Stoughton High Girls’ Tennis Edged by OA and Foxborough

Looking for their third win of the season, the Stoughton High girls’ tennis team has come up just short, edged 3-2 on back-to-back days, in matches against Oliver Ames and Foxborough to start this week.

With the pair of close losses, Stoughton falls to 2-10 on the season.

Monday against Oliver Ames, first singles player Kiana Kountze-Lee and the first doubles duo of Valerie Szeto and Danielle Durham earned the points for the Black Knights.

Kountze-Lee defeated her opponent in three sets, winning the first 6-3, losing the second 6-3 and coming back to win the decisive third set 6-4. Szeto and Durham won in straight sets, 7-6, 6-2.

Stoughton coach Bill Donovan gave Allie Cohen credit for her performance in her 6-4, 6-2 loss. He also thought the second doubles team of Taylor Goodrich and Vicky Tran played well, winning the first set 6-1, but losing the next two, 6-2, 6-2.

The 3-2 outcome nearly went in Stoughton’s favor. Third singles player Kara Morse led 5-1 in the third set, but her opponent made an improbable comeback, winning 7-5 in the third set, and taking the match 1-6, 6-1, 7-5.

“[Kara] got some tough calls against her which may have affected the outcome of the match,” Donovan said.

Tuesday’s match at Foxborough was a case of déjà vu. In the with Foxborough this season, the Warriors won 3-2 taking all three singles matches, with Stoughton winning both doubles matches.

It was the same outcome on Tuesday.

Foxborough’s Alana Prinos, Hallie Young, and Emma Prinos all won 6-0, 6-0 against their Stoughton opponents.

In the doubles matches, Szeto and Durham won at first doubles, 6-1, 7-6 (7-4), while Goodrich and Tran defeated their opponents, 6-4, 6-1.

In what was the closet match of the day, the team of Szeto and Durham battled to avoid a third set against the Warriors’ doubles team. Coming back from deficits of 4-3, 5-4, and 6-5 in the second set, Szeto and Durham put their opponents away in the tiebreaker to end the day on a high note for the Black Knights.

“I thought [Szeto and Durham] played well. Val was very good at net. She put a lot of balls away. Danielle hit a lot of balls across court which enabled Val to hit nice solid volleys for winners,” Donovan said.

While Stoughton did not get the win, Donovan is looking at the positives. “Foxboro is solid. They haven’t lost a singles match so to get a 3-2 result against them is a good result,” he said.

Foxborough remains undefeated as a team this season.

Stoughton faces Norwood on Wednesday and Attleboro on Thursday, both “winnable matches,” according to Donovan.