David Creed • May 26, 2023
In this Whaler Sports Roundup, which includes matches on Wednesday May 24 and Thursday May 25, the women’s tennis team stayed warm and finished their regular season with a fifth straight win. Now all eyes are on the playoffs. The boys’ tennis team fought hard but lost to Martha’s Vineyard, the baseball team couldn’t continue their strong start in the second half of their game against Fairhaven, and the softball team came close to beating Nauset after losing to them earlier in the season 14–0.
Women’s tennis ends regular season on five-game winning streak after win over Barnstable
Lydia Johnson, Julia Swietlik and Shadia Sabrah were the three senior Whalers honored ahead of Wednesday’s game. Photos by Chris Tran.
Just past the midpoint of the season, a young Whaler women’s tennis team appeared to be a year away from vying for a spot in a state tournament after picking up just three wins in their first 13 games.
But after their 3-10 start, the Whalers began to find their rhythm. Until this year, Joan Harris, Lauren Cutone and Hannah Gerardi primarily held doubles status. As the season progressed, Nantucket’s top players did the same. The Whalers led those players to four straight wins Wednesday afternoon against Barnstable, and they capped off their regular season with a fifth straight win after beating the Red Hawks 4-1.
Harris won their match in straight sets 6-1, 6-0. Harris, who has held the Whalers’ leading singles player for most of this season, said in her post-game report that while she played well, she believes she needs to improve her consistency.
Cutone lost her opening set 4-6 but bounced back to win the next two sets 6-1, 6-0 to secure victory. The second singles player said after the match that the first set didn’t go well because she was making a lot of mistakes, but she was glad she was able to pull herself together for the rest of the match.
In the final two sets, Cutone said his shot placement and change of pace were very important as his opponent didn’t like to play at the net.
Gerardi won her match as the third singles player, beating her opponent 6-0, 6-1 in straight sets. Gerardi said throughout the match that she was focused on her shot placement and made sure to change the direction of every shot. She said she also worked on her returns and made sure to add spin and speed when returning to her opponent.
Chloe Marrero and Julia Swietlik were the doubles team to claim a victory, beating their opponent 6-2, 6-1 in straight sets. Swietlik, a senior, said she was very pleased with how her last home game went. She said she felt she and Chloe were playing very well.
“I was really proud of my backcourt hits and saw that I could definitely work to be aggressive on my volleys,” she said. “Chloe had really good serves and hard volleys. I think combined we made a huge effort to give our all in the game.
Lydia Johnson and Shadia Sabrah lost their match, but the seniors said they enjoyed playing together in their last match on the island.
Nantucket, playing its best tennis of the season, is now eagerly awaiting the release of the state tournament rosters next week. Check back with Nantucket Stream for updates as they become available.
Photo of Chris Tran Photo of Chris Tran Photo of Chris Tran Photo of Chris Tran
Men’s tennis finishes 8-6 after loss to Martha’s Vineyard
Nik Krastev. Photo by Chris Tran.
Boys Tennis hosted Martha’s Vineyard today. The Whalers lost 5-0 to Div. The No. 3 seed, but will almost certainly be the No. 5 seed in the division. 4-state tournament when parentheses are revealed. Although they were swept, they didn’t make it easy for the Vineyarders and won every set. They appear to be set for a long playoff streak after a solid 8-6 season.
Check back with Current Sports for updates as brackets will be released next week.
Quinn Keating. Photo by Chris Tran Hunter Gross. Photo by Chris Tran
Baseball loses to Fairhaven in final home game
Colin Lynch. Photo by Chris Tran
The baseball team lost 11-1 on their senior day against Fairhaven. Gillis Cocker pitched well in three innings. But the Whaler’s attack remained stagnant. A six-run fourth inning for Fairhaven, which was led by a few errors and walks, finally doomed the Whalers after a three-inning 0-0 start.
The Whaler’s lone run came late in the fifth inning after an RBI single from Eddie Chacon, which drove Cocker in.
With two games remaining, head coach Jack Pearson said his team needed to find offense if they were to have any chance of competing with O’Bryant on Friday and Martha’s Vineyard on Saturday.
Argelis Nunez. Photo by Chris Tran Ronald Del Rosario Gomez. Photo by Chris Tran
Softball loses to Nauset 12-10
Yahely Del Rosario Gomez
The Softball Whaler came close to picking up a win over the Nauset Warriors on Wednesday, but fell short in a 12-10 loss.
Nantucket did nearly all of their damage in a single run. They scored eight of their 10 runs in the third inning to take a 10-6 lead. All but one of Whaler’s batters in the lineup came to score in the inning.
But Nauset slowly picked up the four-point deficit. They scored a run in the fourth inning, two runs in the fifth inning and a run in the sixth inning to take a 10-8 lead in the bottom half of the sixth.
After the Whalers were down one-two-three in the sixth, the Warriors hit for two more runs in the first half of the seventh to take a 12-8 lead.
The Whalers were only on their last three outs, but they made the game very interesting. For the first time since their eight-run inning, Nantucket found a way to score two more runs after starting the bottom half of the seventh with back-to-back walks. In the end, the Warriors found a way to end the game on a double play as Nantucket got a little too greedy on the base paths.
Their final game of the season for the Whalers is Saturday, May 27 at 11 a.m. in a home game against Martha’s Vineyard.
Photo of Chris Tran Photo of Chris Tran Photo of Chris Tran Photo of Chris Tran
Looking ahead, here are the games scheduled between now and Friday’s Whaler Sports Roundup.
Program for Friday May 26:
No games.
Schedule for Saturday May 27:
Girls Lacrosse will host Martha’s Vineyard Vineyarders at 11 a.m.
Softball will host the Vineyard at 11 a.m.
Boys Lacrosse will be on the road to play the Vineyard at 12:30 p.m.
Baseball will be on the road playing at the Vineyard at 12:45 p.m.
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