Mepham Girls Tennis Tops Plainedge, Finishes Season Undefeated

The Mepham Pirates girls tennis team took out the last of their regular-season competition on Tuesday in the form of the Plainedge Red Devils. The win cemented Mepham as the top dogs in Conference III-B, ending their regular season with an undefeated record.

Next stop for the Pirates: the playoffs, where they hope to continue their domination.

Tuesday's match was a continuation of one that had started last week at Plainedge, but had been called due to rain. Mepham was now hosting.

Hanging on the gate by the entrance to the courts was a drawing of a purple unicorn. Mepham Pirate Alison Ferris explained its significance.

"That's our lucky unicorn, Harold. My friend, Teresa Winger, who's also on the team, drew it for me," she said. "We hang it up every match...it's our good luck charm, and we tap it before every match."

However, despite Harold's influence, Mepham appeared to have a slight off-day in singles competition this afternoon.

Lena Diller lost in three sets: 6-0, 3-6, 5-7.

Corryn Chaimowitz lost in three sets: 4-6, 6-4, 2-7.

Shayna Lupu lost in straight sets: 2-6, 4-6.

However, these losses weren't enough to deny Mepham the overall win, as their doubles teams took up the slack, and then some.

Mollie Bienstock and Shannen Gaffney won in three sets: 4-6, 6-3, 7-4 (tiebreaker).

"It was a tough first set, and that threw us off," Bienstock said. "But we pulled through, played consistent, and we won."

Alison Ferris and Rachel Gordon won in straight sets, 6-3, 7-5.

Tess Larsen and Ilana Maurer won in straight sets, 6-0, 6-1.

And, in the final match of the night, Julia Tolin and Teresa Winger won a Game Pro Set (first team to win 10 games) 10-7, despite playing the final game in almost total darkness.

"Playing in the dark got frustrating after a while," Winger said. "The lines were fine, but the ball was hard to see. But Mepham doesn't go down without a fight!"

First-year head coach Claire Cohen went over what's next for the Pirates.

"That was the last match of the season...now we're going to the playoffs," she said. "But we have a bye the first round because we're undefeated and in first place, so we don't have to play."

As for their first opponent in the playoffs, coach Cohen stated that it depended on how their rival schools did in their remaining matches.

"It'll be either Carle Place or Baldwin, both of whom we've played before," she said. "We beat them both, but it was close. They're two good teams. It'll be a struggle, but my team can do it."

Obviously, Cohen had nothing but good things to say about the performance of her ladies this past season.

"I'm extremely proud of them," she said. "... This was my first year coaching the team and they were very good about practicing every day after school. And they show up at every single match, even if they're injured. They're just the most wonderful girls ... ever!"