Martlets Finish 4th at New Englands

The girls capped off their season by hosting the class C division (teams ranked 17th - 24th) of the New England tournament. 

In the first round they faced Milton, to whom they had lost 5-2 at the HS Nationals a week earlier playing without #3 Marti Jaramillo Aman ‘27. With Jaramillo back in the lineup, the Martlets were able to avenge the loss, and in exciting fashion. The even matches went off first, and the Martlets took a 2-1 lead on the strength of a dominant win by Elle Wilson ‘26 at #2 and a tighter, but equally impressive 3-0 win by Natasha Johnson ‘27 at #6. At #4, Emily Fonner ‘26 nearly made the team score 3-0, taking her first game and taking two others to 9-11 in her 3-1 loss. In the second round, Milton quickly drew to within one on the strings of their accomplished #1 player. The next result, however, brought the Martlets to the verge of victory as Chase Hager ‘26 earned a gritty 3-1 win at #5 after dropping her first game. Maximizing the drama, each of the last two matches went to five games. At #3, Jaramillo split her first two games at the narrowest margin, fell down 2-1, then evened it up, only to fall 11-8 in the fifth. That left the match in the hands of Anna Min ‘27 at #7, in the same position she had found herself twice at Nationals a week ago. She, too, played a tight, back and forth match that left her coach with sweaty palms, but ended exuberantly (8), 6, 11, (8), 8.

The win put the girls in the semi-finals facing #2 seeded Dana Hall. The Dragons earned a berth in the finals with a 5-2 win that was much closer than the score might suggest. Very strong at the bottom of their ladder, they got three of their points with decisive 3-0 wins at #s 5-7. Things were much tighter for the top four. Fonner took both of her first two games to extra points, and came almost as close in her last game at #4. Wilson came even closer at #2, using deadly attacking to come back from a 2-1 deficit to send her match to a fifth game against a very strong opponent. One of the two wins were notched by Jaramillo at #3, who went to five games again, this time taking and then losing a two game lead, only to surge to an 11-3 win in the fifth. The other came from #1 Sophia Lazor ‘27, who was matched against an almost identically rated opponent. After dropping her first game, and then eking out a 13-11 win in the second, Lazor found another gear to win going away ((7), 11, 3, 6).

The final match of the weekend, a rematch from a month earlier against St. Mark’s, proved to be a bit anticlimactic, as the Lions took the first four matches to be decided in their 5-2 victory. Nonetheless, highlights were provided by Johnson and Fonner, each of whom took a game to extra points; Wilson and Min, each of whom took a game; Lazor, who gave up only six points total in her 3-0 win; and Jaramillo, who came from behind and came out on top in her third five game match of the weekend, refusing to concede long after the team match had been decided. The girls’ performance this weekend made their coach proud, and looking forward to the return of the top seven players for next year’s campaign.