Wave ready for state tourney

By THOMAS JOHNSTON

Staff Writer

Not too many teams have had success against the Greenfield girls tennis team this season.

The Green Wave blazed their way through the regular season, not dropping any of their matches, finishing with an unblemished 12-0 record and winning the Tri-County League North.

With the state tournament kicking off for Greenfield on Monday, the Green Wave are hoping to carry the momentum built from the regulars season into the postseason.

“I’m really proud of how far this team has come,” Greenfield coach Alexis Silk said. “At the start of the season I knew we had potential but once we tested ourselves against some of the tougher teams the second time around, I knew then this team could make it all the way. We kept our momentum all season and stayed physically, and more importantly, mentally tough out on the courts.”

To make a run in the MIAA Div. 4 tournament, the Green Wave will have to pull off an upset against a Western Mass. power.

Greenfield earned the No. 24 seed, which got them a bye to the Round of 32. It’ll head to the Berkshires to square off with No. 9 Lee, a team the Green Wave has plenty of familiarity with.

In the Western Mass. Class C Tournament, Greenfield and the Wildcats were pitted against each other for a semifinal matchup, with Lee coming away with a 4-1 victory on May. 23. Despite the loss, the Green Wave are feeling confident they can get the job done the second time around.

“We were really close last time,” Greenfield senior Estera Covalenco said. “We’re fired up to beat them. We’re excited to get them back. We think we can do this.”

“We’re on the courts everyday,” fellow senior Kaitlyn Phillips added. “We’re working on ourselves to go out and beat them.”

Since the first match of the season, the Green Wave had had confidence in themselves. They came out with a win against a tough Frontier team during not ideal conditions, preparing them for the challenges a long season provides.

“Our first match was in the rain, it was a bad situation,” Phillips said. “It was cold, rainy and that was one of the roughest be-

SEE GREENFIELD D3

Greenfield’s Jenna Keith returns a shot by Turners Falls' Steph Peterson in Montague earlier this season.

PAUL FRANZ

FROM D1

cause it was terrible to play in. We took that first win home and kept going.”

It didn’t hit Greenfield until the midway point of the season to realize an undefeated campaign was on the table.

After playing each team in its league once, it felt confident it could come away with wins the second time around and keep the streak alive.

“Midway through the year is when we thought it could happen,” Covalenco said. “We already played most of the teams and were just replaying them again. Things were going really well. We kept playing and didn’t lose. It helped us mentally because we had the confidence.”

The mental aspect of the game is something the Green Wave feel they specialize in. By having the right frame of mind going into matches as well as a hard working group of players was a successful formula for Greenfield.

“All of our matches, even the nerve-racking ones, we played with level heads,” Covalenco said. “We were surprisingly calm while playing and that helped us to not let the game get in our heads because tennis is a game of wits. Whenever we would make a mistake or lose a point, we would make a note of the mistake and go to practice the next day and try to improve that. That helped us in the future games we had.”

Keeping the right mindset going into matches and having the confidence to get the job done has propelled the Green Wave to new heights this year.

“We went into every match with an open mind and a good attitude,” Phillips said. “Even if we were feeling bad, we found a way to go in with a good mindset so we’d be able to keep our level heads, take everything one point at a time and take the win home.”

Greenfield is a seniorheavy squad, with five players set to graduate this year. The outgoing players are hoping they’ve set a culture for the younger players to follow and keep the success going for years to come.

“We have people who are experienced and people who a r e n’t,” Covalenco said. “We get to teach the newer generation. A lot of us are seniors so when we leave, they’ll be ready. We’re leaving a good legacy and it’s going to continue on because we have girls who have experienced winning.”

Younger players like Covalenco’s younger sister, Rebecca Covalenco, took notice of the work ethic the seniors showed and implemented it into their own games.

“It helps to see my sister and see how she plays,” Rebecca Covalenco said. “It helps me improve and it motivates me. My partner and I are really well balanced. She’s really good at her backhand and I’m good at my forehand so it works. The seniors showed me how to be determined and not give up. They played in the rain and that was rough to watch. I thought they’d slip and fall but they kept going.”

The match against Lee will get underway at 4 p.m. on Monday.