Windham girls’ tennis defeats Biddeford in first-round playoff

By Matt Pascarella

The Lady Eagles had played Biddeford early in the Class A tennis playoffs last year and came out on top and this year was no exception as Windham defeated the Tigers 4-1 in the Class A South first-round and will advance to the next round of the playoffs.

Windham sophomore Samantha Bell returns a serve on
Tuesday, May 31 at Windham High against Biddeford in the
Class A South first round playoff match. 
PHOTO BY MATT PASCARELLA

After ending the season with an 8-4 record, The No. 5 Windham girls’ tennis team hosted No. 12 Biddeford in a first-round playoff match on Tuesday, May 31.

Windham was focused, quick on their feet and had several nice return serves, both in Lady Eagles’ singles and doubles matches.

In the singles matches, Windham sophomore Alyssa Conley beat her Biddeford opponent 6-1 and 6-1.

Windham junior and co-captain Grace Paiement defeated Biddeford 6-2, 6-1. 

“We were all excited, because playoffs,” said Paiement. “We were hopeful because we played Biddeford last year and we want to get through to ... the next round. I thought I played pretty well; I went in strong and stayed strong.”  

Paiement said they are excited and hopeful to keep going during playoffs.

Windham senior and singles player Lauren DeLuca lost 4-6, 1-6.

In the doubles matches Windham sophomores Samantha Bell and Taylor Juhase grabbed 6-0 and 6-2 wins.

Windham freshman and doubles player Katelyn Cotter said the match was going to be good, no matter the score because of how the girls have played this season.

She said she and her doubles partner, junior Breeauna Bonin, stayed in sync and communicated which had a big effect on the positive outcome of their matches. She’s excited for the rest of playoffs.

Cotter and Bonin won their matches 6-1 and 6-1.

Windham girls’ tennis coach Katy Dresnok said the girls felt confident going in and she’s seen improvement leading up to this point. She said doubles communication went really well as well as learning how to keep the ball away from the net player. In the singles matches they kept the ball in play and had better timing of when to execute the point with the winner.

Windham advanced to compete in the Class A South Tennis Quarterfinals on Thursday, June 2. <