Girls tennis tourney Dover opens title defense with shutout Pinkerton

DOVER – Fresh off its first Division I state championship in program history, the Dover High School girls tennis team began its title defense quest in convincing fashion on Friday afternoon with a 9-0 quarterfinal win over No. 7 Pinkerton.

“The score is not indicative of how the match played out,” Dover head coach Sue Vitko said. “Pinkerton is very solid all the way down the line. I was proud of the mental toughness that my team showed today.”

The second-seeded Green Wave (15-0) will play either No. 3 Hanover or No. 6 Manchester Central on Tuesday in a semifinal.

Taylor Wilson (No. 1, 8-2), Joci Faasen (No. 2, 8-6), Tory Vitko (No. 3, 8-1), Riya Ramdev (No. 4, 8-5), Mia Mozzoni (No. 5, 8-0), and Kate Ross (No. 6, 8-2) swept singles matches for Dover.

In doubles, Wilson and Faasen won 8-4 at No. 1, Vitko and Ramdev won 8-0 at No. 2, and Ross and Ashlynn Swierk won 8-0 at No. 3.

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DIVISION I

No. 4 Derryfield 9

No. 5 Exeter 0

MANCHESTER – The Blue Hawks ended their season at 11-5 with this quarterfinal loss.

“Not the result we wanted, but the girls had a great season,” Exeter head coach Geoffrey Simard said.

DIVISION II

No. 1 Oyster River 7

No. 8 Bow 2

DURHAM – Oyster River showed why it entered the Division II tournament as the No. 1 seed, with a 7-2 quarterfinal win over Bow.

The Bobcats will host No. 4 Windham on Tuesday in a semifinal. Windham defeated No. 5 Kennett, 6-3.

Sofie Gibson (No. 1, 8-0), Kathryn Demarest (No. 3, 8-1), Maggie Farwell (No. 4, 8-3), and Megan Zehetner (No. 6, 8-2) won in respective singles matches.

In doubles, Gibson and Farwell won 8-0 at No. 1, Sofia Karageorgos and Demarest beat won 8-1 at No. 2, and Siena Schaier and Zehetner won 8-4 at No. 3.

No. 2 Winnacunnet 9

No. 10 Kingswood 0

HAMPTON – The Warriors started theikr Division II tourney sweeping the board in its quarterfinal win. Winnacunnet will host No. 3 Souhegan on Tuesday.

Polina Makarenko (No. 1, 8-0), Stella Sebeny (No. 2, 8-0), Amelia Dumont (No. 3, 8-1), Mackenzie O’Regan (No. 4, 8-1), Sydney Whalen (No. 5, 8-0) and Grace VanderEls (No. 6, 8-1) all won in singles.

Makarenko and Sebeny won 8-0 at No. 1, O’Regan and Whalen won 8-4 at No. 2, and Dumont and VanderEls won 8-1 at No. 3.

No. 3 Souhegan 5

No. 6 Portsmouth 4

AMHERST – Souhegan won the first four singles, but with everybody watching, the Clippers stayed alive in the match as Clara Daw won 8-6 at No. 6, and then freshman Elyse White won in a tiebreak at No. 5, 9-8.

“We went down 0-4 in singles, with a lot of good tennis played in the number one through four slots, but lost them all,” Portsmouth head coach Wendy Poutre said.

Portsmouth needed to win all three doubles matches to pull off the upset, but the Clippers were only able to take two of the three. Sophia Jundi and Caylie Cook won 8-6 at No. 1, and Daw and White won 8-5 at No. 3.

“They’re a very strong team, talented at the top, but also very deep and a tough matchup for us,” Poutre said. “They had beaten us 6-3 earlier in the season, so I’m proud of our team for closing the gap.”