The Lady Dragons qualified for the MIAA State tennis tournament with a doubleheader win over Whitman-Hanson last Thursday in Duxbury, marking the last home match for the Duxbury seniors.

Playing eight-game pro-set matches, Duxbury got off to a good start when Kelly Dame took care of Victoria Consolini at No. 1 singles, 8-1, in the first match, while No. 2 singles player, Meghan O’Neal, recovered from some leg issues to defeat Emily Arthur, 8-2. The No. 1 doubles tandem of Brook McCarthy and Caroline Phinney blanked Alyssa Hayes and Sheila Boniratibus, 8-0, while the No. 2 doubles pairing of Anna McGeady and Sarah Palfrey battled to an 8-4 win over Lizzie Amico and Lizzie Chamura.

Dame and O’Neal had little trouble duplicating their first set wins, taking their second matches, 8-5 and 8-0, respectively, while Nicole Hanrahan managed to get some revenge in her second set by beating Yasmine Civar, 8-3.

McCarthy and Phinney took their second match, 8-2, while McGeady and Palfrey were nipped in their second set, 7-8.

Earlier in the week the girls had a tough time with a pair of Hingham opponents, losing to Notre Dame Academy, 3-2, and Hingham HS, 5-0.

Hanrahan managed to salvage a win for the Lady Dragons in singles when she beat ND’s Maggie Lewis 7-6 (TB 7/4), 6-4, while McCarthy and Phinney had a marathon match at No. 1 doubles, winning the first set, 6-4, then dropping the next set, 3-6, to tie the match at 1-1. The duo hung tough in the third set before putting away Meghan Golden and Meghan Garrow in the deciding game, 6-3.

It was a much tougher day for the remaining Duxbury players, as Dame dropped a 3-6/4-6 match to Allie Bridgeman at No. 1 singles, and O’Neal faltered in a 1-6/3-6 loss to Julie Rohnstoch. McGeady and Palfrey went down 0-6/4-6 to Amanda Hajjar and Hannah Pasqualucci at No. 2 doubles.

“The girls played hard today against Notre Dame,” said Coach Jutta Rossano.  “Kelly played a terrific match at number one singles, but the score just didn’t reflect the quality of her play. Nicole at No. 3 was determined to take a win and she did. She too played a solid game. Meghan has been nursing a bad leg and just couldn’t run well. Our second doubles had a tough match and did have a bit of a comeback. Our first doubles fought hard for their win and they were so determined to win that they actually began to perform better and better, making their desire for a win come true. It was all-around good tennis by the Duxbury girls.”

After travelling to Marshfield and Norwell earlier this week, the girls hit the road again and travel to Whitman-Hanson on Thursday for a 3:30  p.m. match with the Panthers.