Old Rochester girls tennis ace first playoff game

MATTAPOISETT — In the first game of the playoff season, the Old Rochester girls tennis team beat Auburn High School, winning by a score of 4 to 1.

The girls team is undefeated this year, winning all 18 meets during the regular season, and after beating the Auburn team on Sunday, June 1, they are now one step closer to the state championship match.

‘We won some close matches during the regular season, which really kind of gave us a little momentum to keep going in the tournament today,” said Coach Jim McGonigle.

He said that while the team knew the match against Auburn was probably not going to be a tough one to win, the win was still nice to have, noting that the Old Rochester team is “pretty strong top to bottom.”

“We knew this would probably be not a real tough match … but you never know — it’s a tournament, you can get jitters,” McGonigle said.

The girls are slated to compete against Danvers High School on Wednesday, June 4, and in the days leading up to the match, the team is looking to have “a couple of good days of practice.”

This will include focusing on doubles, coaching and playing more aggressively.

McGonigle added he thinks the girls will have “clearer heads” this week, noting that there was a lot going on last week with prom, graduation, and other end-of-year events.

He said the team has been “on the cusp” of making it to the state championship match, having won the championship match in back-to-back years in the past and making it to the final eight last year.

“Now they want to hopefully go all the way, get to the final four, get to the state championship match,” he said. “They’ve been really focused on that this year.”

The match against Danvers High School will be at 4 p.m. at Old Rochester Regional High School.