Generals' girls tennis dominates Uxbridge, punches ticket to state championship

Jun. 15—SHREWSBURY — For the first time in program history, the Hamilton-Wenham girls tennis team is headed to a state final.

Led by their impressively balanced lineup and unwavering poise, the top-seeded Generals ousted No. 21 Uxbridge, 4-1, in Monday's Division 4 state semifinal held at St. John's Shrewsbury.

Still unbeaten at 22-0, head coach Joe Maher's squad will now await the winner of No. 2 Wareham and No. 6 Manchester Essex for a championship bout scheduled for Saturday (time TBA) at MIT.

"When I took over the girls team three years ago I had no expectations," admitted Maher, who guided the H-W boys tennis team to their first and only state title back in 2009. "I did it because my daughter's were coming on the team and to be in a state finals three years later is unbelievable. I'm just so happy for these girls; I have 13 seniors that love this team and love everyone on it, so just to have four more days with them and them being together with each other is special."

As they have all season long, Hamilton-Wenham established its dominance early and often against a strong Uxbridge team.

Sophomore first singles standout Sky Jara made quick work of Julie Compston, 6-0, 6-2, displaying a variety of powerful groundstrokes, steady serves and an intelligent net game.

"Sky has worked on her game for probably her whole life; since she could hold a racket she's been playing," said Maher. "She's just such a powerful player that she can just overpower people. Today she played an unbelievable athlete who got everything back, but Sky is just so smart and can overpower you and that's the difference."

At second singles, Naomi Provost went the distance against Sophie Compston before ultimately falling in a marathon three-setter, 6-2, 3-6, (8-10). Provost has been tremendous all season long and once again showed her resiliency despite the tight defeat.

Junior Chloe Gern won her match at third singles handily, 6-2, 6-0, while the doubles teams of Nora Gamber/Brynn McKechnie and Lily Cassidy/Lisette Leonard also won in straight sets by scores of 6-1, 6-4 and 6-0, 6-0, respectively. Much of the Generals success this season can be attributed to their depth and consistency from top to bottom, and that reality was once again on full display in Tuesday's decisive triumph.

"We're lucky," said Maher. "When Naomi (Provost) tried out for the team this year she really made a huge difference in our lineup because we were able to put Brynn McKechnie, who's just a fabulous doubles player, at first doubles. That just made everyone in their positions stronger. We have two top singles players that can play with anyone, a third singles player that can play with anyone and deep doubles teams. So that's what makes us difficult to beat."

Now on the precipice of a perfect campaign capped off with an inaugural state championship, Hamilton-Wenham couldn't be more excited for Saturday. Should they get the chance to play their rivals from Manchester Essex one more time, that would simply be the icing on the cake.

"That'd be fun. It would be great for the Cape Ann League," said Maher. "Manchester Essex has a great team and we played them twice during the regular season and had good battles (both Generals win), so I think it would just be a real testament to the CAL if that happened. We wish them the best of luck tomorrow against Wareham."

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Just after the girls had celebrated their convincing victory, the Hamilton-Wenham boys squad took those very same courts for a chance to follow suit.

Unfortunately for head coach Ian McCracken's group, a powerful Weston stood in their way — a team that has won multiple state championships in recent years and is more than capable of doing so again this spring. The result was a 5-0 Generals' loss, but that didn't take away from the tremendous run the gifted and dedicated group from South Hamilton had.

"To make a run like this is all you can hope for," said McCracken, who was part of that boys state championship team under Maher back in '09. "When we were here I was like, 'This is it.' You do it to compete in moments like this and to be one of the last four teams in our division is just an honor in itself. I hope (the players) wrap their heads around that too, and I think that they're proud of the season they put together and they should be."

While Hamilton-Wenham battled admirably throughout the lineup, Weston's squad filled with year-round tennis players ultimately proved too much. It's a team that realistically should be competing in Division 3 or 2, but because of their school size they fell into D4 this spring.

Generals' first singles star Will Gern put up a tremendous fight at the top, nearly rallying from a 5-0 deficit in the first set to win the match. He wound up battling back to force a tiebreaker before losing that 7-5, and because the rest of the team match was already decided, him and his opponent played a super set tiebreaker for the second set and Weston won that, 10-4.

It was a praiseworthy performance nonetheless for the junior Gern, who showed off incredible power and accuracy with his backhand while playing a number of lengthy points.

"Will is a silent warrior," said McCracken. "He's very calm, cool and collected; he's a competitor. Seeing him take that fourth game (in the opening set) and basically turn that first set on his head after coming out down 0-5 and then just letting out a yell, you love to see that. To see him fight and flip that set completely was just awesome to see."

At second singles, sophomore Elois Chadel fell in straight sets, as did third singles player Jadon Wang. Both doubles teams — Stefan Messer/Sam Coues and Max Clarke/Eastin Lowther — fought hard until the finish line, particularly in the second sets, but were unable to overpower sound opponents.

"It's good to get a matchup like this for the guys to see what it takes to play competitive tennis in the state at a high level," said McCracken. "We were playing kids on this Weston team that play year round, that play in sectional tournaments, and when you're focused on tennis year round like that you see what can come of that. We got what we expected as far as competition, but I'm very pleased with how my guys responded to it."

Contact Nick Giannino at NGiannino@Salemnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @NickGiannino_SN.

Contact Nick Giannino at NGiannino@Salemnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @NickGiannino_SN.