LYNNFIELD — The Lynnfield girls tennis team quickly closed out its first match of the season Tuesday afternoon, picking up three singles wins to defeat Swampscott by a score of 3-2 at Lynnfield Middle School.
In first singles, Lynnfield’s Paige Martino triumphed over Veronika Isagulyan by winning two sets to none by scores of 6-0 and 6-4.
Anna Radulski then defeated Clara Powers of Swampscott — winning both sets 6-0 — and Genna Gioioso defeated Madison Diehl 6-0, 6-1 to secure the victory for the Pioneers.
“I think we have some of the best girls for singles matches,” said Lynnfield head coach Craig Stone. “While I look forward to seeing how our doubles teams progress throughout the season, I think our singles will make it tough for other teams.”
While the matches were taking place, Stone had some high praise for Martino — saying that she’s arguably one of the best players on the team despite being a freshman.
“Having someone as talented as Martino is awesome for this team,” said Stone. “With her being only a freshman, it’ll be nice to see her lead this team over the next four years and not have to find new leadership after every season.”
“I’m just excited to be out on the court and to play for this team,” said Martino when asked about the high praise she received. “I just wanted to come out and play the best I could.”
Even with Lynnfield taking the victory early during the match, Swampscott did not lose an ounce of faith and displayed an amazing confidence for the rest of their upcoming season.
In first doubles, the team of Meggie Jenson and Anastasia Shub battled hard to pull out a three-set victory, winning 5-7, 6-3, 10-8 in a super-set tiebreaker.
The second doubles match wasn’t quite as dramatic, but the duo of Anna Ratner and Laine Foutes held on to grab a 6-1, 6-4 victory to round out the matches for the day.
“Today wasn’t about winning or losing,” said Swampscott assistant coach Michael Benton. “I told the girls ‘today is about having fun and playing well. It’s the first match of the season, just go out there and have fun.’
“I’ve been coaching these girls for two weeks and their improvement has been absolutely outstanding,” added Benton. “These girls worked incredibly hard, and the drastic increase in their ability on the court showed.”
That’s exactly what the Swampscott girls did. Especially Isagulyan during her match with Martino. Isagulyan managed to win four games against Martino during the second set after getting shut out during the first.
“The match was awesome; at least the second set was,” joked Isagulyan. “I just went out and wanted to make it hard for my opponent to win, and I definitely think I did that. I started to settle down and figure out her style.”
Head coach for Swampscott, Nina Rogers, also had a lot of high praise for both her team and her assistant coach.
“Benton has been absolutely incredible, and I’m glad he’s on board,” said Rogers. “As far as these girls though, their excitement and eagerness to learn and practice has really been inspiring this season.”
Lynnfield (1-0) looks to take on Newburyport Wednesday, while Swampscott (0-1) faces off against Hamilton-Wenham on Friday.
