The DHS girls’ tennis team under the direction of Coach Jutta Rossano got off to one of its best starts in years with a 5-0 record, but finally hit the wall this week by splitting four matches and now stands with a 7-2 record.

It was a week in which the girls played four matches in five days and it didn’t start on a good note, as the Lady Dragons suffered their first loss of the year in a 3-2 home defeat at the hands of North Quincy.

Duxbury’s singles had their work cut out for them, as they dropped all three matches for the first time this year.

Michaela Dowd at first singles battled in a hard-fought loss to Elizabeth Sullivan, dropping the first game, 4-6, and losing a tough second game 5-7.

The second and third matches proved much easier for the Red Raiders, as NQ’s Sara Sullivan took care of Casey Reinhart, 6-0/6-2, and Tiffany Leung pinned a rare loss on freshman Kelly Dame, 6-0/6-2, to complete the sweep in singles.

Doubles tried holding up its end of the bargain with Lilly Weil and Caroline Phinney besting Julie Ross and Sanjana Kadrivel in a three-set marathon, 6-4/2-6/6-3, while Meghan O’Neal and Nicole Hanrahan appeared to have the easiest match of the day with a 6-2/6-2 victory over Julie Doyle and Mallory DeVoe.

Duxbury managed to survive with a 3-2 win over Middleboro on Tuesday, and then had a day off before traveling to Marshfield to take on the Rams on Thursday.

The Rams have been hard on Duxbury the past few years, but it seems the tide has turned in this rivalry, as the Lady Dragons managed a 4-1 win a day before taking on Hingham.

Dowd had few problems with Olivia White at No. 1 singles as she stormed to a 6-0/6-1 win, while Reinhart got off to a good start with a 6-4 win over Erin Kane at No. 2 before faltering in the next two sets and losing 4-6/3-6.

Dame returned to form with a 6-1/6-2 victory over Kerry Magoon at No. 3 singles.

Weil and Phinney had little trouble with Brenna Cole and Noelle McHugh, 7-5/6-3, while O’Neal and Hanrahan fought off Carla Gomes and Amy Kacynsk, 6-4, 6-0, to wrap up the win despite the strong wind and occasional rain.

Cruising along with a 7-1 record and plenty of confidence going into last Friday’s match with annual nemesis, Hingham High School, the Lady Dragons saw their hopes for their biggest win of the season come crashing down quickly, as the Harborwomen swept the first four matches before O’Neal and Hanrahan prevented a shutout with a three-set win over Maxine Bergstein and Ashland Stansbury, 6-4/6-7/6-3 at No.  2 doubles.

In the 4-1 loss Dowd lost 3-6/1-6 to Katherine Ripple at No. 1 singles, Reinhart fell to Julia Krumholtz at No. 2 singles, 0-6/3-6, and Dame battled Millie Valero before losing 4-6/4-6.

Weil and Phinney also gave it their all before succumbing to the Lund sisters, 4-6/2-6.

“This was an intense match at No. 2 doubles,” said RossaNo.  “It was tied at 1-1 after two sets and it was 6 p.m. Everyone wanted to go home because it was cold and late. O’Neal and Hanrahan wanted a 10-point tie-breaker, but Hingham wanted a third set. The two teams flipped a coin and the third set began. Hingham’s large contingent of fans added to the pressure on the Duxbury duo, but the two Duxbury players kept getting better and better as the set went on and quickly won the third set.”

It’s another tiring week for the girls, as they play four matches in five days, all of which are home, including Wednesday afternoon’s Patriot League matchup with Silver Lake.