MIAA Roundup: Marblehead girls fall in Division 2 North tennis final

All season long, Marblehead coach Tim Stonecipher had made it his team’s goal to get past the Winchester girls tennis team and claim a Division 2 North title in the process.On Saturday at the Woburn Racquet Club, the No. 2 seeded Magicians had that chance but as teams have found out for five straight years now, Winchester is pretty good when it comes to girls tennis.The unbeaten Sachems laid claim to another sectional title as they breezed to a 4-1 win over the Magicians.”They are really, really good,” Stonecipher said. “We ran into a buzzsaw (Saturday).”The Magicians (19-2) had been bested by the Sachems in the semifinals a year ago and came into the final hoping to stop a 115-match win streak for Winchester. But when Megan Stanojev and Meghan Gabel were blitzed, 6-0, 6-1 by Maddy Mangan and Sarah Wheeler at second doubles to begin the day, Stonecipher knew it might be a tough day.”Their second doubles team was just ridiculous,” Stonecipher joked. “They definitely played as well as they could.”Straight set wins at second singles and first doubles put the wraps on the title for Winchester. But the Magicians kept fighting as Ashley Noyes, who was playing her third match in less than a day, picked up a 6-4, 6-3 win at first singles.Mary Lindsey Ryan and Chloe Georgalakis had the match of the day, though, as they split the first two sets before Georgalakis won 7-5 in a marathon third set.”I truly went in thinking that we had a good chance to win,” Stonecipher said. “Every team we had played before this, on paper, we were better than. (Saturday) they were better than us.”BASEBALLNorth Andover 3, Gloucester 0At LeLacheur Park in Lowell, the clock struck midnight on the Cinderella Fishermen as North Andover’s Michael Weisman hurled a complete-game three-hitter to propel the Scarlet Knights to tonight’s Division 2 North Final at Fraser Field against Classical.The top-seeded champs out of the Cape Ann League had to work for this one, though, as Gloucester southpaw Adam Philpott matched Weisman until the fifth when the Scarlet Knights scored twice.In all, Philpott struck out seven and allowed only three hits over 5 2/3 innings. North Andover added a final run in the sixth against reliever Alex Silveira.