Freshmen help bolster Spring-Ford lineup in girls tennis win over Perkiomen Valley
GRATERFORD >> She’s positioning herself for a stellar four-year high school tennis career.
Mia Matriccino heads a crew of ninth-graders in the Spring-Ford girls program this fall … one that’s filling in the blanks of a 2019 lineup that had six seniors graduate. Four of them were on display Wednesday when the Rams visited Perkiomen Valley for a Pioneer Athletic Conference match they swept, 7-0.
Matriccino got Spring-Ford rolling with her 6-0, 6-0 sweep of Gracie Strohecker at first singles. The Rams’ ladder-leader played a solid contest, marked by strong, hard shots and strong finishes when her opponent was off-balance from lunging returns.
“I’ve been playing since I was eight years old,” she said, noting she had been involved in United States Tennis Association play for four years. “I’ve had a lot of practice with those (attack) balls.”
Joining Matriccino in the varsity lineup are classmates Alexis Luo and Evelyn Mejia, who played second doubles against PV, and Chloe Moore, who teamed with junior Lana Hang at third doubles. They give the SF program (4-0) optimism for a long, productive run over the next three years.
“A lot friends my age train together,” she said. “We all knew we were going to play in high school.”
The Rams also have back last year’s PAC Individual Tournment champion and Mercury Girls Tennis Player of the Year, sophomore Cady Krause, at third singles. Between Krause and Matriccino is junior second singles Isabel Mejia, runner-up to Krause at PACs.
The trio is forming a formidable singles bracket for SF. Krause followed Matriccino’s lead with her 6-0, 6-0 roll over PV’s Ananya Sudarshar, and Mejia added a 6-2, 6-0 win over Kaitlyn Murphy.
“This is definitely a big thing for me,” Matriccino said of high-school play. “The team and I enjoy being able to play.”
When the COVID-19 pandemic and social-distancing restrictions shut down many athletic pursuits in mid-March, Matriccino found herself unable to continue her workouts at Frog Hollow Racquet Club. So she found a way to work around the situation.
“I ended up buying a ball machine,” she said. “Sometimes I’d hit with friends. It wasn’t ideal, but I was glad to get shots.”
“A lot of the girls relied on their families. They had parents who play tennis,” SF head coach Todd Reagan added. “They’d get a lot of practice in good times with family. In May and June, when they were able to play, a lot of them were able to get things in motion.”
The Rams also got solid play from its doubles teams, which also won in straight sets. At third doubles, Moore and Hang topped PV’s Victoria Anglace and Hannah Cox 6-2, 6-1; and at fourth doubles, Nicole Moscirella and Alyssa Sharma won over Kelsey Leonard and Kayla Morris, 6-0, 6-3.
Perk Valley’s best showings came in doubles. The first doubles duo of Samantha Swarr and Sydney Boardman won six games in their 6-2, 6-4 match with Lucy Olsen and Emily Tiffan, and the second team of Smiki Satrusalya and Rachel Koenig took five games from their 6-1, 6-4 match with Luo and Evelyn Mejia.
“We’re progressing quite well,” PV head coach Jennifer Dixon said after his girls’ second match of the fall. “Most of our varsity players from last year graduated, so we have a lot of JVs. I think we have good depth … no tournament players, mostly social players.”
NOTES >> Part of dealing with COVID conditions, Reagan noted, has been for the players to have numbered balls they use in matches. Each player is assigned a number, and they are able to handle only the balls with their numbers. … With the PAC’s singles and doubles championships slated to be played on the same day at the same time — as opposed to past years, when they were on separate weekends — Matriccino figures to play just singles. “I’m going to do my best to get as far as I can,” she said.
