Last modified: Saturday, June 27, 2009 12:03 AM EDT
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| King Philip’s Courtney Puddester was the No. 1 player on the No. 1 team in the Sun Chronicle area and the Hockomock League. |
Top players, top team make up girls' tennis stars
Fabulous, absolutely fabulous - a freshman, Alana Prinos of Foxboro High capturing the MIAA South Sectional Singles Tournament title and the King Philip Regional High girls' tennis team, not only achieving a second straight unbeaten season, but a visit to the MIAA Division 1-South Tournament title match.
Prinos and five members of coach Bob Goldberg's Hockomock League champion King Philip team highlight the selections to the 2009 The Sun Chronicle Girls' All-Star Tennis Team.
Two members of that KP squadron, its top two singles players, juniors Courtney Puddester and Sarah Shipley, are among the half-dozen repeat All-Sun Chronicle selections.
The Warriors were joined on the list of the area's premier players by Bishop Feehan High's No. 1 singles player, senior Siobhan Licudine and the No. 1 players from North Attleboro High, singles player Ashley Llewellyn, and the doubles team of Tori Morris and Brenna Pereira.
Also selected to the team were Foxboro High's No. 2 singles player, Lauren Fisher, North Attleboro High's No. 2 singles player, Jen Lougee, and a trio of King Philip Warriors - No. 3 singles player Lauren Trudeau and the No. 1 doubles tandem of Megan Read and Alexandra Embree.
Puddester was playing in her third season at the No. 1 singles position for KP and totaled 13 regular season wins. The prowess and play of Shipley and Trudeau took on unbelievable numbers - Shipley winning 57 of 58 regular season matches over three seasons, Trudeau being a perfect 34-0 over her first two varsity seasons.
If that wasn't impressive enough, Embree and Read won 19 matches overall and reached the quarterfinal round of the MIAA Doubles Tournament.
And those prolific and productive returns were matched by Prinos, currently ranked No. 23 in New England, the most impressive freshman in the area in decades. Not only did Prinos win 24 matches en route to the MIAA Singles Tournament South Sectional title, she lost just one set!
However, only four of the area's schools qualified for the MIAA Tournament - Bishop Feehan High and three Hockomock League schools: King Philip, Foxboro and North Attleboro.
King Philip, the No. 2 seed in the Division 1-South Sectional, went unbeaten (18-0) during the regular season, then bounced No. 18 Dartmouth, No. 10 Notre Dame and No. 6 North Attleboro from the postseason - before dropping a 3-2 decision to Wellesley in the championship match.
The Rocketeers won 17 regular season matches, losing a pair of 3-2 decisions to King Philip. Then North beat Natick and Needham in the Division 1-South Sectional before KP took a third victory from the Rocketeers this season, a 4-1 verdict in the semifinal round.
Behind Prinos and Fisher, the Foxboro Warriors won nine regular season matches and beat Cardinal Spellman in the opening round of the Division 2-South Tournament. The Licudine-led Shamrocks of Bishop Feehan won nine regular season matches and were the No. 12 seed for the Division 2-South Sectional. |