ITEM PHOTO BY KATIE MORRISON
Launna Queiroz and the Sachems rolled past St. Mary’s.
By KATIE MORRISON
SAUGUS — Friday’s match between the Saugus and St. Mary’s girls tennis teams featured two programs in very different places.
On one hand, the Sachems improved to 13-2 with a 5-0 win over the Spartans, and are preparing for their first state tournament run in four years.
On the other hand, St. Mary’s is wrapping up a building year under a new head coach, Lauren Turenne, and her young team.
The Sachems cruised to the shutout win Friday, winning all but one game over the five matches. With a strong lineup, Saugus has made some noise in a talented Northeastern Conference.
That starts with eighth-grader Lanna Queiroz, who takes on the opposing team’s juniors and seniors at first singles. The disparity in age hasn’t had much of an effect on Queiroz, who owns a 14-1 record this season. Queiroz took down St. Mary’s Katia DeCostanzo Friday, 6-0, 6-0.
“That’s huge, especially as an eighth-grader,” Saugus coach Samantha Moynihan said. “We’re looking to have her all five years. She’s a strong kid to begin with, and we have weekly workouts and I have seen an improvement, they hate me for it but it helps.”
With someone as close to automatic at first singles as Queiroz is, it sets the tone for the rest of the Sachems lineup. At second singles is Alicia Luongo, who topped Maddie Desmond, 6-0, 6-0.
“Alicia’s a sweetheart, I’m sad she’s leaving us next year,” Moynihan said of the senior. “She’s been doing great.”
Then there’s sophomore Alivia Burke, who also stars on the Sachems soccer team, at third singles. She topped Erin Bauers, 6-0, 6-0 at third singles.
“She’s an all-around incredible athlete,” Moynihan said.
At doubles, the Spartans have a strong pair of junior captains in Caitlin Foley and Kayla Magwood. With a young and relatively inexperienced team, Turenne leans on her captains to help push the squad in the right direction.
“Caitlin Foley has been great, she’s a big part of the team, leading and pulling the team together,” Turenne said. “Along with Kayla, they’ve been a great group together.”
On the other side of the net, Moynihan relies on Zeinab Jubelli and Amanda Napoli, who won, 6-0, 6-1. The duo is 13-2 on the season.
At second doubles, Saugus’ Nicole Ing and Hannah Spillman topped Bella Leo and Juliet Anctil, 6-0, 6-0.
The Spartans have just one win with a couple of matches left, but Turenne knows this season isn’t about wins and losses, necessarily.
“I came into this knowing from last year that it was going to be a big team-building year, so I think that’s been the biggest thing we’ve been focused on,” Turenne said. “It hasn’t been so much of winning, it’s getting the girls together to become more of a tennis team and building things up from there. Hopefully next year we can keep working to get better.
“We also have a lot of great up-and-coming freshmen, and there are a lot of girls interested in playing tennis, so that should help for the future,” Turenne added.
As for Saugus, the Sachems are reaping the benefits of getting an early jump on the season.
“I tortured them for three weeks before the season started,” Moynihan said. “I was able to get us indoor courts so we didn’t have to deal with the snow, and that was huge. We met Everett in the first match and they said they’d been outside twice, while we’d been on courts for three weeks.”
After a few more regular-season matches, the next step is the tournament for Saugus.
“We’re just looking forward to going,” Moynihan said. “It’s awesome, most of these girls have never gone to the tournament to begin with. We’re going to treat it like it’s an everyday thing.”
