Girls Tennis Splits Pair Of Matches

The Whaler girls tennis team split a pair of matches the past two days. They lost to the St. John Paul II Lions 5-0 on Wednesday, but bounced back on Thursday with a 4-1 victory over Rising Tide.

"I really think that our overall play level is as good as it was last year but we just aren't winning as many matches," head coach Luke Thornewill said. "I am not really sure why. I think other schools have upped their levels as well."

While Nantucket lost to SJP 5-0, junior Joan Harris gave her top singles opponent Roseanna Sullivan one heck of a battle, forcing the match to a tiebreaker before Sullivan ultimately pulled away. The scores of the match were 3-6, 5-5, 3-7.

Harris said that she believes she played well after the game in her match report but struggled to stay in a rhythm.

“I felt myself making forced errors,” she said. “I think I did a good job at net, but I still have some to work to do there with angling my shots.”

The Whalers bounced back on Thursday with a 4-1 victory. Harris had a strong match as the top singles player winning 6-0, 6-1. Cutone was the second single and won 6-1, 6-0. Chloe Marrero and Lydia Johnson were the first doubles pairing and won 6-2, 6-2.

But Thornewill said after the match he felt Hannah Gerardi, the team’s third singles player, was the notable performance of the day after she beat her opponent 6-3, 6-2.

"She is just a very consistent player," Thornewill said.

The Whalers are now 2-4 and will be back in action on Monday, April 24 after some time off to play the Barnstable Red Hawks on the road at 3:30 p.m.