by Ananya Murthy and Caroline Wang
The Williamsville East varsity tennis team finished its 2014 season two weeks ago, coming in second place in Division Two for the first time in almost two decades. Though East reigned undefeated for seventeen years, Hamburg managed to slide into first place–but only just. Both matches against Hamburg were extremely close, with Hamburg winning by one point each time.
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This year, East sent two singles and two doubles to ECICs. First singles Ananya Murthy and second singles Amy Xiao competed in the singles tournament two weeks ago at Village Glen. As for doubles, first doubles Caroline Wang and Sanjana Singh played as the first team, while third singles Prerna Singh and second doubles Caitlyn Littlewood played as the second team from Williamsville East at the doubles tournament last weekend.
Murthy won the first match she played on Friday 6-0, 6-0 against Lakeshore, and made it through a grueling four hour match against Lancaster’s second singles with the score of 3-6, 6-4, and 7-6, qualifying for sectionals. Immediately afterwards, she played her third match against Lancaster’s first singles in order to determine seeding for sectionals, losing 1-6, 1-6 and finishing at 9pm. On Saturday, she played another two matches for seeding. Murthy won 6-4, 6-3 against Hamburg and 6-1, 6-3 against North, putting her at fifth seed. Xiao, unfortunately, was eliminated in the second round.
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Wang and Singh won the first match they played 6-3, 6-3 against Alden, as well as the second match they played (1-6, 6-4, 7-5) against Amherst, qualifying for sectionals. However, in the third match, also to determine seeding, they lost against North. On Saturday, they lost their matches against East Aurora’s first doubles and to Hamburg’s first doubles, putting them at eighth seed overall. Singh and Littlewood were eliminated in the first round against East Aurora’s second doubles. Surprisingly, Orchard Park’s second doubles won the tournament, facing off in the finals against Orchard Park’s first doubles–just like last year.
Sectionals will be at Village Glen again this Friday and Saturday, with Murthy, Wang, and Singh in attendance.
