Wilton Girls Tennis Swept By New Canaan, 7-0, in Class M Final

After making a surprising run to the Class M state finals as a No. 14 seed, the Wilton girls tennis team ran into a New Canaan road block.

The Warriors didn't win a single set Friday afternoon at the Yale courts, falling 7-0 to the dynastic Rams, who won their seventh consecutive state championship and tenth since 2000.

Wilton (14-7)  also faced New Canaan in last year's final, but at least won two matches in thar contest.

"We had good matches, but they were a little too tough for us today," said Wilton coach Mike Gillespie, who saw his team beat No. 3 Avon, No. 6 Barlow and No. 7 Darien en route to the final.

Wilton's top singles player, Sara Shaughnessy, played perhaps the most competitive match Friday, falling to Katie Mannelly, 7-5, 6-3.

In the  No. 2 singles, Caitlin Gallagher handled Meg Crampton, 6-4, 6-2; Courtney Gallagher defeated freshman Maya Srivastava, 6-3, 6-2, at No. 3 singles and New Canaan freshman Jensen Lee bested Allie Schaefer, 6-4, 6-0, at No. 4 singles.

In the doubles, Alyssa Baker and Kim Glerum posted a 6-2, 6-4 win over Amanda Sakamoto and Amanda Ricca; Kristen Laub  and Sarah Greene downed Brianna Turk and Kerri Merritt, 7-5, 6-0; and Phoebe Wilks and Amanda Merjen finished off Elisa Amandola and Sabrina Bell, 7-5.

Instead of dwelling on Friday's match against the undefeated Rams (21-0), Gillespie prefered to look at the bigger picture.

"I thought we would do well in states," he said. "It was especially nice that we played so well against Barlow (a 7-0 win in the quarterfinals) and we were able to beat Darien after losing to them a month ago."

The Warriors reached the finals with a dramatic 4-3 semifinal win victory over Darien on Thursday, as Crampton rallied from a 0-4 deficitin the third seed to win the deciding match.

"We were lucky to be here," Gillespie added. "We lost to them a month ago, so it was nice to beat them. It was a nice way to finish the season."