Above: Gonk Tennis had a great Monday afternoon, but so did Longmeadow. The teams will face off in State Semi-Finals next week. (images cropped from tweets by @ARHSAthletics)
Yesterday was a big day for the T-Hawks.
ARHS Boys and Girls Tennis both cinchedCentral MA Championship titles. The teams now move on to play in the State Semi-Finals. They’ll both face Western MA champs Longmeadow. The Gonk teams should be favored to win, with each having beaten Longmeadow earlier this season. The games are expected to take place next week, details TBD.
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In the meantime, some of the Girls have big matches set for this weekend. You may recall that last month, players from the Girls team won district titles for Singles and Doubles in MIAA’s individual tournaments. They are scheduled to play in those state semis this Saturday. That’s at St. John’s High School at 9:00 am for Singles (Olivia Almy) and 10:30 am for Doubles (Elaine Cho and Yasmin Lee). Winners will play in finals at 1:00 pm that afternoon.
Gonk Baseball entered its playoffs on Monday afternoon. They had a rough start but rallied to win the Quarter Finals 3-2 over St. John’s.
The 3rd seed team will go into its district Semi-Finals tomorrow afternoon as underdogs. They face 2nd seed Shrewsbury, a team they lost to twice this spring. The game is set for Wednesday at 4:00 pm at Tivnan Field.
On Monday evening, Boys Lacrosse’s post-season journey came to a disappointing end. The topseed team lost the Central/Western MA Semi-Finals to Longmeadow 11-14. You can read about that in MassLive’s coverage. Girls Lacrosse is still set to play in district Semi-Finals tonight.
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In yesterday’s update, I neglected to share an accomplishment out of ARHS’ Outdoor Track program from over the weekend.
Matthew Madamba placed 5th in the 400 meter dash at the New England Championships over the weekend. According to coach Ken Morin’s tweet, he set a school record time of 48.78.
As for yesterday’s big wins, here are some highlights from local media coverage (along with more pics I cropped from tweets by Algonquin Athletics):
Telegram – Girls’ tennis: Top-seeded Algonquin stays calm, gets past No. 3 Westboro to wear D1 crown
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[Algonquin’s Mia Barletta and Lily Lyadova] had momentum after winning the second set. And after the break, the two came out on fire in the third set on their way to a 6-7 (4-7), 6-2, 6-0 victory that gave the unbeaten top-seeded Tomahawks a narrow, 3-2 win over the defending state finalist the No. 3 seed Rangers.
“Being a senior, I really wanted this,” Barletta said. “We hadn’t won a sectional title during my four years here, so this means a lot, especially now. We were also 19-0 coming in and really wanted to win, which we did, so I’m really happy about that. . .
Algonquin jumped out to a 2-0 lead behind its top two singles players, as freshman Olivia Almy — the reigning CMass individual champion — and senior captain Darby Kim.
Almy rolled past Isabelle Seymour 6-1, 6-0, and Kim followed with a 6-2, 6-3, victory over Krithi Krishna.
Westboro’s first doubles team of Lina Nowak and Shruthi Nelluri topped Elaine Cho and Yasmin Lee 6-2, 7-5. Camille Gimilaro then evened up the score 2-2 with her 6-1, 6-4 win over Tyler Potter at third singles, setting up the moment for Barletta and Lyadova to shine. (Click here for full story and photos)
Wicked Local – Algonquin boys tennis gets over the hump by winning a Divsion 1 Central championship
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The Tomahawks (18-2) had made it to the sectional finals the previous three years, but came up short each time. They fell to Westborough in 2016 and 2017 before dropping a tight one to Marlborough last year.
“Honestly, I’ve kind of been thinking of the last three years as a curse,” [Christian Jorgensen] said. “We’ve never been able to overcome the sectional finals during my time here and to say we’ve done that today makes it all the more satisfying right now after losing those last three years.
“Toward the end of the second set, I was insanely nervous because everybody was watching and as the captain playing second singles, there’s expectations with that of being a leader and fulfilling your role. So, for me, clinching the title for my team, there’s a feeling of success in achieving those expectations.” (Click here for full story and photos)
Telegram – Baseball: No. 3 seed Algonquin rallies late to catch No. 6 St. John’s
Getting blanked by two runs to St. John’s heading into the bottom of seventh inning and its season hanging in the balance, Algonquin Regional was determined to find a way to keep playing baseball.
With that desperation acting as motivation, the Tomahawks scrapped together a pair of runs in the seventh, and when Levi Carter-Frem’s liner to right brought home Patrick Solomon in the eighth, saw the third-seeded T-Hawks walk-off with the dramatic, 3-2, win over the No. 6 seed Pioneers in a Central Mass. Division 1 quarterfinal on Monday at Fidrych Field. (Click here for full story and photos)
Have a photo of your favorite team in action to share? Email mysouthborough@gmail.com.
