MVRHS senior captain Laina Dubin charges a volly in the MIAA playoffs. —Nicholas Vukota 
Charlotte Marshard moves across the court for a return. —Nicholas Vukota 
Laina Dubin battles through a long match against North Reading. —Nicholas Vukota 
Gabriella Schilling moves in to return a volly against North Reading High School. —Nicholas Vukota 
Laina Dubin serves against North Reading in the MIAA playoffs. —Nicholas Vukota
The high school’s girls’ varsity tennis team are continuing to charge through the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) state playoffs, improving their record to 18-0 on the season after defeating North Reading High School in the round of 16 Monday at the Island’s Ned Fennessy Courts.
The girls defeated North Reading 4-1 and are now poised for quarterfinals. All the matches finished relatively quickly, besides the Vineyard’s senior captain Laina Dubin, who battled through two sets and a 10-point tie breaker that lasted almost two hours before losing the close match.
Assistant Coach Ed Stahl said the Vineyarders overall played well, and despite the close loss for Dubin, who was playing through a knee injury she picked up earlier in the match from a fall, her resilience inspires the rest of the team, and her confidence is the key moving forward.
“Overall, the girls play great,” said Stahl. “Today was a tough match for Laina, but I feel like she could have had that match, and I think she’s feeling confident, and that’s what we need.”
Stahl added that the girls have a few things they are going to work on in the coming days before their next match, including honing the doubles chemistry and mentally preparing their singles players.
“For the doubles teams, they’re playing great. They got to keep working as a team and not play points individually out there, that’s important. Tessa and Bella did that really well today,” he said after the match. “As for the singles girls, they’re all playing great, and I feel like it’s just a matter of them believing that no matter what happens, they can do it.”
At the match on Monday, the Island’s Ned Fennessy Courts were swarmed by MVRHS and Vineyard Family Tennis friends, family, and coaches. The Island’s tennis programs are as strong as they are, Stahl said, because of a dedicated network of family and community members that teach the sport to the Island’s youth.
“I’m just really happy the whole community came out,” said Stahl. “Everybody who comes adds a little something.”
The Vineyarders next match, quarterfinals for state playoffs, will be determined by the winner of a game on Wednesday between Wilmington High School and Falmouth High School. At the earliest, the Vineyarders will play on Friday.
Another Island team also had a playoff game Monday. The MVRHS varsity baseball team lost to Falmouth High School in Falmouth, Mass. 1-0 at the bottom of the ninth. And the result of a Monday match between Newburyport and Nantucket boys’ tennis teams, which Newburyport won, means that MVRHS plays them away Wednesday at 4 pm in the round of 16.