Girls tennis headed to state championship, boys fall in semis

The Martha’s Vineyard Regional High Schools girls tennis team is headed to the state finals.

The girls defeated a tough St. John Paul II High School Lions team on Wednesday, 3 – 2, to punch their ticket to the championship.

If weather permits, the girls are planning to head up to MIT this Saturday to play in the MIAA state finals. 

Just after, the boys team, also looking to advance to the finals, lost to Weston High School Wildcats.

Both the Island varsity teams trekked up to the Somerset Berkley Regional High School’s Douglas C. Chapman tennis courts — neutral territory — to battle it out in the semifinals of the MIAA state tournament. 

For the girls, victory came quick. As has been the case for their season, both doubles teams are what assistant coach Eddie Stahl considers the team’s “safe haven,” often winning their matches first to take a load off the shoulders of the singles players. And under the beating sun and without the Island’s familiar breeze on Wednesday, the semifinals were no different.

First doubles Leah Thomson and Zoe Treitman battled against Kayla Katziff and Ava Powell, winning their first set 6-4, then coming back from a big deficit to win their second set, 7-5. On second doubles Ella Moran and Clementine Zeender secured their win clean over the Lions’ Emily Desriusstaux and Joey Duhamel, 6-1 and 6-3.

“We come thinking that they are going to guarantee us two points,” said Stahl about the girls’ doubles. “I think the singles players rely on them in their own way.”

For the singles matchups, it was Laina Dubin securing the best of five series for the girls. She battled it out against a familiar opponent she had traded wins with in the past, Lily Walker. Dubin came away with a 6-4, 6-3 victory that clinched it for the Vineyarders. 

Third singles, Tessa Schulz fell to the Lions Grace Walker, 6-1, 6-0, and on second singles, Charlotte Marchand fought hard but fell to the Lions Bella Scioletti, 6-4, 1-6, 3-6

“I thought today everybody played great,” said Stahl. “Second doubles did their usual and first doubles had a strong comeback. Laina dug so hard and took it in two, and Charlotte was great staying confident to finish it out strong.” 

In the boys match, they fell to a strong Weston High School Wildcats, 5-0.

First singles and senior captain Zak Potter faced off against the Wildcats Peter Chen. Chen proved to be Potter’s toughest opponent all season, defeating the Vineyard leader in an unusual 3-6, 1-6 final early in the marquee matchup. 

First doubles also lost early on to the Wildcats, Nate Ko and Slyang Ding, 3-6, 2-6.

Second singles and senior captain Caleb Dubin lost his first set 1-6,and after battling for a long second set, fell 3-6 to the Wildcats Weston Starett, finalizing the loss for the boys.

Third singles Kert Kleeman lost a close first set battle, falling 6-7, and he lost another close second set battle, 4-6.

On second doubles, Nate Walsh and Henry Wansiewicz won their first set 6-2 and lost their second 0-6, in a heated third, the vineyard boys lost 6-3 to finish the match.