GHS falls to Wilton
WILTON — Like the regular season match between the Wilton and Greenwich High girls tennis teams, Saturday’s Class L Tournament opener was a tense duel that was decided by a back-andforth doubles matchup.
And like the regular season, the Warriors pulled out a three-set win.
Receiving a victory from its No. 2 doubles team of Gerri Fox and Grace Cahill, sixth-seeded Wilton edged 11th-seeded Greenwich, 4-3, in the first round of the CIAC Class L Tournament.
The host Warriors (18-3) advanced to Tuesday’s Class L quarterfinals, where they will visit rival Darien, which is seeded third. Wilton also posted a 4-3 victory against Greenwich during the regular season, winning a threesetter at first doubles in the deciding match.
At second doubles on Saturday, Cahill and Fox defeated the Cardinals’ Abby Shropshire and Hannah Viney, 6-4, 6-7, 6-1 in a hard-fought match.
“We were definitely not aware our match was the deciding match,” said Cahill, a sophomore. “In the third set, we were just trying to be consistent and remain extremely focused.”
This marks the second season that Fox and Cahill have been a doubles tandem for the Warriors.
“Our experience together
Wreckers held a 14-7 advantage, before Ian Foster scored a try for GHS and Francisco Liguori made the ensuing conversion kick.
A try and kick by Liguori early in the second half put Greenwich ahead for good at 21-14. Paul Koullas reached the try zone and Liguori scored another try, 33-14. Lorenzo Villani and Santi Thompson also added second-half tries, as the Cardinals pulled away from Staples.
“We felt we were playing a repeat of last year’s finals, since it was tied at halftime, 14-14,” Kelly said. “We got the team all together at halftime and reminded them that Greenwich is having a parade of champions on June 9 for all the school’s state champions and that we wanted to be a part of it. The second half, we played better and brought our play up another gear.”
Emilio Camou sparked the Cards with his effective tackling and ball-carrying, Kelly noted, as did Andrew Nanai, who tackled well throughout the match.”
At the national high school championships, Greenwich finished with a 1-2 record, but narrowly missed winning all three of its games. The Cards were edged by Penn Rugby Club (ranked No. 1 in the nation) in the closing seconds, 25-22, and dropped a tough 26-21 decision to Herriman Rugby Club. The rolled to victory against Kahuku Rugby Club from Hawaii, 41-10.
“It’s so hard to win a national championship and we were a little disappointed that we didn’t win, but our team showed they can beat anyone in the country,” Kelly said. “We played at a high level every game against great competition.”
Greenwich’s junior varsity team also competing for a state title on Sunday, as they are playing in the state’s Division 2 final. Kelly credited the squad’s seniors for helping the team rise to the occasion.
“We have a bunch of solid seniors, who are very concerned about carrying our tradition forward,” Kelly said. “I’m proud of these guys for what they have brought to our program.”