LYNNFIELD — The Lynnfield girls tennis team once again found itself in a stellar back-and-forth battle in the Division 4 state tournament, but unfortunately for the No. 3 Pioneers, this time ended in a loss to No. 6 Manchester-Essex in a Round of 8 game at Lynnfield Middle School Saturday afternoon.
“We’ve had an incredibly competitive rivalry with (Manchester-Essex) for as long as I can remember, and it’s always been really back-and-forth,” said Lynnfield coach Craig Stone. “We had an opportunity to tie things up and maybe pull out the win, and it ended up coming down to a tiebreaker in the very last set. We have a lot to be proud of despite losing.”
Part of that pride comes from how far his very young and relatively inexperienced roster made it after the Pioneers graduated five of its top eight players last spring.
“We had a lot of new players coming to fill roles in the starting lineup, and we went out there and finished 15-6 and ended up as one of the final eight teams in the state,” said Stone. “We have a lot to feel happy about from this year, and I think this is a great place for us to build from.”
The two wins on the day for Lynnfield came from the top two singles players, as Paige Martino took her match in the No. 1 spot (6-2, 6-0) and Anna Radulski rolled in the No. 2 spot (6-1, 6-1).
On the other courts, the first doubles team of Lauren Grava and Maddie Sieve suffered a 1-6, 2-6 loss and the second doubles team of Sarah Breslow and Leticia Marafon fell by set scores of 2-6, 2-6.
It all came down to third singles player Genna Gioioso, and she got locked into a stellar battle with the Hornets’ Vanessa Gregory. After dropping the first set 1-6 and falling behind in the second set, Gioioso battled back to tie things up a 6-6 to force a tiebreaker. Gioioso fell behind early in the tiebreaker as well, but once again she battled back to make it a match. But in the end, Gregory notched the final two points to win the tiebreaker 8-6 and win the match overall — sending Manchester-Essex on to the Final Four.
Lynnfield closes out the 2022 season at 15-6.
“It’s been a great season, but the girls are certainly upset and I think this loss will serve as motivation for all of them in the offseason,” said Stone, who will only see two of his players — Radulski and Breslow — graduate this year. “We’ve made it this far and gotten our younger players a lot of experience this year, and now it’s time to keep building and take that next step.”
