By Andy Hutchison

WESTPORT — Staples girls tennis finished its regular season with a record of 13-2, earning third seed in the FCIAC tournament that gets underway Tuesday.

The Wreckers lost their season finale, 6-1, at Fairfield Ludlowe (14-1 record) Friday. The only other team to beat Staples this spring was Greenwich (15-0).

Staples had won eight straight matches, including four in a row by 7-0 scores.

“This has been a really successful season for us. We’ve had a lot of young team members bolster our lineup and add a lot of depth,” Staples Coach Jennifer Wider said.

Last year, the Wreckers were the No. 6 seed and lost to No. 3 Darien in the quarterfinals If the standings hold true to form it will be a flop-flip scenario with Darien earning the No. 6 seed this year and visiting Staples to begin the postseason. (The Wreckers’s playoff opponent and time to be announced).

Darien is 9-5 and currently in sixth with a Monday afternoon match against Norwalk to decide things.

“I think we have a really good shot at going far in both the state and FCIAC,” said Wider, whose team was the Class L State Tournament’s No. 11 seed, but made it all the way to the finals before falling to No. 1 Greenwich.

Staples benefitted from a good draw in last year’s state bracket with all of the toughest of the FCIAC competition — the most formidable in the state — on the other side of the bracket.

In their last four wins, the Wreckers beat Trumbull on May 10, St. Joseph of Trumbull on May 12, Westhill of Stamford on May 13 and Ridgefield on May 15.

Against Ridgefield, top singles player Amelia Berkowitz won by scores of 6-1, 6-0; No. 2 Sadie Yanks won 6-3, 6-4; No. 3 Azita Vazhayil won 6-1, 6-0, and No, 4 Devyn Pfeffer prevailed 6-1, 6-3.

In doubles play No. 1 Rhiya Anand and Lola Lamensdorf won 6-2, 6-1; No. 2 Maddie Hendley and Bridget Menninger won 6-3, 7-5, and No. 3 Rachel Guzman and Emma Kantor came out on top 6-2, 6-1.

Other winners in recent matches were Olivia Lazar, Aanya Ghandi, Dylan Lehrer and Isabel Alfageme.

(Game schedules are subject to change; click for the latest CIAC updates.)  

Andy Hutchison has been covering school sports — including Staples athletics — as well as news and feature stories in Fairfield County, since the 1990s.