The Northampton girls fell behind in all four of the opening matches against Freedom last Saturday, dropping the first set in each contest. They fought back in each match, but only Emily Kemmerer was able to claim a point by winning at second singles.

The K-Kids did manage to take 2 of the remaining 3 doubles matches to fall just short of the Patriots 4-3. The loss moved Northampton’s record on the season to 4-5.

Singles: Aurora Clark (Free) def. Claire Lack (Nor) 7-5, 4-6, 6-2; Emily Kemmerer (Nor) def. Esha Kotadlit (Free) 1-6, 7-5, 6-3; Kathryn Ryer (Free) def. Emilee Gaughran (Nor) 6-1, 6-4.

Doubles: Keely Holland and Dahlia Janis (Nor) def. Josephine Davies and Mandee Nguyen (Free) 8-4; Misha Braski and Paola Pagan (Free) def. Lea Fornarotto and Hayden Nagy (Nor) 6-2, 7-6 (10-8); Mia Napolitano and Katie Nenna (Free) def. Mia Rios and Joy Samaan (Nor) 6-2, 6-1; Addison Slivka and Hayden Bilheimer (Nor) def. Gwen Adriguez and Alexa Holder (Free) 6-1, 6-2.

Kemmerer described her mindset in rebounding from losing her first set 6-1, “I’m just really good at comebacks. Even if I lose 1-6 or 0-6, I’m able to get out of my head. In the second set I was able to push it out of my head and I could tell that she was kind of giving up, so the third set was easier.”

She jumped out to a 4-1 lead in that final set, but Kotadlit rallied to make it 4-3. “I felt more pressure in the third set than when I was losing, especially when it got to 4-3. I knew I had to win the next game because if it got tied up, it was going to be rough,” Kemmerer explained.

Head coach Gabby Demchak lauded the comeback, “Overcoming that adversity in coming back to win in three is a real testament to her character. She’s one of our captains and it really shows the resilience that she has to fight until the end.”

“These tight matches are more fun for everybody involved. There were a couple of matches that could have gone our way but didn’t. These matches show our growth with our ability to stay in them, even when we get down,” concluded Demchak.