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Swampscott's Nikki Carr fires back to Bishop Fenwick's Caroline O'Hare. (Spenser Hasak) Purchase this photo

Swampscott stays perfect, knocks Fenwick from tournament

Mark Aboyoun

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SWAMPSCOTT — Entering Tuesday’s Round-of-16 matchup between No. 6 Swampscott (20-0) and No. 11 Bishop Fenwick (11-6), the two girls tennis teams were quite familiar with each other.

The Big Blue took down the Crusaders twice in the regular season (3-2 both times). Tuesday, history repeated itself as Swampscott bounced Fenwick from the Div. 2 tournament with another 3-2 victory.

“We knew it was going to be a challenge. They were all good matchups,” said Swampscott coach Emily Cilley. “I was hoping the others would pull through across the board. I was worried the whole time and had a pit in my stomach.”

Fenwick coach Sharon Church was hoping it would be a third-time’s-the-charm case for the Crusaders.

“But it has been an exciting season coming off the semifinals last year,” Church said. “The girls are fighters. I think their stamina kind of speaks for itself.”

Fenwick’s first doubles team struck first as Jackie Dormer and Maggie Wichroski defeated Ava and Alexia O’Donnell, 6-2, 6-3. However, Swampscott’s Eve Byrne and Janielle De La Cruz took down Kylie Murphy and Tiffany Dorsey, 6-0, 6-4, at second doubles to even the match 1-1.

Swampscott’s Nikki Carr (first singles) and Ginger Gregoire (second) clinched the match for the Big Blue.

Call it 20 wins. No losses.

“It feels awesome. How can it not?” Cilley said. “This is my first year. I walked into these very talented girls. This is not me; this is them. I can take credit for being supportive and just cheering them on and guiding them, but it’s the girls who are doing all the hard work to get here.”

Although eliminated, Church remained proud of her players for their contributions.

“Callie Reed, at third singles, has such variety in her game. Jackie Dormer and junior Maggie Wichroski are just an amazing duo. Their communication and how they move around each other is great,” Church said. “Then, in second doubles, we had Kylie Murphy and Tiffany Dorsey. This is the first year they were a team together, but they learned each other’s style and did a great job this year.”

The last match to finish was at third singles. Reed took down Swampscott’s Anna Eccles, 6-2, 1-6, 6-1.

Cilley described her team’s performance as “resilient” and pointed to Eccles’ match.

“Resilence — especially Anna Eccles at third singles. This is the third time we’ve played Bishop Fenwick and she had not won a set. She was determined to even get a set and she won the second set, 6-1,” Cilley said. “It’s a mindset thing and I’m really proud of her for that.”

Swampscott will battle No. 3 Lynnfield Thursday at 2 p.m. The Big Blue took down the Pioneers, 3-2, in Swampscott’s first match of the season.

“A lot of our teams were new. In that match, our first singles and second singles won, our third singles did not, and our first doubles lost. Eve and Lilly — it was their first time playing together and Lilly’s first time playing doubles. Now, they’ve played all season and learned how to play with each other,” Cilley said. “They won in a crazy tie-breaker at the end. It was a tight game and it was so exciting.”

  • Mark Aboyoun

    Mark Aboyoun is a New Jersey born sports writer at The Daily Item. Aboyoun is a graduate of Saint Joseph's University '18 and went on to earn his Juris Doctor at Western New England School of Law in 2021.

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