Bulldog Tennis At 4-1 With Victory Over Saddle River

10/16/2015

The DE Middle School tennis team played an exciting match against Saddle River Day School yesterday. The Bulldogs kept it exciting right until the very end!

At first singles, Arianna Lee played a strong opponent with a steady serve and solid groundstrokes. The highlight of the match happened when she was down 7-2. While some players might have thrown in the towel, Ariella didn’t give up. When she broke her opponent’s serve at 7-3, we all heard a loud “Come on!” and we knew Ariella still had some fight left. She fought back to 8-5, which is a victory in itself!

At third singles, India Marseille continued to dominate. She won convincingly, 8-2, and looked confident on the court. She pressured her opponent on her groundstrokes and made her move around the court in pursuit of the ball in every point.

At second doubles, sixth grader Franki Gallo was paired with eighth grader Helen Li in her first official match. They played consistently, especially with their groundstrokes, and they also won, 8-1.

At this point in the match, DE was up 2-1. The team needs three matches to win, and both second singles and first doubles were tied at 6-6 when the other three matches wrapped up. Everyone was cheering and watching both matches, and excitement was palpable! At first doubles, the seventh grade duo of Ellie Chung and Anna Hwang played their first official match of the year. They were neck in neck with their opponents, and all four girls were quite evenly matched. In exciting fashion, the girls won two games in a row, clinching their win 8-6 and also clinching the team win too! Hooray!

But, the excitement wasn’t over quite yet. At second singles, Grace Maline played a super consistent player. Her opponent's main objective was to keep making Grace hit just ONE more shot. They played endless rallies, some of them over 15 or 20 shots! When they were tied 7-7, the whole team was down at the court, watching and cheering. Grace broke her opponent, going up 8-7, and then was on the service line serving for the match. Her confidence soared, and she hit winner after winner to seal the victory at 9-7! It was so exciting!

In exhibition singles, eighth graders Maggie Colquitt and Abby Park both played singles matches, and they both were victorious with a score of 8-1. They battled against tough sun, looking sharp in their sunglasses!

In the end, the team won 4-1, and our record improved to 4-1 as well. Today, we play MKA at 4:00pm.

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