Westport girls tennis loses hard fought match to Diman, 4-1

Wildcats are in the mix for division title, playoffs

Story and photos by Richard W. Dionne, Jr.
Posted 5/16/22

The Westport girls tennis team lost to Diman 4-1 in a hard fought home match on Wednesday afternoon. Three matches went three sets and three forced tie breakers. The Wildcats’ loss, their first …

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Westport girls tennis loses hard fought match to Diman, 4-1

Wildcats are in the mix for division title, playoffs

Posted

The Westport girls tennis team lost to Diman 4-1 in a hard fought home match on Wednesday afternoon. Three matches went three sets and three forced tie breakers. The Wildcats’ loss, their first in league play, places Westport into a first place tie with Diman in the Mayflower Athletic Conference as both teams have league records of 4-1. Westport who whipped Diman in their first match in May has an overall record of 7-5. Both teams have one league match remaining, Westport faces Bishop Connolly in Fall River on Wednesday and Diman hosts West Bridgewater on Monday. A Westport win and Diman loss would give the Wildcats the Division title. If both teams win their last match, they would share the title with Diman.

“The Diman match was definitely a tough loss,” said Westport head coach Matt Kampper adding, “It could have gone either way.” 

Wildcats eighth grade second singles player Gloria Moniz won her match Wednesday by beating her older sister Sarah Moniz who plays for Diman, in straight sets, 6-1, 6-1. The younger Moniz used a heavy serve and crisp, well placed ground strokes to dispatch her older sibling. Tears ensued after the match, but the sisters were smiling again soon after patching things up off the court. 

First singles player Kaelyn Jones lost to Lindsey Moniz, in a three set thriller 3-6, 6-3, 8-10. The pair who had to start their match late, were playing for bragging rights, as the outcome of the match had already been determined in their first set. Lindsey is the middle Moniz sister of the trio playing in the match. Lindsey, a sophomore and Sarah, a junior, both played for Coach Kampper before moving on to the technical school after eighth grade. 

“Don’t rub it in,” quipped Coach Kampper when asked what it would have been like to have all three sisters on the Westport squad, instead they will likely play first, second and third singles for rival Diman next year. “They will be a force to be reckoned with and a thorn in my side,” he said jokingly with a smile.

Senior co-captain Sam Parker fell to Elizabeth Kinnane in another knock down, drag out three setter. Parker won the first set 6-4, then lost the next two 4-6 and 1-6 as Kinnane battled back. 

The Wildcats first doubles team of Mikhaela Rego and Taliyah Raiche lost in another battle of a match to Sadie Krauzyk and Sabrina Angeli. The pair fell 5-7 in the first set and lost a tie breaker 6-7(3-7) as they fell short trying to break even. 

Second doubles team Madison Plourde and Avery Carvalho won the first set 6-1 and looked as they would breeze through their match against Diman’s Olivia DeMelo and Kaydence Simoes. But the Bengals fought back to take the next two sets in tie breakers 6-7(5-7) and 6-7(5-7). 

Despite the hard fought loss, the Wildcats are determined to win on Wednesday, gain at least a share of the division title and make some waves in the state tournament. 

“It’s going to be a battle,” said Coach Kampper. “You never know who you are going to play.” 

The Wildcats will in the middle of the pack with their overall record Coach Kampper feels that the team will likely face a difficult opponent. “There are some really good teams at the top, so whoever we face will be a tough out. Thankfully we have an experienced team with several girls having played in multiple tournament matches. We’ve been leaning on our singles players all year but will need some production from our doubles teams to have any chance in the tournament.”

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