Girls Varsity Tennis Opens 2021 Season with Shut-Out Win

The longest layoff in competitive tennis in memory at Deerfield Academy is over! After a two-year hiatus, the girls varsity tennis team got back to work. The team was prepared for the season’s first tilt with visiting Williston on a blustery Friday afternoon.

The new doubles pairings settled in quickly and Deerfield swept the match’s first three points. At second doubles, Isha Rao and Devon L’Esperance earned the rarest of tennis laurels: A golden match. This means that the pair lost no points throughout the whole of the match. For the uninitiated, unforced errors and lapses in focus are nearly unavoidable throughout the course of a tennis match. Isha and Devon played a remarkable stretch of games, never losing focus for an instant. Congratulations to both of these talented juniors!

As singles began, the squad continued to push the pace and maintain concentration. Big green swept the singles match-ups and notched the shutout victory to start the season 1-0.

Congratulations are in order for Olivia Waterfall, Evan Burkett, and Emily Pajak who earned their first careers wins for Deerfield tennis.

The team has little time to rest as they head to Phillips Andover tomorrow for a Saturday afternoon match.

Final Result: Deerfield 9, Williston 0.

Individual Results:

Doubles:
Waterfall/ Gavros, W 8-5
Rao/ L’Esperance, W 8-0
Weech/ Burkett, W 9-3

Order of finish: 2, 3, 1

Singles:
Isha Rao, W 8-0
Emma Weech, W 8-3
Olivia Waterfall, W 8-1
Daphne Gavros, W 8-1
Evan Burkett, W 8-2
Emily Pajak, W 8-1

Order of Finish: 1, 6, 5, 3, 4, 2

Exhibition Play

Doubles:
Linnea Dreslin/ Kiki Brainard, W 8-2

Singles:
Dreslin, W 8-2
Alex Kelsey, W 8-1