Lady Millionaires once again ace tennis season with impressive win over Lee

LENOX – Melissa Alexico’s tennis team may have lost a few all-star players last season, but this season, the team finished 13-2 and is in position for another Western Mass. Championship.

“We’ve lost a few girls last year – we weren’t sure how we would be this year, but it’s looking pretty good,” said number one singles player, senior Kelly Babich.

The Millionaires closed out the regular season with a 3-2 win over the Wildcats (9-5) on Monday, who are also tournament bound.

“We came out flat today, we just didn’t come out too sharp,” said Lee Head Coach Jeff Forget. “We are prepared [for the tournament] as we are going to be.”

While tournament seedings were announced after The Beacon went to press, Lenox expects to be one of the top teams in this year’s Division 3 post-season.

Leading the Millionaires on the court are seniors Babich and number two singles player Rachel Cogswell.

Babich beat Lee’s Caitlyn Briggs 6-3, 6-0 and Cogswell defeated Emma Forget 6-1, 6-0 as number two doubles Kathy Prescott and Alex Trousilek defeated Hadley Cook and Victoria Murphy 6-0, 6-4 for the three-game win.

Babich went up 4-1 in the first set before Briggs started to find her first serve and used her consistent forehand to create some unforced errors, to cut the lead to 4-3.

Babich finished off the first set, however, with a pair of beautiful long rally winners that created many cheers from both sidelines.

The long rallies and beautiful play continued in the second set, yet Babich maintained her steady and consistent stroke in winning every game point.

“[Babich] is hitting the ball solid – really well – and really consistent this year; she is causing errors instead of making them,” Alexico said. “She is a scrapper and she keeps the ball in play and she has incredible focus – when she puts her mind to it, she can do it.”

Recently, Babich came back from behind 5-2 in the second set and overcame three match points to win a match against Mt. Greylock.

“[Babich] is mentally tough,” Alexico said.

On the second singles court is Cogswell, who has been consistent all year  without a tremendous serve. The athletic senior uses a consistent hard forehand to strike the ball solid and keep her opponents moving back and forth along the baseline.

“[Cogswell] is super consistent and puts it where [her opponent isn’t],” Alexico said. “She was on fire today – just ripping the ball.”

Cogswell has only lost this year to Monument’s Courtney Freadman, while Babich has only lost a split with the Spartans’ Samantha White.

“They were excited about this match today,” Alexico said. “We didn’t play that well against Monument, and the girls came out ready to play.”

Posted by Tim Davis on May 30, 2013. Filed under High School Sports,Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry