RallyNorth.net

Thu, Jun 18, 2015 02:30 PM @ Andover

Team	Final
Shrewsbury	2
Andover	3

Andover wins second straight state title

SHREWSBURY — It was déjà vu all over again for the Andover girls tennis team, who ended their season exactly the way they did a year ago, by beating Shrewsbury 3-2 in the Division 1 state final to cap off a perfect season.

The Golden Warriors (23-0) jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, but then had to sweat through a period of uncertainty as Shrewsbury (18-3) kept within striking distance in the other three matches.

The difference proved to be senior Pooja Mukund, who picked up a key first set win over Sonali Razdan at third singles and then fought her way through a tough second to put her team in position to win. Finally, after a lengthy deuce, Mukund put her opponent away to win 6-3, 6-3 and clinch the program's second-straight title.

"I was just like don't hit it out," Mukund said of the championship-winning shot. "Put it away but just don't hit it out."

By the time Mukund was finishing up her match, every other match had either finished up or was in between sets, so all eyes were on Court 3. Once the match was over, the Andover girls spilled onto the court to celebrate, and coach Alan Hibino said afterwards that he couldn't be happier for his team.

"I'm overjoyed for this group of 21 girls, for the amount of sacrifice that they put in, I'm really happy for our seniors to be able to leave on this note," said Andover coach Alan Hibino. "There's not a whole lot I can do once they step in the cage, so they've really bonded together, and we say strength in numbers, 21 girls who all have each others backs, and I'm proud to be their coach. I'm kind of just the caretaker, they do it and I'm along for the ride."

Seniors Laurie-Maude Chenard and Paige Webster got the Golden Warriors off to a fast start, beating Shrewsbury's Celine Mende and Surabhi Godbole at first doubles 6-3, 6-1 despite losing the first two games of the first set. Being the first ones to finish was a nice change of pace for Chenard, who was a part of the championship-clinching doubles team last year.

"Compared to last year it was definitely more of a relief," Chenard said. "But there is still pressure because I knew we had to win one of the matches in order to win, but I knew we could do it so by getting up and staying strong throughout the whole match, it was nice to get the first win and cheer everyone else on."

Sophomore Courtney Nash had almost the opposite happen in her 6-1, 6-3 win over Jaymie Wei at first singles, dominating the first set before fighting through a grind of a second to put the Warriors on the brink. At second singles, Karena Yan played a marathon of a first set, but ultimately fell behind and lost to Shrewsbury's Ahana Mukhophadhy 6-3, 6-1.

While Mukund won the decisive point, second doubles team of Sydney Ferry and Julia Spagnuolo generated plenty of excitement in their match as well. After losing the first set to Shrewsbury's Marcie Vega and Micaela Stowe 6-2 and falling behind 3-0 to start the second, Ferry and Spagnuolo stormed back to win six straight games, winning the second set 6-3 and tying the score at one set apiece.

The pair wound up taking a break after that so everybody could watch the third singles match, and after Andover had the title wrapped up, the competitors all agreed to play the third set as a tiebreaker, which Shrewsbury won 10-5.

Regardless, Andover still finished the day lifting the trophy, and with 46-straight wins and several key contributors set to return, there's no telling what could be next for the Golden Warriors. But for now, the team was content to relish in victory, which Nash said came much harder than it would have appeared.

"It's such a great feeling, especially since we won it last year and it feels even better this year because I know we worked that much harder," Nash said. "Now that all the seniors are leaving I guess we're going to have to recruit some more people and try to start over for next year."