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As the second seed in Division 1, the Winchester High girls tennis team appears to be on a probable collision course with history after winning two more matches – both in the Division 1 state tournament – to remain undefeated on the season at 21-0.
The Red & Black again shutout Brookline (2-15, 31st seed) in the Round of 32 on May 29, 5-0. They then opened up a brand-new month with another dominating performance, when it defeated Natick (11-7, 15th seed) in Arlington on June 1, 4-1.
Next up for the Red & Black is Acton-Boxborough in the Elite 8 later today, June 4, at Stoneham High School, beginning at 5 p.m. The Revolution (12-4), the seventh seed, defeated Beverly (11-6, 26th seed) and Arlington (14-8, 10th seed) in its first two postseason matches.
Coach Greg Lowder isn’t taking anything for granted, including that Sweet 16 matchup against Natick. “I knew Natick had a solid team, (and its first singles player) Grace Zhang is an incredible player,” the coach said. “Daryana (Skobeleva) has now battled her twice, and we were so proud of how Daryana played against her this time round. She did everything she could to take control of every point, but Grace is tough, and just does not miss a shot. She doesn’t give away anything easily. But Daryana proved again why she’s one of the school’s all-time greats, because she can battle anybody.”
Recapping that Redhawks encounter, the Winchester girls won second and third singles, and both doubles matches to make it to today’s Elite 8 showdown against Acton-Boxborough.
After Skobeleva dropped a hard-fought three set first singles match to Zhang, 6-2, 5-7, 8-10, Andrea Bilic defeated Ella Shuster in second singles, 6-4, 6-0. Olivia Thompson took down Olivia Wolfe in third singles, 6-1, 6-1.
The first doubles team of Esha Bhalla and Kaiyal Kumaran topped Kaitlyn Blair and Jordan McGrath in straight sets, 6-1, 6-0. Mia Lock and Cate Sheehan experienced similar results against Sasha Brand and Kiely Chianttini in second doubles, 6-0, 6-4.
At this stage of the season, Lowder just tells his girls to concentrate on what’s ahead of them. “We aren’t worried about a state title, frankly,” he said, “because we just care about our next opponent. We (only) focus on the next point, and win or lose we will learn from that to hopefully be better on the next point.”
