Lady Lancer Tennis Starts with Wins Against Rochester, Concord

The Londonderry High girls’ tennis team got its 2014 season officially under way last Friday, April 11, with a resounding victory over the host Spaulding High Lady Red Raiders in Rochester.

Coach Tom Meighan’s Lady Lancers – who enjoyed an exceptional 2013 season before falling to Bedford in the Division I tournament semifinals – thumped the host Spaulding squad by an 8-1 tally to start the 2014 campaign in superb fashion.

Spaulding slid to 1-2 on the season with the humbling defeat after losing its season-opener to Timberlane of Plaistow but then defeating Keene.
The present LHS contingent lost some important seniors to graduation – including Amanda DePasquale, Kyleigh McMullen, and Emily Parrot – following the exceptional 2013 season, during which the Lady Lancers posted a 13-1 regular season record and won their last 10 matches prior to the D-I tournament. But this spring’s Lady Lancer crew has more than enough talent on it to make considerable news in the tough division.

The Londonderry High crew then played host to the Concord High Crimson Tide – which also sat at 1-0 after thumping Manchester Central by an 8-1 count – this past Monday in Londonderry.

And the host Lady Lancers wound up being just good enough against the Crimson Tide to walk away with a 5-4 victory.
Top two singles players Cassie Burbine and Ana Milosavljevic blew out their Concord opponents by 8-1 and 8-2 scores respectively, and impressive freshman Sara DePasquale snagged an 8-4 singles win in the fifth slot as play moved to doubles with a 3-3 match score.

But the doubles tandem of Burbine and Milosavljevic won by an 8-2 tally and the third LHS doubles team of Anna Shveshkeyev and Katherine Dwyer claimed an 8-6 win to hand the Lady Lancers the hard-fought, 5-4 match decision.

The hosts also received strong play from Marissa Beaton in singles (a 6-8 loss) and the doubles duo of Beaton and DePasquale, which lost by a 4-8 count to its opponents.