Townies vanquish Vikes in girls' tennis playoff opener

East Providence defeats Rogers, 4-0

By Mike Rego
Posted 10/24/17

PAWTUCKET — With weather unbefitting the sport, the East Providence High School girls’ tennis team nonetheless offered up a performance worthy of the champions the Townies are.

East Providence …

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Townies vanquish Vikes in girls' tennis playoff opener

East Providence defeats Rogers, 4-0

Posted

PAWTUCKET — With weather unbefitting the sport, the East Providence High School girls’ tennis team nonetheless offered up a performance worthy of the champions the Townies are.

East Providence began defense of its Division III title with a 4-0 victory over Rogers in the opening round of the league playoffs played at Slater Park’s Mike Kenny Courts on a dreary Tuesday afternoon, Oct. 24.

The Townies, who won the D-III crown last fall at the same site, received wins from Mary McBride, Lily Conti and Jess Costello in singles and from their second doubles pairing of Madison Turner-Rose Lawrence, their’s being the deciding point in the match.

“So it was pretty tough because of the wind, but we definitely pulled it together. We lost some courage at times, but we knew we would work well together as a team to get that win,” said Turner. “We played them before so we knew what we walking into.”

Gray skies and gusty winds greeted the teams Tuesday. The latter element played havoc in the match, but the Townies appeared nonplussed by the conditions.

Costello remained unbeaten for E.P. at the third singles spot with her dominating 6-1, 6-3 victory over the Vikings’ Faye Callahan. The senior was first off the court for the Townies, winning her match in just over a half hour and using consistent ground strokes to full effect. Costello improved her individual record to 18-0 for the year.

McBride and Conti, also seniors, gave East Providence a 3-0 lead with their straight sets wins from the first and second solo positions. McBride defeated Meg Turner, 4-and-1, while Conti beat Aria Winters, 1-and-2. McBride’s use of spin seemed especially effective in the wind and the consistency of Conti’s groundies, like Costello, was the difference in her outing.

“My slice, it definitely helped me today,” McBride said of her victory. Of the team’s win, she added, “I kind of thought we had it. I felt we were pretty solid. That we would take it.”

East Providence was well ahead on the scoreboard in the overall match, but similar to the team’s regular season meeting won by the Townies 4-3, the other outings were otherwise extremely tight. The Vikings actually led in three of the four outstanding contests, the lone exception being the match of Turner-Lawrence against the Rogers’ tandem of Aubrey Baker-Miren Arambarri.

The Townies seemed poised for an easy win after taking the first set 6-2. The Vikings, though, put up a much more spirited opposition in the second set, building a 5-4 lead late. It was about that time, however, when steady, spitting rain started to fall. Baker and Arambarri seemed bothered by the wetness. The Rogers coach and the Interscholastic League official in attendance both came on the court to check the lines for slickness, the latter deeming conditions safe to continue play.

Back in action, Turner held with a solid service game and with an assist from Lawrence’s timely poaches at the net to level the set. The Townies then took the lead with a break of serve in just five points, the Vikings duo appearing unnerved as tensions grew. Finally, with the team match on her racquet, Lawrence next calmly served out for team win and the overall victory for the locals.

“At the end, when their coach came on the court, I asked (EPHS head coach Kathy Dias) was the score was. And she said we had three points, so just finish it,” said Lawrence. “They’re really good players, but they seemed like they were freaked out by the weather.”

The Townies are back in action Thursday, Oct. 26, in the semifinals opposite an opponent to be determined. The match will take place at the Barrington High School courts.

Regardless of whom they face, the locals are confident they can return to the finals scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 28, back at Slater at 10 a.m.

“I definitely think we can make it back to the championship. Our whole team works well together,” said Conti. “I think we’re working better together than we were at the beginning of the season.”

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