PEMBROKE – Pembroke and Coe-Brown took their Thursday girls’ tennis match down to the wire as the last two doubles matches stayed close until the end. Ultimately, Pembroke’s doubles persisted and the Sparatns won the day, 5-4, equaling their victory total from last year in their first two contests of the young season.

The teams split the singles matches, 3-3, and Pembroke lost the No. 1 doubles match, 8-1. In No. 3 doubles, Brianna Larochelle and first-year Haidyn Chaffee won a tight 9-7 match over Coe-Brown seniors Maggie Escabi and Jenny Noni. 

In the last doubles match, pitting Pembroke sophomores Rileyanne Caron and Jillian French against Coe-Brown’s senior Anna Hocevar and sophomore Scarlett Martyniak, both duos pushed each other to the limit.

The Spartans battled back from a three-game deficit, and at one point a double match point, to tie it up at 7-7, then each tandem broke the other’s serves to tie it up at 8-8. It all came down to one final tie-breaker as the sun went down, and with an early string of points, Pembroke managed to stay ahead and win.

“I thought we were going to lose there when we were down by three,” French said. “We both worked hard.”

“That’s a really nice change. There’s a big difference in our skills from last year, like when we started, so that also feels good,” Caron added on the team’s performance so far.

Caron and French picked up tennis for the first time last season as freshmen, and the win, according to the head coach David Goulet, was a demonstration of the work they’ve put in.

He said that Coe-Brown played very well at the net, and he worked with the girls to come up with a strategy.

“They played doubles last year, and they’re really amazing and they support each other because tennis is an up-and-down sport. You can be doing well, within the next match not doing so doing good,” Goulet said. “It was just great; it could have gone either way.”

For Coe-Brown the start of the season has been tough. The Bears lost to Oyster River in a close 5-4 match to start the campaign before Thursday’s defeat. The team is competitive, but has been edged out slightly so far.

Junior Kelli Daniel, senior Stella Vachon and freshman Calli Herrick all won their singles matches easily, 8-1, 8-2 and 8-0, respectively. Daniel and Vachon combined to win No. 1 doubles as well and kept on rolling strong to lead the Bears.

Head coach Chris Burns said that it’s disappointing to lose the first two contests of the season, but the team has not hung its head and instead has kept fighting. His No. 3 doubles, seniors Jennifer Noni and Margaret Escabi, just picked up tennis for the first time this season and have shown a lot of fight.

He’s confident his team will bounce back and learn important lessons form these losses that will carry over into producing some wins down the line.

“It’s something more for them to look at, and look at what they can get better with, and continue to improve. Proud of how they played both games. Obviously we’re not happy with the result, but you know I’m proud of how hard they worked and their ability to hang with the  match and keep it going,” he said.