Tennis: Classical girls clinch tourney berth

The Lynn Classical girls tennis team will be a state tournament participant for only the second time in the program’s history following a dramatic 3-2 win at Beverly on Friday.”We feel especially privileged to come out with a win against a team like them,” Classical coach Tom Clark said. “I was a little surprised, to be honest, that it came against Beverly cause they are such a good team.”The Panthers and Rams milked every bit of drama out of this one as the teams were tied at 2-2 with just the second singles match left on court. It took a while but Amy O’Brien got the job done for Classical, winning 7-6 (5), 6-4 to seal the match.”Amy showed great composure to come back in that match,” Clark said. “All the girls showed up ready to play.”Amanda Pearson claimed a 6-3, 6-3 win at third singles and Nanouma Joachin-Tara Gunderman won 6-0, 6-4 in second doubles to account for the other Classical (9-7)”We’ve been fighting hard all year so it’s great to finally get that win that does it,” Clark said.Swampscott 4, Peabody 1At Peabody, the match was much closer than the score indicated as the Big Blue (15-0) swept the doubles and took two of three singles matches to best the 10-3 Tanners.”We knew going in that we needed to get one point from the singles if we were going to be successful,” Swampscott coach Lenny Polacco said. “We felt going in it would be a close match and it really was.”Jen Cleary returned after a two-week layoff due to a foot injury to take a 7-5, 6-1 win at first singles and Tatum Pederson won 7-6 (5), 6-3 at third singles. Peabody’s Emily Athas took a 6-2, 6-4 win at second singles, handing Kara Gilberg her first loss of the season.The doubles matches were a little less stressful for Swampscott as Kate Hall-Rita Tsokanis won 6-0, 6-2 and Kelsey O’Brian-Shannon Toner won 6-0, 6-0.BOYS TENNISMarblehead 3, Manchester-Essex 2At Marblehead, Tyler Gelineau’s three-set win wrapped up the decisive point for the Magicians (15-1; 13-0) in a non-league match. Gelineau defeated Calvin Lamothe, 1-6, 7-5, 6-1, at second singles.Marblehead’s other two points also came from the singles matches. At one, Justin Hyte won, 6-0-, 6-1, while Ian Hyte won, 6-2, 6-4.Swampscott 5, Gloucester 0At Swampscott, the Big Blue (11-5; 11-3) had an easy time of it with the Fishermen, who only brought five players and forfeited the second doubles match.Val Temin won, 6-1, 6-0, at first singles, while Henry Willets won, 6-1, 6-1, at two. In the third singles match, Jordan Fine triumped, 6-2, 6-0.At first doubles, Josh Junder and Danny Owens won, 7-5, 7-5.Salem 5, Classical 0At Breed Middle School, the Rams (2-12) were swept by the Witches.