Old Rochester girls’ tennis welcomes fresh faces, fierce players

MATTAPOISETT — The Old Rochester Regional High School girls’ tennis team lost four senior players going into this year’s season, but according to head coach Kyle Noseworthy, the team is still as strong as ever.

Noseworthy credits young players like freshman Neva Matos and junior “number twos” Molly Dupre and Macy Ingham as strong singles players. Senior captain Gabby Berg and Junior Captain Mari Sudofsky are two of the team’s stronger doubles players players.

Dupre and Ingham are both “pretty solid players,” said Noseworthy. “They’re probably in the upper half of the league for their position on the team.”

According to Noseworthy, Matos went up against star Wareham player Brooklyn Bindas and was able to hold her own.

Matos got “two games off of her,” said Noseworthy, who added that she challenged Bindas “for maybe [30 minutes] longer than any other kids [he has] ever seen play.”

In 2022, Bindas helped bring the Wareham girls’ tennis team to win the Div. 4 state championship.

Matos is “already our number one,” he said. “In years to come she’ll definitely be one of the premier players in the league.”

Looking at the season ahead, Noseworthy thinks that his team “can handle” Wareham. Already, Old Rochester beat Wareham 4-1 in a game on Thursday, April 6.

Noseworthy added that if he “had to place a bet right now” he could see the South Coast Conference coming down to a competition between Old Rochester and Fairhaven.

But even though his players have “all the talent in the world,” Noseworthy said that they are a “young team” whose “leadership values are still coming up.”

“All these kids have amazing talent and have played a bunch but it’s really [about] starting to lock in mentally,” he said.

According to Noseworthy, his plan is to “challenge his players to take the next step, as not only players, but as adults.”

He noted that tennis has a “team dynamic” and that the team will have “some kids that get along and some kids that don't.” Noseworthy hopes to challenge his team by partnering players with “someone they don't know,” or someone they may not get along with.

“Everyone has their breaking point, and sometimes these kids don't give themselves a fair enough chance to push it,” he said. “So [it’s about] pushing them to that limit — letting them see that they can push past [issues].”