Neva Matos wasn’t always a cool customer on the tennis court.
Clutch in Tuesday’s victory over talented Watertown freshman Sara Yasin, the freshly minted, 2026 Old Rochester Regional graduate drew on all her learning of the last three years to turn around a bleak situation and earn the deciding point in ORR’s 3-2 MIAA Division 3 Round of 16 win that sends the Bulldogs into Friday’s quarterfinals at second-seeded Dover Sherborn (19-1).
“A lot of times in the juniors, I was the problem in my own head. I would miss a shot, and then my whole game would spiral from there,” said Matos, whose match at first singles was looking like her last as a high schooler, having lost the opening set, 6-1. “I just realized that it’s just one point in the big scheme of things. There’s so many more you’re going to play. It’s more important to focus on the next point than the last point.”
Showing the maturity of a graduate, Matos performed a reverse spiral, adjusting in the second set and finding efficiency with her first serve, mixing pace on her return games and taking away the rhythm that had been teeing up her opponent, a real slugger with a formidable, crosscourt forehand. Fed a steady dose of high, looping groundstrokes in the first set, Yasin had swung freely, pounding forehands hard to the corners of the court, sometimes for clean winners.
“I think once the second set kind of came around, my focus shifted,” said Matos. “Instead of like (focusing on) winning the point to just put the ball in and kind of take it from there – because I don’t have a chance if I make the mistake.”
Having utterly dominated her regular-season opponents, Matos was facing major, on-court adversity for the first time all season.
“I think it could be part of it, but she is also a really good player so I think, either way, in my prime it still would have been a battle. That could have been a small factor, but I think really she’s a good player out there. It would have been a battle anyway,” said Matos.
Number 10 Watertown (12-9) started strong, getting wins at second singles, where Eva Khalrian defeated Caroline Houdelette, 6-1, 6-1, and at first doubles where Julie Pipitone and Calista Tansalsank defeated Ella Bishop and Zadie Goyette, 6-2, 6-2. But the seventh-seeded, 19-0 Bulldogs got pivotal points at third singles from Grace Hebert, who prevailed against Gigi Nitchke, 7-5, 6-4, and at second doubles where Molly Franco and Paige Marotta closed out Lily Griffith and Addy Powazink, 6-1, 7-5.
Those wins evened the count at two matches apiece, pinning all the attention on first singles, where Matos and Yasin slugged it out. As the two combatants dug into the deciding set with all eyes on their match, they were cognizant of the fact the entire outcome would be determined on their court.
Matos’ experience emerged as the deciding factor, especially in the third set where she made more first serves, allowing her to dictate more rallies. Yasin struggled at the service line in the third set, and Matos alternated between teeing off on her returns with run-around forehands and slicing low, short returns that caught her opponent too far in the backcourt.
After the final point, Matos and Yasin met at the net, and as Matos carried the scorecards through the door, her teammates gathered quietly to observe as she entered the score onto the grease board next to the gate.
“It’s not over ’til it’s over, not ’til you play that last point,” said Matos, who turned to her teammates and disappeared behind a group hug as coach Jim McGonigle captured the memory on camera.
ORR started out its postseason run with a 5-0 win against Number 26 seed Seekonk on May 31. A single sweep keyed the victory, as Matos won 6-0, 6-0 at first singles, Houdelette won 6-0, 6-1 at second singles, and Hebert won 6-0, 6-0 at third singles.
According to the MIAA tournament website, match time Friday at Dover-Sherborn High School is 4:00 pm.
Boys Tennis
The previously unbeaten (16-0) ORR boys tennis team, seeded 13th in Division 3, fell 3-2 to 20th seed Groton-Dunstable in the Round of 32, on May 27.
Aiden Comorosky contributed to this report.
ORR Girls Tennis
By Mick Colageo