Monomoy Girls Tennis Makes ‘Progress’ In Tournament Rematch

HARWICH – Junior Madison Mahfouz and freshman Olivia Rezk met head coach Bill Burke at the fence of the Brooks Park tennis courts during a break in the first set of their second doubles match Sunday.

“They’re tough,” Mahfouz said, as she and Rezk trailed 4-3 in their match within No. 3 seed Monomoy girls’ Division 4 state tournament quarterfinals rematch against No. 6 seed Manchester Essex. “It’s not going to be easy, but we’ve got this,” Mahfouz told Burke and her playing partner.

They ended up dropping that first set and thereafter fell into a 5-2 hole in the second. Then they surged back and won the second set. On the neighboring court, a similar dynamic played out with senior Karina Khalsa and freshman Cecilia Hand as they too lost the first but won the second set in first doubles.

Manchester Essex hung on in the third sets of both matches, clinching the overall contest 4-1 and ending the Sharks’ deep tournament run for the second year in a row. 

“Today didn’t really change anything,” Burke said. “We’re really happy with the progress we made this year, and I think we’re a better team than we were last year.”

Eighth grader Ella Cutter won in second singles 6-2, 6-3 for Monomoy against sophomore Sarah Cort. Sophomore Hanadi Rezk lost to sophomore Aurora Lenehan in first singles 7-5, 6-2, while sophomore Darcy Addison lost to junior Grace Scarbrough 5-7, 6-3, 10-5 (tiebreak) in third singles. 

Khalsa and Hand were defeated by seniors Nina Zalosh and Libbly Lawler 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, and Mahfouz and Rezk were beaten by senior Ella Arntsen and freshman Maeve McCardle 6-3, 5-7, 6-3.

“They really dug in, so I’m super proud of them,” Burke said of the doubles.

To reach the quarterfinals, the Sharks, 14-4 in the regular season, beat No. 19 seed Palmer 4-1 last Wednesday.

In that round of 16 match, Rezk beat senior Gianna Perry in first singles 6-3, 6-3, and Cutter beat senior Jenna Ghrear 6-1, 6-0 in second singles. Addison beat senior Sofia Braskie 6-1, 6-0 in third singles.

Rezk said she had “played her best tennis” and learned a lot from the match. She trailed 0-3 at the start of the first set.

“I really mentally flipped my game, which helped me perform better, and that’s definitely something big that I really push onto younger players, newer players, is you really have to be playing your best tennis mentally for you to perform better,” she said.

In first doubles, Khalsa and Hand beat junior Maria Kompaniiets and senior Arianna Messier 6-0, 6-2. Mahfouz and Rezk lost to sophomores Maddy Roy and Katie Mendal in second doubles 7-5, 4-6, 11-9 (tiebreak).

“I was hyped to play because it’s my last season playing, and since we’re in playoffs, I just try to play my heart out,” Khalsa said.

Khalsa — a “very strong” player, according to her doubles partner Hand —  is the sole senior graduating from the team.

“She does really good,” Hand said. “Really good at the net, very powerful. It’s good playing with her.” 

The group has been — and will continue to be — characterized by its young set of singles players in Rezk, Cutter and Addison.

“We’re able to teach the younger players a lot while still improving ourselves, and it will just really better our team for the next few years,” Rezk said. “I’m really excited for our next two years on the team, and I think that our team is going to turn out super good.”