bruso, and No. 3 singles player Ester Ngure, among others, go from here.
“They’re now thinking varsity. At the beginning, they were only thinking as a participant on a team – it could have been a club team, it could have been a recreational team,” Cestero said. “But now they know the meaning of what varsity really means, and what it brings to you, and what they bring to the game.”