With her face framed by her racquet, CHC's Julia Bellon delivers a forehand stroke. The sophomore from Brazil came from behind to win a three-set match at fourth singles on Saturday. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

by Tom Utescher

Last Saturday afternoon, the women's tennis team completed the fall season in an unfamiliar fashion. For a number of years the Griffins have been regionally ranked and finished right behind powerful Concordia College in the Central Atlantic College Conference, but this time around, a 4-5 setback against University of the Sciences in the 2016 finale settled CHC into eighth place in the CACC.

After serving as an assistant coach at the college and then spending several years at the Evert Tennis Academy in Florida, Chestnut Hill Academy alum Ryan Gargullo took over as the Griffins' head coach for the 2016-'17 season.

Gargullo, whose hiring was announced in the middle of July, observed "We were left with some places to fill, but these girls played hard, they work hard, and we're improving every day. There were a number of new faces and other people in new spots in the line-up, but now they've gotten to know one another and I think the team has come together."

Hired at a late stage with little chance to recruit, he arrived when the team had suffered major personnel losses. Three four-year players graduated from last season, and a younger athlete who had been number two in the line-up transferred to another school for her junior year.

It's ironic that Chestnut Hill reached this point in the cycle just when seven-time CACC champ Condordia (Bronxville, N.Y.) suspended both its men's and women's racquet programs pending an internal "evaluation."

In Chestnut Hill's conference, the primary women's season is in the fall and the main men's season is in the spring, but all of the important NCAA action for both genders, including postseason tournaments, happens in the spring. So for the CHC ladies, meaningful competition is far from over for the 2016-'17 academic year.

"We lost six 5-4 matches," Gargullo noted. "Now, as we look forward to the spring, we'll look to develop more consistency at certain positions. We'll probably make some adjustments in the line-up with the players that we have, and look to turn some of those 5-4 losses into 5-4 wins."

Gargullo was fortunate to have a very strong number one player returning in senior Laure-Anne Josso, a 5'11" Frenchwoman who was a first team all-conference selection in 2015. This fall, she has been named CACC Player of the Week several times, playing first singles and teaming effectively with sophomore Daniela Siqueira in pairs play.

It was these two who gave the Griffins their first victory in last weekend's fall season swansong, winning the second doubles flight, 8-5, over freshman Karla Miletic and sophomore Julia James of USciences. The three doubles matches in collegiate competition each consist of a single pro-set, and the visiting Devils won with their other two tandems.

At number one CHC senior Louise Charley and sophomore Hannah Murphy bowed 5-8 to their sophomore guests, Elkanah Linder and Abbygail Gamarnik. Griffins freshmen Nicole Yang and Madison Jacobus played in the third flight, where USciences prevailed, 8-6, thanks to freshman Gabrielle Soriano and sophomore Jillyan Serrano.

CHC's Yang is a Blue Bell resident who played for Wissahickon High School, while Soriano hails from Oreland and was a member of the team at Upper Dublin High.

Singles play then got underway, and in the top spot Chestnut Hill's Josso had to face the Devils' Croatian sensation, Miletic. The USciences rookie completed an undefeated sweep through her autumn agenda (14-0), but Josso put up more resistance than many of Miletic's opponents, succumbing in two 6-4 sets. The visitors picked up an early win at the other end of the singles spectrum as their number six, Serrano, took a pair of 6-0 sets from Yang.

CHC would get a boost from its Brazilians, Siqueira and fellow sophomore Julia Bellon. Siqueira won comfortably over the visiting Soriano, 6-2, 6-1, at fifth singles, but number four Bellon became engaged in one of the three individual bouts that went to a third set.

As this joust of Julias unfolded, the Devils' Julia James captured the first set at 6-2, and Bellon rebounded to take the second, 6-3. Other athletes who had finished playing gathered round to observe the third set of the fourth singles flight.

USciences, ahead 4-2 in the team score, seemed about to clinch the overall victory with a fifth win as James went out to a 5-3 lead. Bellon fought off a match point, then continued to battle all the way back to win four straight games and prevail, 7-5, in the deciding set.

Two other singles contests had also carried over into a third set and were still in progress. Unfortunately for the home fans, the next bout to finish put the visitors over the top, with Linder defeating CHC's Murphy at number three, 6-1, 4-6, 6-0. The Griffins' number two, Charley, tightened up the final team tally with her 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 victory over USciences' Gamarnik.

As the regular season in the CACC season ends, it's clear there's been a shake-up in the conference pecking order. Wilmington's Goldey Beacom College has been on the rise for a few seasons, and this fall the Lightning ascended to first place with a 7-0 record.

Gargullo, whose last prior association with the CACC had come when he was a Chestnut Hill assistant coach from 2010 to 2012, remarked "It's gotten a lot better and more balanced that when I was an assistant here. We have coaches all through the conference now who want to compete and win, so the teams all push one another to be better."