Mount tennis remains unbeaten

by TOM UTESCHER

The Mount St. Joseph Academy tennis team prevailed in three of the five individual bouts completed in last Wednesday’s match at Germantown Academy,

but there never was an official final reckoning as late afternoon rains drove the remaining players off of the courts.

A day earlier, visiting Gwynedd Mercy gave the Magic (4-0) their first close match in Catholic Academies play, following a pair of 5-0 Mount victories over league rivals Merion Mercy and St. Basil. The Monarchs ruled in the top two singles spots, but Mount St. Joe pulled out a 3-2 victory thanks to junior Kathleen Hubbert’s win at third singles, and to successful outcomes in both doubles contests. Sophomore Alyssa Hirst and Sarah Brierley were paired up at first doubles for the locals, and seniors Maggie McDermott and Taylor Kenney joined up at second doubles.

Playing at Germantown Academy the next afternoon, the Mount conformed to the Girls Inter-Ac League’s four-singles, three-doubles match format. Mount St. Joe had beaten another Inter-Ac club at the end of August, knocking off Notre Dame 5-2. GA’s Patriots came into Wednesday’s tilt seeking their first win of the season, having succumbed to Gwynedd and Germantown Friends in two other non-league bouts.

Mount coach Nick Gregory broke up his regular first doubles tandem in order to have Brierley play at fourth singles, where she defeated GA senior Katie Auerbach, 6-1, 6-4. Another Patriots upperclassman, Lee Graf, fell by the same score to Hubbert at third singles, and in the second spot Magic junior Liz Pacheco outlasted GA freshman Liz Larkin in a three-setter, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3.

The line-up changes did not serve the Mount as well in pairs play. At first doubles, hosting seniors Katie Allenson and Brittany Gigliotti won 7-5, 6-3 over Hirst and her new partner, senior Jill Conroy. The Pats’ third doubles team, senior Ali Dollaway and freshman Meera Shah, breezed to a 6-1, 6-2 win over Mount freshmen Devon Stewart and Gail Walsh.

The spritz at the end of the afternoon forced the teams to abandon the first singles and second doubles contests. Mount’s McDermott and Kenney won the first set, 7-5, in the doubles match, but when play was called GA seniors Alyce Fernley and Alaina Lachman were trying for a split, leading the second set, 5-4. At first singles, Mount sophomore Caroline Baca won the first set, 7-5, and GA senior Elaine Mirabile took the second at 6-2. Baca had taken a 5-0 lead in the third set when the court was doused.