Deerfield’s Varsity girls took on the Loomis Chaffee tennis team on a blustery, sunny afternoon this weekend. The final scorecard shows a decisive 8-1 victory for Big Green; although this match was anything but one-sided from the start. Loomis took a multiple-game lead in every doubles match right out of the gate. After Deerfield’s first and second doubles teams had settled in, they battled back and took control. Both first and second doubles were nail-biters, but Deerfield prevailed, in the end, winning at first 9-7, and at second 8-6. Deerfield struggled to find a rhythm at third doubles and conceded that match 2-8. The top three singles matches were also very competitive. Ashley Manning fought through a close first set to win 6-4 and then only picked up speed in the second closing out a 6-2 victory for DA at first singles. Esme Benjamin performed well in her second singles debut and registered a 6-2, 6-4 win. Gillian O’Connor won a marathon match in three sets: 6-1, 5-7, 10-2. Tori Waterfall rode her big first serve and steady baseline play to a fourth singles win: 6-1, 6-2. Mimi Delisser demonstrated the versatility of her game, using every shot in the book to post a definitive 6-1, 6-0 win. Adeliza Grace posted her fourth consecutive singles win, defeating her Loomis opponent 6-4, 6-2. The varsity squad improves to 4-3 on the year and starts a busy week of matches traveling to Northfield Mount Hermon on Monday, May 8th.