With the memory of last years 0-7 loss to Westminster, Deerfield went down to Simsbury on Wednesday afternoon hoping for redemption or at least a slightly stronger showing! Things looked a bit dicey at first: though Annabel Gerber at #3 grabbed a nice win, all three doubles pairings dropped their matches to strong opposing teams, despite the Big Green’s best efforts. Tess Mannix and Whitney Vogt at #1 and #2 singles got ahead early but then at 7-3 each girl’s opponent began to catch up for a moment. However, Mannix and Vogt, with some sideline coaching from Devereaux, held it together and ground out wins (8-5, 8-4) against talented opponents! It all came down to the #4 singles match, where newcomer and ninth grader Kylie Kittredge was locked in battle against an excellent Westminster player. Kittredge showed her determination when the set was tied at 6-6 and played consistent, beautiful tennis to grab Deerfield the win and avoid a tiebreak set, cheered on by the full complement of her teammates. The team is happy to have started off the season with two nice wins and to demonstrate its improvement on last year’s performance, and will hope to keep things rolling in a late afternoon match with Taft, always a strong challenger, on Saturday.