The Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School girls tennis team, for the first time in six years, were on the doorstep of a state championship, but they came up just short in the finals on Sunday.
The Vineyarders fell to a tough Dover-Sherborn Raiders team on the hardtop of MIT’s duPont Tennis Courts, losing the first three of five games.
The doubles teams both went to tiebreakers for the Island team, but the Raiders’ single players proved overpowering and swept the matches 3 – 0.
From head coach Bill Rigali’s perspective, the difference between the Island team and the Raiders was just one rally.
“Dover-Sherborn had another level of consistency from us,” he said. “And that’s the difference; you get the ball over the net one more time you make the point… they were one shot better than us and that was it.”
Third singles fell first on Sunday. Senior co-captain Ellie Pennington fought against a strong Sarah Ewing for the Raiders, coming away with a final score of 1-6, 0-6.
The Vineyarders needed first and second singles to pull through but they found just as much trouble. Charlotte Marchard on second singles was up 3-2 halfway through her first set but she ended up falling to the Raiders Mia Greibel 6-4, 6-0. And despite sophomore captain Laina Dubin also being up 3-2, she fell in her first set to the Raiders Leah Hills, 3-6, then followed in her second set, losing 6-2, to solidify the loss for the girls.
Second doubles Ella Moran and Clementine Zeender traded their first two sets with the Raiders Laura Green and Emma Motley, 0-6, 6-4 and were set to battle in a third, but Vineyarders fell in a final score of 4-6.
Leah Thomson and Zoe Treitman lost to Caroline Mahoney and Grace Makkas in set one 2-6, but battled back in the second to force a tie breaker, 7-6 but fell in the third set 1-6.
Despite the loss, coach Rigali said the season overall was outstanding. After winning only seven matches last year, the girls came back strong with nineteen wins this year. Next season the goal is just to keep improving.
“Everybody’s style is different, we don’t have to play like Dover-Sherborn but whatever our style is we need to make it better — good enough to beat a Dover-Sherborn,” he said. “Our kids can look at the opponent we played today and see that’s how we gotta get it done.”
To the seniors and their families, coach Rigali said thank you.
“Thank you to the seniors and families for playing, the four seniors were great to have around,” he said. “Ella [Moran] and Clementine [Zeender] had an amazing year at second doubles, Ellie [Pennington] contributed nicely at third singles and Sophie Winters was so supportive, she is a great kid and they make the program special.”
It’s not the first time in recent years that the girls’ tennis team made an appearance at MIT for state finals. The girls also won division three state championships three times in a row from 2015 until 2017, then moved up to division two before winning back-to-back championships in 2018 and 2019.
In their path to the state finals this season, three of the girls playoff matches were played on the Island’s Fennessy courts. The girls defeated the Seekonk High School Warriors, the Boston Latin Academy Dragons, and the Newburyport High School Clippers at home — nearly all in clean sweeps — before traveling to Somerset to defeat the St. John Paul II High School Lions in the semis, again in dominating fashion.
In the past, the Raiders have been a tough team for the Vineyarders and overall are a consistent tennis program, said head coach Rigali on the ferry ride to Woods Hole on Sunday before the championship game.
“It’s gonna be good,” the coach said in anticipation of the game ahead. “They haven’t lost yet but we have nothing to lose — we will play a good match and see where the cards fall.”
In Cambridge, two fan buses arranged by athletic director Mark McCarthy carried the Vineyard crowd to and from the courts.
Shortly after their arrival, the girls teams from Wayland high school and Longmeadow high school battled for the division two state championship — where after a long singles battle, Longmeadow secured division two state championship — Vineyard girls were on the courts warming up alongside Dover-Sherborn.
Coach Rigali said the goal moving forward for next season is the same goal as always; to improve.
“Just keep improving….that’s how you learn, you don’t learn by winning all the time, you don’t learn by losing all the time, there has to be a blend,” said Rigali.
Second best, they still should feel very proud of themselves! A highly successful season.
Comments are closed.