Knights knock off Townies in Division III boys' tennis outing

PCD all but locks up playoff bid, EPHS remains in the mix

By Mike Rego
Posted 6/4/21

EAST PROVIDENCE — The East Providence High School boys’ tennis team met up with next door neighbor Providence Country Day late last week in a Division III contest, the visiting Knights …

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Knights knock off Townies in Division III boys' tennis outing

PCD all but locks up playoff bid, EPHS remains in the mix

Posted

EAST PROVIDENCE — The East Providence High School boys’ tennis team met up with next door neighbor Providence Country Day late last week in a Division III contest, the visiting Knights defeating the host Townies by a 5-2 score.

The victory all but assured PCD a spot in the upcoming league championship playoffs. The Knights improved to 3-3-1 at the time.

Though taking the defeat, East Providence still had an outside shot of earning one of the eight bids into the D-III title tournament. The Townies, coming off their first win of the spring the match prior over the Shea-Tolman co-op, slipped to 1-6 overall with two matches remaining on their regulation season schedule. A win in either would like punch  E.P.'s postseason ticket.

PCD senior Oliver Pope, who trains in city at Centre Court and is headed to Endicott College in the fall to continue his tennis career, earned the first point of the afternoon against the Townies, blanking freshman Braden Rouette, 6-0 and 6-0, in their match at No. 1 singles.

Senior Brian Greenlees did the same for the Knights at the two spot, handing another E.P. frosh James McShane a 0-and-0 loss.

Levi Parker needed three sets (4-6, 6-2 and 6-3) to beat the Townies’ Nathan Perry at third singles.

Kevin Godinez picked up the final singles point available for the Knights, beating E.P.’s Miguel Flores, 6-0 and 6-1.

The teams split the two doubles matches played. PCD defaulted the third position.

The Knights’ top pairing of Emmett MacGregor and Francisco Carvalho beat the Townies’ Amare Gomes and Jordan O’Hara 6-0, 6-2 at first doubles.

At the two spot, E.P.’s Jeff Bento and Kendrick Dias were winners over the Knights’ Trevor Weighnev and Aiden Trendell by a 3-and-3 score.

Townies win first
The Townies were coming off their win over the Raiders, taking three of the four singles matches played.

McShane was a 2-and-0 winner at the two spot. Perry won his match at three 6-3 and 7-6 (7-4) and Flores, who recently moved up to singles due to the illness of a teammate, won his match at the fourth spot, 2-and-1.

“It was nice to finally get the win. The kids have been working hard. They deserved it,” said EPHS head coach Paul Amaral. “It was the first varsity win for our 10 freshmen on the team, so that was nice as well.”

More PCD notes
Last week’s outing against the Townies was the first for new PCD head coach and city native Mike Silva against his alma mater.

Silva, who played for the Townies in the early 1980s, has been teaching at city-based Tennis Rhode Island-East Bay for the last several years. He recently became the general manager of the facility, which freed him up to take the PCD position when it became available.

“I’m usually teaching at these hours (late afternoon), but now that I’m managing I have the time off,” Silva said of taking the Knights’ job.

He continued, “I’ve been wanting to coach for a long time and the (PCD) athletic director (Marquis Harper) called me up and asked if I’d like to do it or if I knew someone who would. I tried finding him somebody, but I couldn’t, so I said I’ll give it a shot.

“I’m glad I did. It’s fun. It’s fun to get out with the kids. I just wish we had more kids playing. But they’re enjoying it.”

Of his team’s outlook the rest of the season, including a potential deep playoff run, Silva said, “We could go a long way. We’re solid. We could win all four singles matches, my singles are that good. And my No. 1 doubles is strong. And my No. 2 doubles is capable, too.”

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A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.