Canceling the spring sports season was a blow to many — players, coaches, fans — but no one felt the sting more than the senior athletes, their last chance to wear the purple and white evaporating in a pandemic instant.

The class of 2020 at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School class is filled with stellar spring sports teams. The girls tennis team has won five consecutive state championships, and the boys tennis, girls lacrosse and sailing teams were all league champs last year.

As freshmen, Alex Rego, Chesca Quinlan-Potter, Hannah Rabasca, Simone Davis and Molly Pogue joined a team that had just won the program’s second-straight state championship. There were a lot of expectations but they rose to the challenge, adding three more championships during their career. And although they will miss the chance to add a sixth consecutive title to the record books, the girls said some of their fondest memories took place off the court.

“The travel experiences we had, it was just hysterical,” Rego said. “The stuff that went down on the bus and the ferry, it was so fun. Tennis is a team sport but when you’re playing, you’re alone or with a partner. At the same time, this is the closest I’ve ever felt with any sports team I’ve ever been on.”

Doubles partners Chesca Quinlan-Potter and Molly Pogue became so close it was as if they could read each other’s minds.

“We had Pogue-Potter telepathy,” Quinlan-Potter said with a laugh.

“They were the most iconic duo,” Rego added. “They had matching socks and did special handshakes before every match. It was pretty hardcore.”

The boys tennis team had been improving each year, making it to the state semi-finals last season led by seniors Owen Favreau, Spencer Pogue, Chris Ferry and Luke Nivala. In the state quarterfinals they upset Dover-Sherborn, which had won 53 straight matches.

The seniors were looking forward to a run at a state championship this spring.

“This year we were really looking forward to playing because we knew we were going to be stronger than last year,” Favreau said.

The sailing team also had a banner 2019, winning the Cape and Islands league championship. Abigail Hammarlund and Joe Serpa have traversed Vineyard waters since they were kids. Serpa honed his racing skills at the Vineyard Haven Yacht Club while Hammarlund learned the ropes from her parents.

“I’m so grateful for the opportunities we did get, for all the regattas we qualified for,” Serpa said. “Our team has been amazing over the past three years — great kids, great coaches and great competition.”

Softball team seniors Emily Mello, Tianna Rambonga and Kya Maloney said they would not only miss the competition, they were even missing the near-freezing March practices.

Mello came up through the Little League ranks in grades four through eight. In high school she made the varsity softball team as a freshman. Rambonga also made the varsity team as a freshmen and earned her stripes pitching after getting beaned in the eye with a throw she didn’t see coming. Maloney played T-ball when she was six, but then traded her glove for a lacrosse stick. She switched to softball as a sophomore.

The seniors reminisced about one May afternoon during their freshmen year when the coach set up a slip and slide for the girls to practice sliding

“Right next to the lacrosse girls. They were jealous,” Mello said.

“Yeah, I was a lacrosse girl at the time,” Maloney said. “I was jealous,”she added with a laugh.

A year ago, the baseball team was recognized by the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association with the Sportsmanship Award under first year head coach Kyle Crossland. Jeremy and Jared Regan, Miles Sidoti, Hoffie Hearn, Jackson Pizzano, Cam Moore, Ryan Mendez and Kenny Hatt make up a senior class that was primed for another run at the playoffs with their second-year head coach.

“I’ve loved having him as a coach,” Sidoti said. “Crossland loves to win and he wants to win, so I think he put some fire underneath us.”

The track and field team had a lot of momentum rolling into the spring. In the fall the boys cross country team won the state title and the girls cross country team won states in 2019.

Seniors Catherine Cherry, Vito Aiello, Ashley Biggs, Wyatt Belisle, Linda Borges, Jojo Bonneau, Tyla Packish, Peter Burke, Paige Pogue, Dash Christy, Madia Bellebuono, Tripp Hopkins, Molly Carroll, Josh Pinto and Tom Sykes were ready to make their mark.

“I don’t think I have a favorite moment,” Bonneau said of his track career. “There are so many. I’ll look back at workouts or races or pre-race and I’ll say, those were the good times.”

For Biggs it was the friendships that she will remember. “I think the relationships on this team are pretty different from other sports. We all talk to each other. There’s not really separate groups everyone hangs out with. We all get along really well and everyone has fun together. I think that’s unique about the track and cross country team. I think it’s just beautiful.”

Last season, the girls lacrosse team rode an undefeated league record to a top seed in the playoffs and made it to the third round of the tournament. Seniors Skyla Harthcock, Katherine O’Brien, Jennaleigh Griffin, Olivia Schroeder, Megan Zeilinger, Chloe Hoff and Rose Herman were eager to step up this year to be leaders of the team.

“Our grade is very close with the underclassmen,” Harthcock said. “We were very excited to play our last season with these girls. And now we just don’t get to. We don’t even get to see them either, so it’s kind of hard.”

For boys lacrosse, seniors Colby Zarba, Hunter Athearn and William Herman have played together since freshman year. Some of their favorite memories aren’t necessarily of games they won, but rather times when they were down but didn’t quit.

“My favorite memory from a game is the last game of the season last year against Bishop Feehan,” Zarba said. “We didn’t win, which is weird to say that it’s my favorite, but it was 11-1 after the first quarter and we came back and lost 12-10. It was a super good game.”

He continued: “The hardest part of all this hasn’t really hit anyone yet because we’re not graduated and moved on in life. But I think when everyone looks back on this, we’re going to realize we were stripped of our last season and it means more than what we think right now. It’s defiantly a huge bummer. Everyone was really looking forward to it.”