Windham varsity girls’ tennis crushes Marshwood

By Matt Pascarella

In its season home opening matches, Windham High’s varsity girls’ tennis team took the court against Marshwood on Friday, April 26 and in a total team effort, WHS earned its first win of 2024 by defeating the Hawks, 4-1.

Windham senior Madeline Dumont returns a serve during
a girls' prep tennis match against Marshwood at Windham
High School on Friday, April 26.
PHOTO BY MATT PASCARELLA

“Windham was moving their opponents around and drop shotting went really well,” said Windham varsity girls’ assistant coach Natalie Egbert. “They need to work more on their serves and just consistency, rallying. Overall, it was a good first match.”

In singles matches, Windham senior Alyssa Conley won her first set 6-4, lost the second, 4-6 and then won the tiebreaker 12-10. Windham senior Taylor Juhase lost the first set 5-7, won the second set, 6-4, but lost the tiebreaker, 6-10.

Windham sophomore Jasmine Lucas defeated her Marshwood opponent, 6-4 and 6-2. In doubles matches, Windham senior Alejandra Hidell and junior Afomyia Timerga won, 6-2 and 6-1. Windham seniors Madeline Dumont and Samantha Bell forced a tiebreaker after winning, 6-2, and losing 4-6; they won their hard-fought final match, 11-9.

“Sam [Bell] is a really great partner and I think we work really well together,” said Dumont. “Marshwood were definitely reasonable opponents and I’m really happy with how we pulled through at the end. We just looked at each other and said, ‘we got to do this; we know it’s late, we know we’re tired ... we locked in and got it done.’ We had a lot of really good alley shots as well as really good serving. Considering it’s the first match of the season, I think it went pretty well, but just communicating on the court needs work.”

Windham had been able to get roughly three weeks of practice in and their abilities on the court showed it. Players in all matches kept their focus on the ball and moved their feet fast and frequently. Everyone put in a strong effort.

According to Juhase, Marshwood did a good job of making her run for the ball. Juhase was able to hit it pretty far back and her placement was ok, but not the best. She threw her shoulder out in the first set; and in the second game and it messed up her serves; she got in her head a little and had to switch to doing softy serves instead of hard ones. She was pleased with how she played and said the games were really close.

"It was really good,” said Lucas. “Once I kind of got in a rhythm, I did well. I won the first four games of the first set and lost the next four. After that I got in a good rhythm and won the next second. Consistency still needs work, and I could improve my serve a bit.” <