NEWBURYPORT — The previously undefeated Lynnfield girls tennis team ran into one of the best squads in Massachusetts Thursday afternoon and couldn’t quite get over the hump, falling to Newburyport by a score of 4-1 in a road Cape Ann League matchup at Atkinson Commons.

“Newburyport is a great team that won the league last year, and they’re just as good if not better this year,” said Lynnfield coach Craig Stone. “We had a lot of close matches that weren’t necessarily reflected in the score, so we have a lot to be happy about and definitely have some things we can build as we keep moving forward.”

Anna Radulski picked up the lone win for Lynnfield, taking her match in second singles by set scores of 6-2, 7-5.

The doubles team of Lauren Grava and Maddie Sieve played well despite dropping their match 3-6, 4-6, while Genna Gioioso made a number of nice rallies in her loss at third singles (1-6, 1-6). 

Another bittersweet note on the day was the play of first singles player Paige Martino. The freshman went up against Newburyport junior Caroline Schulson, who boasts a number of accolades in the tennis world. Not only is she the reigning CAL Player of the Year after going undefeated in singles play last season, but she is also the No. 1-ranked girls tennis player in Massachusetts and the No. 10-ranked player in all of New England. 

Martino, who herself hadn’t lost a singles match coming into Thursday, battled hard but came up short for her first loss of the season.

“It was a great match for Paige to see what it takes to get to the next level, and you always need those kinds of matches to test yourself and see where you stand,” said Stone. “I think that’s what we can take away from all the matches (Thursday), because we did a lot of good things and we’re going to see them again later this year.”

Lynnfield (8-1) hosts Ipswich Monday afternoon (3:30).