After losing seven seniors off last fall’s league championship team, Huntington High School varsity girls’ tennis coach Jamie Fishlow is striving to piece together a starting lineup that will keep the Blue Devils competitive this season.
“We are a very young team with no seniors,” Fishlow said. Juniors Cameron Fehrs, Mia Breitbarth, Christiana DeLuca, Christie Baade and Maire Brown and sensational freshman Isyss Jones are Huntington’s varsity returnees.
The Blue Devils won Suffolk League II last fall with a perfect 10-0 record en route to an overall mark of 11-2 and a berth in the county team tournament. Fishlow captured the league Coach of the Year Award. Huntington’s JV went 8-2 and the J. Taylor Finley Middle School team compiled a 6-3 record.
Last year’s league crown earned the Blue Devils a promotion this fall to League I, which features many of the county’s best teams. It’s a significant challenge considering the loss of all those seniors.
“It is a back to basics year working on individual skills and doubles strategies,” Fishlow said. “We have moved to the upper league where the competition will be tough. My goal is to improve and develop with a focus on building their abilities for the future. They have been a hardworking group during the pre-season and I am beginning to see some progress and improvement.”
Although Fishlow anticipates there might be some movement of players between the varsity and JV teams, the current varsity roster also includes eighth grader Talullah Pitti, sophomore Lexi Helburn and juniors Emma Grassi, Megan Malone and Ashlyn Case.
Huntington has a very long tennis tradition. When the high school was located on Main Street in the building currently utilized as Town Hall, the Blue Devils played their matches in Heckscher Park. The team now plays its matches at the Coach Cuppernull Courts complex located along Holdsworth Drive.
Fishlow hopes the team continues to progress and makes history of its own this fall.
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The Blue Devils enjoyed the thrill of a close victory in a non-league match against visiting Kings Park last week. Christie Baade dropped the first set in No. 3 singles, 2-6 before staging a rally and winning the second and third sets, 6-3, 7-5. Baade’s singles victory gave Huntington a 4-3 team win, bringing a smile to Fishlow’s face.
