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Since 1974, when girls tennis became a sanctioned Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association high school sport, Winchester has held its own among the state’s powerhouse teams.
The program won its first state title in 1979 before divisional play came into existence, and in 1983, it took home the Division 1 crown. From 1996-99, those Winchester teams rattled off four straight Division 1 conquests. From 2007-11, the Winchester girls dominated Division 2, winning five straight championships.
Among individual players, there have been seven doubles combinations that have won state titles for Winchester High School, beginning with the tandem of Chris Anderson and Prudy Horne in 1980. In 1983, Terry Elio and Patty Ricciardelli teamed up to come out on top in the state, and Elio did it again the following year with Linda McCall as her doubles partner.
From 1996-98, Winchester once again had the best doubles teams in the state, when Meghan Hurley and Kimberly Bohlin (1996), Alison Popp and Kimberly Bohlin (1997) and Alyson Bergin to Danielle Lentine (1998) took home the ultimate prize.
Melissa Lin and Leslie Signor were the 2008 state doubles champions, and three years later in 2011, sisters Karen and Katy McKeough joined their WHS champion doubles predecessors. Since 2020 (the COVID year), the state has done away with the postseason singles and doubles competitions.
Greg Lowder has been coaching Winchester High girls tennis since 2017. His teams have come close to regaining state supremacy, and they finally did it in 2021.
In 2017, they lost to Concord-Carlisle in the Division 2 North semifinals, 3-2. But the following year, they got closer, before losing to Martha’s Vineyard in the Division 2 state finals, 4-1. The script repeated itself in 2019 against the same opponent and by the same close score.
COVID wiped out the state tournament in 2020. But in 2021, his Winchester girls went undefeated in the regular season (18-0), before winning that aforementioned Division 2 state title.
In 2022, they moved up to Division 1, and were 16-4 in the regular season, before falling to Lincoln-Sudbury in the state semifinals, 4-1. In 2023, they lost in the Division1 state quarterfinals to Boston Latin, 3-2 after finishing the regular season with the same record. Last year, the Red & Black (16-4) lost in the state quarterfinals again, this time to Middlesex League rival Lexington, 3-2.
This year’s team also appears to be on a collision course with history. They are currently 6-0, while dominating the opposition across the board with 5-0 shutout wins. Wilmington, Marblehead, Melrose, Arlington, Woburn and Stoneham were their early season victims.
The team will close out the month of April against Reading at the Packer Courts on Monday, April 28 (4:15 p.m.), before going to Belmont to face the Marauders two days later, starting at 4 p.m.
“We’ve had numerous strong players throughout the years, too many to list,” said Lowder. “Everybody brings a unique aspect to this year’s team, but what separates us from those other teams is that our team, for the most part, grew up playing tennis, so it makes my job easy.”
Lowder has 21 players on the varsity team this year, and they have already played and won at least one varsity match. Avery Machemer, Edie Burke and Sophie Kim are the 2025 captains.
“There’s an incredible support system on this team,” said Lowder. “Our team is filled with players who want to help out wherever they can. On any given day, they may have to give all of their efforts on the court or just be as vocal as possible as a cheerleader to help get their teammates over the finish line.
“Everybody brings something great to the table on this year’s club,” added the veteran coach.
The expectations are to just do their best, according to Lowder.
“Whatever happens, happens. We can’t win every point, every individual match or every team match,” he said. “We will go all-out on the court, and if we win, great, and if we don’t, then we will have a lot of laughs along the way.”
So far, there have been a lot of laughers in terms of dominating wins and good times with this group of Red & Black players.
A typical starting lineup so far this year consists of Daryana Skobeleva playing first singles, Andrea Bilic at second singles and Sophie Kim taking on her third singles counterpart. Mia Lock and Esha Bhalla have been teaming up to play first doubles, while cousins Avery Machemer and Cate Sheehan make up the second doubles tandem.
But of course, with 21 players to choose from, everything is subject to change, according to Lowder, which is a pretty good position to be in, but tough for any opposing team to prepare for, and that should explain the team’s dominance to date.
