A perfect record and a state title

The dream of an undefeated record and a state championship title almost began to fade away on Saturday in Boston, when the girls’ varsity tennis team were down 2-0 early in the finals against two-time defending champions Dover-Sherborn. But that changed when two Vineyard matches reversed the course of the game and evened the score, and as the state trophy hung in the balance, a three-hour match, capped off by a nine-minute volley, earned the Vineyarders the championship.

The Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School (MVRHS) girls’ varsity tennis team returned to the Island as state champions Saturday evening, met by a cheering crowd of hometown fans and the flashing lights of emergency vehicles as they disembarked from a Steamship Authority ferry in Vineyard Haven.

The Vineyard girls traveled from the 9:30 am boat Saturday up to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) DuPont Courts, where they put an end to a dramatic saga, defeating reigning state champions Dover-Sherborn High School and claiming the throne for themselves. 

Last year, the Vineyarders lost to Dover-Sherborn in the state finals 5-0, but they flipped the script this year after a tight set of games. 

At MIT, the Vineyarders were down 2-0 halfway through the match, after second doubles and second singles couldn’t find their groove and lost to Dover-Sherborn. But the girls found hope after freshman Josey Johns secured a victory over Dover-Sherborn senior Mia Griebel, 6-3, 6-4, and Vineyard first doubles Leah Thomson and Zoe Treitman came back in their second set with a 6-1 victory after losing the first set 4-6, and then secured their third set, 6-4, to tie it up.

Johns finished her match first, bringing the Vineyard to 2-1. Her calm and collected attitude, despite the pressure of the finals match, was praised by Assistant Coach Eddie Stahl.  

Johns said she developed confidence playing tennis in the Island community while growing up, noting her time playing the sports at Vineyard Family Tennis in Oak Bluffs. 

“The stress that builds up just gives me more confidence when I’m playing,” said Johns in an interview with The Times. 

Johns said her opponent, Greibel, an experienced senior player for Dover-Sherborn, had many angles of attack, so Johns hit targeted shots of her own and kept her back with high topspin shots. 

“She had many angles, and so I adapted to that by moving her more around the court as well,” said Johns. 

“It’s just been an amazing season,” she added.

Thomson and Treitman’s win as well as Johns’ were vital to the Vineyard’s success. Thomson and Treitman said after losing their first set, they were inspired to play better after seeing Laina Dubin and Johns winning their matches. 

“When I saw Laina and Josey were winning, and we had a chance, there was no way we would let ourselves be the reason we lost,” said Thomson in an interview with The Times. 

Her doubles partner, Treitman, added that they were playing more aggressive in the first match that they lost, and after a brief conversation with coaches, they switched to a more reserved playstyle and waited for Dover-Sherborn to make mistakes. 

“It feels amazing,” said the doubles partners of the state championship win. 

Tied 2-2 in the match, Dubin was facing off once again against Dover-Sherborn senior first singles player Leah Hills. 

Dubin’s met Hills twice in the past two seasons, but this was the first time she secured the win. 

“A different person wins the third point everytime,” said Dubin after the match. 

The two students went to three sets when they played in April of this year as well, where Dubin fell in the close match, and at the time, noted that Hills’ patient style of play is difficult to adapt to.

Dubin said in order to beat Hills this time around, she started playing Hill’s game too. 

“She was giving me the deep highballs that were just bouncing almost all the way back to the fence, so I just tried doing it back, and that’s what was working for me.
And then when she gave me the chance, I just could put it away if it was a short ball,” said Dubin. 

And that’s exactly what she and Stahl practiced in preparation for this game.

The match was more than three hours long, and the two athletes battled through 90-degree weather. Fighting through the longest and most grueling match of the season, Dubin outlasted her opponent in a three-set thriller that included a nine-minute volley and clinched the state title for the Island. The team rushed the courts to hug Dubin at the net as Island fans erupted from the bleachers.

“It was very tiring,” Dubin said. “There were definitely times when I felt like giving up, but I’m just so proud of our team that I didn’t want to let them down, and I perform better under pressure.” 

Dubin credited her team’s strength to their camaraderie and roster depth. 

“We do so well because we have so much fun in practice, and we can rely on each other,” said Dubin. 

Rigali echoed this sentiment. 

“That was the strength of our team. We never knew where the three points were gonna come from,” he said. “And it’s a true team.”

The Martha’s Vineyard girls’ tennis team finished the season with an undefeated record of 20-0 and a state championship title. This is the first title for the girls tennis team since 2019 and the team’s roster doesn’t include a single senior, so this same group of girls will take the Fennessy Courts again next spring.