Story and photos by Richard W. Dionne, Jr.
The girls tennis team fell 4-3 to the Lincoln School in the Division 2 quarterfinals on Friday afternoon. The Townies ended their season with a record of 10-6.
“We had a lot of tie breakers,” said head coach Slade Sharma. “It was a great fight. I’m proud of them all, they showed toughness and that’s what Townie tennis is all about.”
First singles player Abby Ellison, third singles player Madison Luu and the second doubles team of Megan Pita and Sydney Olsen all won their matches for East Providence. Ellison, a junior, beat the Lincoln School’s Lin Chen in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2. Ellison was undefeated in team play. Her only loss of the season came against State Champion, Alexa Clark of South Kingstown.
Luu, a sophomore, outlasted Grace Olivia-Booth in a three set match, 6-0, 6-7, 6-2.
Pita and Olson came back after losing a first set tiebreaker to beat Ruby Venditto and Nidhi Ramesh 6-7, 6-3, 7-5.
Second singles player Hope Moran, fourth singles player Maggie Robinson, first doubles team of Rylee Thurber and Isabella Periquito and the third doubles team of Ava Domingues and Carly Cordeiro lost their matches.
Moran, a junior, fell to Olivia Nightingale 6-3, 4-7, 0-6. Robinson also a junior, fell to Paula Durango-Ramirez in straight sets, 1-6, 3-6.
Thurber and Periquito fell to Grace Augustin and Cleo Trudeau 2-6, 6-3, 4-6 and Domingues and Cordeiro lost to Avery Farnum and Mira Ye Flanagan, 1-6, 2-6.
Coach Sharma feels optimistic about the youthful Townies chances in the tournament next season.
“We needed a year under our belts in Division 2,” he said. “Now that our team knows what kind of level it takes to be great in this division, I think we’ll be better prepared for that next year.”