The Mathews High School girls’ tennis team faced Rappahannock again last Wednesday, this time at Rappahannock’s home courts and played two out of three sets for the singles matches.
Rappahannock ended up taking the win with a final team score of 6-2. Even though this score does not show it, this match was way closer than the previous contest against the Raiders, with two matches going to tie-breaker.
Playing number one, Lyla Duff faced off against Averil Vaughan again but after some tremendous points and a tight first set Duff ended up losing to Rappahannock, 7-5, 6-3. Number two seed Ella Ward played an exhausting but tremendous match to earn the first win for Mathews against Anne Davis with a score of 6-4, 6-4.
At number three, Rayann Helbig also won a tough match displaying a strong desire to win her match against Grace Gillions, with another score of 6-4, 6-4. Number four seed Jayda Thomas fell to Cat English, 6-0, 6-1, played a tough match but never gave up. Delaney Boatman, playing number five, had an amazingly tight match against Ava Cleary. Boatman lost her first set, 6-4, but came back in the second winning, 6-4. This led the two to battle it out in a long tie-breaker where Rappahannock ended up taking the win, 15-13.
Number six Charlotte Bailey also played a long hard close match but ended up falling to Arrie Hayes, with a final score of 7-5, 6-1.
At #1 doubles, Duff and Ward fell to Vaughan and Davis, but played a great tight match going into a tie breaker, 8-8, with Rappahannock winning it with a score of 7-1. Playing number two doubles, Helbig and Thomas played against English and Gillions, but lost, 8-5.
Middlesex
The team then faced Middlesex on Monday at Middlesex High School and brought home a big win with a team score of 8-1. In singles, Duff faced Vada Reinhardt where Duff battled hard until the end to take the win, 8-6. Ward won against Annie Bray, 8-3. Helbig had a great match against Kinsey McKittrick and won, 8-0. Thomas had a close match against Hannah Lambert but ended up losing, 8-3. Boatman won against Julia Dise with another amazing score of 8-0. Bailey ended the singles portion of the match with another victory for Mathews against Jasiah Fuller, with the final score of 8-1.
In doubles, Duff and Ward started out strong with a win against Reinhardt and Bray by a score of 8-3. Helbig and Thomas also won with a score of 8-3 against McKittrick and Lambert. Boatman and Bailey also won against opponents Dise and Fuller with a score of 8-1.
The team has a busy rest of the week playing Grafton yesterday and then Gloucester today, Thursday, April 23, both at home starting at 4 p.m.