Foxborough Girls' Tennis Compete in South Sectional Tournament

Championship season started early for the Foxboro girls tennis team. With the regular season not even done yet, the Warriors competed in the MIAA South Sectional Individual Tennis Tournament at the Plymouth River School in Hingham. Getting the chance to gain extra experience in preparation for the team tournament next month, the girls looked to capitalized on the chance to compete against other tennis players from the South Sectional.

As expected, number 1 seeded Alana Prinos breezed through both her opening match and 2nd round match. Facing Braintree’s Haley Kelleher in the opening round, Prinos cruised to a 6-0, 6-0 win. Continuing to the 2nd round, the 1 seed one again obtained an easy victory over Emma Yeransian 6-0, 6-1 from rival Mansfield.

Also getting past the 2nd round was Alana’s sister Emma Prinos. Despite also getting an easy 6-0, 6-0 win over Gabrielle Leaine of Cohasset, Prinos suffered an emotion setback during her 2nd round matchup against the 15th seed Caitlin Corocoran of Brockton. After taking a rough dive while attempting to save a ball, Prinos started to let her emotions get the better of her. While leading by 1 game for most of the first set, Prinos at times looked lost in her emotions during the game before coach Peter Prinos was able to calm her down.

“She’s a very emotional person to begin with so I had to kind of calm her down after that because she was almost like a runaway train with her emotions," said Warriors coach Peter Prinos.  “I just tried to get her to calm down and breathe and that seemed to help her play better because she was very anxious at the start at the match.”

Despite the rough patch in the 1st set, Emma Prinos would go on to win the 1st set 6-4 and the 2nd set 6-0 to earn a spot in the 3rd round.

The Warriors third singles player in the tournament fell a bit short in her matches. Despite beating Lauren Taylor of Framingham 6-1, 6-2 in the opening round, Haille Young fell to the number 4 seed Ali Sullivan 1-6, 2-6 in the 2nd round. Even with the loss, Young still played an impressive game.

“She(Hallie) played well in that match and she faced a tough opponent. Ali Sullivan from Needham, so she wasn’t as in luck in that match but she played well.” Said Coach Prinos.

In doubles, the team of Chelsea Miller and Gretchen Schaaf advanced past the team of Noelle Mehugh and Cara Gnome of Marshfield 6-1, 6-3 to advance to the 2nd a round. Unfortunately, Miller and Schaff were beaten by the superior team of Amanda Visvis and Madison Gordon of Wellesley. Showing signs of quality play, it wasn’t enough for the Warriors doubles team as they fell to the Raiders’ doubles team.

Foxboro’s 2nd doubles team also fell short in the opening round. Facing the number 3 seeded team of Claire Lynch and Katherine Kyrios also from Wellesley, Megan Carter and Caroline Muise  fell to the Raiders’ top doubles team 1-6, 2-6. While not getting the win, there were positives to take out of the matches of both doubles teams.

“Doubles I think exceeded expectation,” said coach Prinos. “Our Number 1 doubles team won their first round match so they play played very well in that match and they played against a really good team from Wellesley and they were overpowered but they played well. Our number 2 doubles team weren't as lucky but they did play well and I think it's a good experience for both teams to play this tournament.”

Both Alana and Emma Prinos will return to Hingham at 8:30am tomorrow morning for third round and the quarterfinal round of the South Sectional Tournament. In addition to the early start time, Alana has a more unusual hurdle to overcome.

“She’s got the prom tonight so that’s going to be a challenge tomorrow but I think  if she plays well, if she plays her game she’ll get through,” said Coach Prinos.

Emma Prinos will also have a tough road ahead of her. She will play Ariana Lauine in the 3rd round. The 2nd seed from Milton is expected to be a challenge for the younger Prinos.

“Its going to be a tough match for Emma. It doable but its certainly going to have to be Emma’s best match of her career to beat her.”

For everyone else not playing tomorrow, they will stay behind to prepare for their match against Sharon on Monday. Match time is 3:30 at Foxboro High School.