The highly anticipated showdown between the undefeated Bow and Conant girls’ tennis teams went the Falcons’ way on Saturday.
“It was a beautiful day for tennis and a hard fought match on both sides,” said head coach Jody Baker of the nearly four-hour marathon.
Conant No. 1 Shannon Bennett lost her first game of the season, to Bow’s Laura Zhebelik. In fact, the only Orioles to win on the day were Alex Dunn (9-7) and Megan Wheeler (9-7).
In doubles, Bennett and Franka Clauss won, and after Dunn and Wheeler won in a tiebreak, the score was 4-4. But Helen Soney and Esther Varnum came up just short in the final doubles contest, and Bow won 5-4.
Conant (8-1) falls out of the top spot in Division III, with Bow (12-0) the final undefeated team. The Orioles host Stevens (2-8) Wednesday at 4 p.m.