Girls Tennis has had an astounding season this fall with their overall score of 15-4! After conquering the undefeated #1 seeded team in D3, Coventry, on October 9th, that only slightly marks the amount of improvement and strength the team had this year.
Reflecting on last year’s stats, the team was in D2 and only won approximately 5 matches. Last year was a building year with new coaches, a lot of new freshmen, and six less seniors that were lost from the class of 2023.
Now, going into the fall tennis season of 2024, this was our year. This year, we built strength, trained more freshmen, worked on our skill, and had goals in mind. Before every match, Head Coach Jessica Cullinan talked strategy and statistics with the team with data from previous matches, recent sport articles, and previous records. Along with gathering data online, the team used a communal tennis journal to write down any details, scores, ways to improve, and/or strategy that they used while playing.
Starting playoffs as the #3 seed, Girls Tennis had their quarterfinals match against Situate, who Tiverton won against 4-2. Compared to regular season games, in the playoffs once the match is decided, all other matches end, therefore reflecting on the 6 games only being played vs Situate.
In semifinals against PCD, the Tigers originally lost against the #2 seeded team on their second match of the season. However, after reflecting back to their previous match, the lady Tigers knew they had to give it their all to come out on top, W 4-3.
The championship game: The date that has been marked on everyone’s calendar since July 2nd. Against Exeter-West Greenwich, #4 seed, Tiverton Girls Tennis went into the match feeling humble and appreciative for getting this far, but also hungry for that win. After winning against them 5-2 in their senior night match only a mere two weeks ago, they knew they could beat them going into it, they just had to focus. For the entirety of the match, all of the matches were close. The winning matches for Tiverton were Courtnie Smith, Brooke Sowa, Angie Cordeiro and Carly Sanna, and Sophia Han and Hailey Archambault.
In the ferocious battle, doubles three was the winner takes it all, deciding the match. After losing the first set 3-6, Hailey and I knew we had to give it our all with our game faces. Winning the second set 7-5, we played a third full set instead of a tie breaker, winning it 6-3. One of the judges even commented to Han and Archambault that it was one of the closest and exciting matches he’s watched that day at the championship after judging D1, D2, and D3 girls tennis championships.
LET’S GO TIGERS!!
