Saint Dominic Academy’s Kassaundra Stacy tosses the ball for a serve during her #1 doubles match against Waynflete Friday afternoon in Auburn.
AUBURN — In a rematch of last season’s girls’ Class C south regional final, Waynflete edged St. Dom’s 3-2 Friday in a key late-season match.
The Saints defeated the Flyers to capture the regional title on their way to the Class C state championship a year ago. Heading into Friday’s match, the Flyers were fourth in the Heal point standings, while the Saints sat in fifth.
“Usually we would only play Waynflete in the postseason, so now getting a chance to see them and seeing what we need to adjust,” St. Dom’s coach Andrew Girouard said. A 3-2 loss, a loss is never good, but it was a close match.”
The Saints (6-3) won the first and second singles matches. Bethany Hammond, the Saints’ No. 1 singles’ player, defeated Lexi Epstein 6-2, 6-2, while her teammate Clare Kramer defeated Kiera MacWhinnie 6-4, 6-1.
By the time Hammond hit the court, Waynflete (9-2) already locked up the team victory.
“I think to go out and play every match, whether team has won or lost , you are still fighting individually and the team,” Hammond said.
Kramer said she put stress on herself going into the second set and the results showed. She also attacked MacWhinnie’s weaknesses.
“She was very good at placing the ball, but I noticed if I would lob deeper then follow up with a normal shot, going more cross court then she would struggle a little bit,” Kramer said. “I worked on moving the ball around and alternating the types of shots I used.”
Girouard was impressed with Kramer’s performance.
“Clare found her rhythm today,” Girouard said. “The first set, her opponent made her work, second set she did as well. I think like I said Clare found her rhythm and made it go her way.”
What won the Flyers the match were the two doubles points. Chloe Fisher and Sidara Cash-Sortwell held off a second set rally from KK Linck and Kassaundra Stacy to win 6-3, 7-5. The second doubles of Randal Seder and Almu Canales grabbed the first point of the afternoon as they defeated Laurel Christopher & Hannah Phelan, 6-3, 6-2.
“In high school girls’ tennis, playing bottom up, trying to take the pressure of the ones and twos is sometimes where you win it,” Waynflete coach Linda Cohen said. “Today that was the case, so the doubles teams and the third singles player, they had a heck of a match.”
With Linck and Stacy leading 5-4 in the second set, Cash-Sortwell didn’t want them to carry any momentum into a potential third set.
“I thought they would come back in the second set,” Cash-Sortwell said. “We needed to stop them, yeah it was a huge deal.”
In the third singles match, Molly McNutt captured the victory for the Flyers as she defeated Rachel Kurtz 7-5, 6-2.
While McNutt won in straight sets, she had to grind out the victory, especially in the first set where she was down 3-0.
“You have to know why you are here,” McNutt said. “You have to know why you are playing tennis. You have to think about what you mean to your teammates. You can’t let them down.”
nfournier@sunjournal.com
Saint Dominic Academy’s #1 doubles player Kaylynn Linck returns a lob from her opponents from Waynflete during Friday afternoon’s tennis match in Auburn.Saint Dominic Academy #2 singles player Clare Kramer returns a crosscourt shot during Friday’s match aganist Waynflete.Saint Dominic Academy #3 singles player Rachel Kurtz hits a forehand back to her opponent during Friday’s match aganist Waynflete.Saint Dominic Academy #3 singles player Rachel Kurtz hits a forehand back to her opponent during Friday’s match aganist Waynflete.Saint Dominic Academy #2 singles player Clare Kramer watches her toss on a serve during Friday’s match aganist Waynflete.Saint Dominic Academy #1 singles player Bethany Hammond keeps her eye on where the ball met the racket as it heads over the net for a winner during Friday’s match aganist Waynflete.Saint Dominic Academy #1 singles player Bethany Hammond puts up a lob during Friday’s match aganist Waynflete.
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