Haverhill, MA -- Sippican Tennis Club (Marion, MA) defended its Eastern Massachusetts 14 and under USTA Jr. Team Tennis title on Saturday, defeating the Weymouth 14s, 34-13, in total games.
The defending champions received a bye in the first round of the five-team event and defeated the Bill Dunn Summer Tennis 14s, 29-22, in the semifinals to advance to the championships. The Weymouth 14s defeated the Greendale Dirt Dogs, 28-20, in their semi-final match.
Sippican 2011 EMass Champions
"We have a great group of kids," said Sippican head coach Chick Renfrew. "We have the same boys from last year’s team and one returning girl. Being a private summer club, we cannot just pull in anybody to play with us so it makes it special that these kids all grew up there."
With the championship in hand heading into the final mixed-doubles match of the day, Sippican’s Oliver Kendall and Victoire Keane rolled to a 4-0, 4-0 straight set win to put an exclamation point on the team victory.
Sippican’s Parker Tonissi and Keane won their boys' and girls' singles matches, respectively, with Keane battling back from an early first-set deficit to defeat Weymouth’s Kaitlin Hughes, 4-3, 4-1 in one of the day’s closest contests.
Both Sippican doubles teams won one match and lost one match on the day as the boys' team of brothers Oliver and Owen Sughrue played nearly flawless tennis in a 4-0, 4-1 finals victory. The girls' doubles team of Becky Kendall and Caroline Godfrey came up with two big second set game points in a 4-0, 4-2 loss against a very strong Weymouth team of Maryanne Aaron and Carrie Tucker.
"This format makes it very exciting," said Renfrew, referring to the total game point format used to determine the winner. "Last year we were down by eight games and came up with nine games in our last match in the sectionals to finish in second place," said Renfrew.
Sippican finished in second place at the 2010 USTA 14U New England Jr. Team Tennis Sectional Championships last summer in Amherst, MA. Their only loss would come to eventual sectional champion Madison Racquet and Swim Club (CT).
Sippican went undefeated during their regular summer league season and will represent Eastern Massachusetts in the USTA 14U New England JTT Sectional Championships Aug. 17-18 at Hall High School in West Hartford, CT. The winner of the sectional championship will move on to the National Championships that are held from October 20-23 in Surprise, AZ.
Bill Dunn Tennis 14’s impress in Semifinal
In their semifinal win over the Bill Dunn Summer Tennis 14s, Sippican had to fight off a young, determined and undermanned group from the Northeast Tennis Center in Middleton, MA. Playing without two key players and defaulting their girls singles matches on the day, Bill Dunn defeated the Myopia Foxes in the opening round match, 32-14, before giving Sippican all they could handle in the semifinals.
The boys' doubles team of Alexander Fizz and Nick Silacci went undefeated on the day for Bill Dunn Tennis with Fizz also picking up two wins in mixed doubles matches with partner Marrissa Galuppo.
Fizz and Silacci have been playing at the Northeast Tennis Center since they were five years old and look forward to each summer.
"The team tennis is a lot of fun," said Silacci. "This is the first year we have had a team in it but we have been playing at Northeast Tennis Center our whole lives."
Newburyport wins 18U JTT
The Newburyport Racket Club defeated Southeast Massachusetts CTA to capture the 18 and under Eastern Massachusetts JTT championship. Newburyport won an impressive 77 games on the day with only 38 losses. Newburyport will play in the USTA 14U New England JTT Sectional Championships Aug. 17-18 at Conard High School in West Hartford, CT.