The Bromfield girls tennis team was in fine form this week, winning its first matches in the 2024 Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association Division 4 tournament. The Trojan players beat 27th-seeded Clinton at home 5-0 on May 31 to win their round of 32 in the tournament, and they beat a competitive 15th-seed squad from Quaboag Regional on Tuesday June 4, 4-1, to clinch their round of 16. Both matches were played at home under sunny skies.
It was an all-out battle for first-singles player Michelle Xu, who came back to win her match after dropping the first set. (Photos by Lisa Aciukewicz)
In Tuesday’s contest, freshman first singles player Michelle Xu had one of her best matches of the season. After losing the first set to Quaboag junior Isabelle Aberle 2-6 and trailing in the second, Xu battled her way to a 6-4 win to tie the match. In the third and tie-breaking set, Xu fell behind 0-3. In subsequent games, Xu recovered, inching her way to a 5-5 tie after 13 games, and then winning the final two for a 7-5 victory. The match was the longest of the day, ending after three hours around 7 p.m. It was Aberle’s only loss of the season.
Senior Nora Clark reaches for a ball during the second doubles match. She and her partner Nina Iverson won their match handily.
The matchup between eighth-grade third singles players Luise Tatarev and Quaboag junior Nora Pennington Russell was also hard fought, a battle that lasted over two hours, with multiple deuces each game until the final three of the second set, which Tatarev won quickly. The final score—6-3, 6-3—hardly reflects the determination and tenacity of the two players. It’s Tatarev’s first year with the team, but she has been playing tennis since the age of 4, she told the Press. She likes the competition, she said, because “it makes me a better player.”
The first and second doubles teams easily won their matches, but senior singles player Abigail Ames after cruising to a 4-0 lead in her first set, ultimately lost to Quaboag’s junior Erin McGrath 6-4 and 6-0.
With their back-to-back victories in state competition, with rain expected later in the week, the girls were preparing for a round of 8 match against No. 3 seed Lynnfield the following day, June 5. The two schools have identical records (12-6) for the season and the match was expected to be close.
MIAA Division 4 state tournament, round of 32 vs. Clinton, May 31
- First singles: Michelle Xu (Bromfield) defeated Amanda Champagne (Clinton), 6-0, 6-0
- Second singles: Abigail Ames (Bromfield) defeated Gaby Audon (Clinton), 6-0, 6-0
- Third singles: Caroline Ells (Bromfield) defeated Kylie Kilburn (Clinton), 6-0, 6-1
- First doubles: Cassie Fisher and Khivi Nanra (Bromfield) defeated Sarah Santos and Ella Askren (Clinton), 6-2, 6-0
- Second doubles: Nora Clarke and Nina Iverson (Bromfield) defeated Kris Bayard and Danielle Champagne (Clinton), 8-1
MIAA Division 4 state tournament, round of 16 vs. Quaboag Regional, June 4
- First singles: Michelle Xu (Bromfield) defeated Isabelle Aberle (Quaboag), 2-6, 6-4, 7-5
- Second singles: Erin McGrath (Quaboag) defeated Abigail Ames (Bromfield), 6-4, 6-0
- Third singles: Luise Tatarev (Bromfield) defeated Nora Pennington-Russell (Quaboag), 6-3, 6-3
- First doubles: Cassie Fischer and Khivi Nanra (Bromfield) defeated Aurora Powers and Norah Schwenker (Quaboag), 6-1, 6-1
- Second doubles: Nora Clarke and Nina Iverson (Bromfield) defeated Isabelle Burgess and Isabella Paolucci (Quaboag), 6-0, 6-3
