King Philip Girls Tennis Edged In First Round

It was the type of battle you would hope to find in the later rounds of the MIAA Division 2 South Girls Tennis Tournament, not in the very first round.

King Philip (17-4 and a seventh seed) hosted Brookline (12-4 and a ten seed) on Friday afternoon. The end result was the visitors stunning the Warriors, 3-2, to advance to the second round against number two seed Wellesley.

Brookline’s Marie Fleming used her powerful forehand to evade KP’s Lauren Trudeau 6-2, 6-4 in the first singles match, while Sabrina Lee ousted Jill Proto 6-2, 6-2 in third singles. In second singles, Casey Burks took care of business, defeating Theresse Rivera  6-1, 6-2, and the first doubles tandem of Alex Embree and Jill Beers defeated Amina Johari and Emma Stillman 6-4, 6-2 to even the score at 2.

The ever-steady Proto seemed to be having difficulty with the wind on this early Friday afternoon (the contest was moved up to 2pm because of the King Philip prom being held later that night), but the senior tri-captain didn’t believe it had anything to do with her two-set loss.

“With the high lobs into the wind, I was not able to estimate where the ball was going to land,” Proto said. “I tried to open it up, but it didn’t always work, and I went back to what I was comfortable with.”

Coach Goldberg thought his senior captain had an opportunity, playing an opponent very similar to Proto’s style.

With four matches in the books, all eyes were upon the second doubles match – winner take all. Brookline’s Anita Knopv and Andrea Friscia won the first set 6-4, while KP’s Jenn Bullock and Kendra Primavera won the second set 6-1 evening the score.

In the third and deciding set the Warriors duo jumped out to a quick 4-1 lead, but couldn’t hold on, allowing the visiting team back into the match. Brookline eventually grabbed the third set (7-5) and the win for the visitors.

 “I thought that we had it,” King Philip head cacoh Bob Goldberg said. “We got up 4-1 and the girls got tense and tentative and didn’t move the ball enough.”

The Warriors conclude the season at 17-5 overall,, having captured the Rex Kelley Division of the Hockomock League.