By Chris Paul
The New Hampshire high school sports season got underway last week and as usual it was a cold, blustery beginning.
The Londonderry High School Girls’ and Boys’ Tennis teams started their season with matches against Merrimack High School with the girls winning their season opener 6-3 and the boys falling just shy at 5-4.
Both teams have been trying to reestablish a position in the Division I varsity ranks over the past several years and are slowing starting to see some good results under the guidance of coaches Betty Wong-Mak and Roberta Davis.
Mak’s girls had four out six wins in their singles matches against the Tomahawks in Merrimack on Wednesday, April 5, and won two of three in their doubles matches on the very cold and windy courts.
Senior Lancer Susan Kim is the team’s number one starter this season and fell to a tough competitor 8-2 in her first match.
Senior Catie Brown managed an 8-2 victory in the number two spot; senior Maylee Valentin had an 8-3 win as the number four player; sophomore Ali Von Pichi won 8-4 in the number five spot; and senior Shayana ElGhazai had a 8-2 win in the six spot.
In doubles, Kim and Brown had an 8-4 victory and Von Pichi and ElGhazai managed a convincing 8-1 win.
In the boys’ season opener, on their home courts, the Lancers had three singles victories and one in doubles.
Number two starter, sophomore Aiden Board, was able to get the Lancers a win after going 8-8 and then managing a 7-1 tiebreaker.
Sophomore Logan Hunt had an 8-4 victory in the number four spot and junior Devon Pacheco finished his match as the number six at 8-3.
In the team’s only doubles match, Hunt and Pacheco got an 8-1 win.