Mercersburg defeated visiting Pennington (NJ) School 4-3 in a Mid-Atlantic Prep League girls' varsity tennis match September 9, which was played at the Smoyer Tennis Center.

The first matchup against MAPL newcomer Pennington was a tough battle, in which the Blue Storm had to come from behind to pull out the team victory. In doubles, Ava Marathe '26 and Anezka Pospisilova '26 cruised to an 8-1 win at #3, but Pennington took the #2 match 8-2, so the doubles point was decided by a marathon affair at #1. Hisano Enomoto '25 and Mogere Nyakoe '25 fought for nearly two hours before falling in a tiebreak 8-9 (4-7).

With the Red Hawks leading 1-0, the teams moved to the singles matches. Marathe earned another quick win at #6, but when Pennington took the #4 match, the Blue Storm need to win three of the remaining four matches. Nyakoe won the #2 match 6-0, 6-1, Pospisilova took the #5 spot 6-1, 6-0, and Cate Dougherty '25 prevailed at #3 by a score of 7-5, 6-2 to secure the win.

"All of the players made good progress on a day when we were out in the scorching sun for about four hours," said head coach Mike Sweeney. "Serves are getting better, and overall consistency is improving. We still need to work on movement, fitness, and general strategy, but today was a step in the right direction."

Mercersburg (2-0, 1-0 MAPL) visits Madeira School (McLean, VA) on Wednesday, September 13 for a 3:45 pm match.