Girls Tennis Season Comes To An End Against Cohasset

The Nantucket girls tennis team, ranked #21 in the MIAA Div. 4 state tournament, put up quite the fight on the road against #12 Cohasset but ultimately lost 4-1. This marks the end of their 2023 campaign but with many of their starters slated to return next season, the 2024 year has lots of promise.

Lauren Cutone had a strong day and represented the lone win for Nantucket on Friday. As the Whaler’s second singles player, Cutone won her match in three sets. She fell behind after losing the first set 2-6 but went on to win the next two sets 6-4, 6-2 respectively to take her match.

Cutone said afterwards that she felt it was a pretty even contest since the two were at deuce for a majority of the match, but in particular that first set.

“However, in the last two sets my main strategy was ball placement and making my opponent run which worked well,” Cutone said. “Overall, it was a good match despite the heat.”

Hannah Gerardi continued to give head coach Luke Thornewill and her teammates strong play in the Whaler’s third singles spot. She lost her match in three sets but nearly pulled away the win.

Gerardi won her first set 6-4. In the next two sets she found herself tied with her opponent 6-6 but ultimately lost both tiebreakers.

“I thought I played pretty well and that my shot placement improved,” Gerardi said after the match in her match report. “We had very good rallies and most games went to deuce.”

Joan Harris was Nantucket’s top single in the match per usual, but lost her match in straight sets 1-6, 2-6. She said afterwards that she thought she played pretty well and that the score was not reflective of her performance.

“My opponent and I had some really good rallies and I think my ground strokes were pretty solid,” Harris said.

Harris, like Cutone and Gerardi, will be back next season to give Nantucket an experienced top three.

Chloe Marrero and Julia Swietlik lost their doubles match as the Whaler’s first pairing in straight sets 1-6, 4-6. Marrero said that overall she felt it was a successful game for the duo in spite of the heat.

“We definitely got into a groove in the second set and were neck and neck the entire time,” Marrero said. “I think Julia had some amazing volleys and my back court coverage was good. I would like to work on moving the opponent around the court more in the future.”

Swietlik meanwhile credited Marrero with covering her volleys that she would miss and felt overall she did a good job adjusting the opponent, which allowed both her and Marrero to play a much more competitive second set.

Sutton LeBrecht and Andrea Bunlerssak were Nantucket’s second doubles pairing and lost in three sets. After losing 7-6 in the first set following a tiebreaker, the Whalers bounced back with a 7-6 win of their own in set two. In the final set, Cohasset pulled away and ultimately beat the Whalers 6-3.

Nantucket finished the season with an 8-11 record (including playoffs) and hope to carry the momentum they built by winning their final five regular season games and nearly upsetting a strong Cohasset program into next year.