There are many things the high school girls tennis team agrees on. Skirts are better than shorts, overheads are the worst shot and their team Instagram where they promote wins and home games must be taken seriously.
Something else the girls agree on: This team is going far this season.
“We’re the ones to beat,” said Leah Thomson, junior co-captain of the team and a first doubles player.
The girls tennis team is heading into the second half of their season undefeated and at the very top of the power rankings in their division. After a hopeful state run last year that ended in defeat in the finals against Dover-Sherborn, the team of mostly juniors is back, and hungry for a state title.
“Last year it was more of a surprise when we made it so far,” said Thomson. “But now we have expectations, and we want to try to meet those expectations, and we know we can do very well in the playoffs.”
The Gazette caught up with the girls tennis team at practice Tuesday afternoon, the day before the juniors’ AP Language test and an off-Island match against Falmouth — which they swept, 5-0.
But even with some big matches coming up and a “target on our backs,” said Thomson, the team manages to keeps things light.
“I feel like getting out all our giggles and stuff during practice might help,” said Charlotte Cramer, a sophomore and the second singles player. “We keep the energy really fun, and because we don’t have to really stress a lot in practice, then we can really focus during the matches.”
On Tuesday, the doubles teams began by practicing overheads and volleys, while singles practiced shot placement and winners. Then the doubles teams played a tournament while the singles played cross court points. Guest appearances by Clovis Smith, a freshman member of the boys team, and head coach Bill Rigali’s eight-year-old granddaughter MJ, completed the practice lineup, along with assistant coach Eddie Stahl’s daughter, seventh-grader Lucille.
Thomson and second doubles player Maple Martone played modified hacky-sack with a tennis ball while waiting for a drill to start (this is one thing the girls do not agree on: whether or not they should start a girls tennis hacky sack team). Junior co-captain Zoe Treitman admitted that she forgot her socks on Monday, and wore a “cloth bag” in one of her shoes when she could only find one extra.
“Our practices are like games, and laughing and — it’s not like a lot of other high school sports where you’re intensely running,” said Laina Dubin, junior co-captain and first singles player.
Actually, that’s not entirely true, she admitted. In the middle of practice, the girls lined up to run up and down the tennis courts in an exercise called “suicides.”
The team blamed the running on the Gazette. When a photographer attended Monday’s practice, Coach Rigali made them run for the first time all season. Tuesday, he made them run again — all to impress the reporters, the girls speculated.
Coach Stahl absolved the Gazette of blame.
“Coach is building up [the running] now for second half of the season,” he said. “It’s gonna get hot, we’re gonna play tougher matches.”
The team has already notched wins against their biggest rivals, including Dover-Sherborn in April, exacting revenge for last year’s lost state title. Coming up is a home match on Friday against Monomoy, which the Vineyard beat 3-2 a few weeks ago, and then a home match on Saturday against Sharon, a division 2 school with a 15-1 record.
Still, the girls are confident, especially within their own division. The playoff bracket will be released May 22, and state finals will take place in mid-June.
Thanks to their top seed, much of the playoffs will be played at home. And their secret home-advantage? The Vineyard’s heavy winds, and the loud music from the softball and lacrosse fields. Tuesday’s background music was I’m Shipping Up to Boston by the Dropkick Murphys.
“Other teams will say stuff to us, like, ‘How do you play with this?’” said Dubin. “We’re just so used to it, so it’s kind of to our advantage.”
“Same with the weather,” said Cramer.
“We’re used to it, more than others,” said junior Tessa Schulz, second doubles player.
Another weapon is the team’s closeness.
“We’re not just teammates, we’re best friends,” Dubin said.
With no graduating seniors, girls tennis gets labeled a young team. But it doesn’t feel that way, said Dubin. The juniors have been playing together on the team for three years, and the athletes train in the winters together. Many on the team have also been playing together since they were in elementary school, taking lessons at Vineyard Family Tennis and the Chilmark Commuity Center.
The lack of seniors does take away some of the pressure going into playoffs, they said.
“Obviously, we all have that want,” said Schulz. “We’re gonna try our best, obviously, but there is always next year, and it’s not the end of the world if we don’t win.”
After chatting with the Gazette, the girls discussed a trip to the Dairy Queen. Martone and Schulz secured a DQ gift card from Coach Rigali after winning that day’s mini doubles tournament.
“Ice cream is always the best, you know?” said Coach Rigali. “We always work harder when we have an incentive.”
The girls put it more bluntly.
“We get bribed,” said Dubin, laughing.
They know each other’s Blizzard orders almost as well as they know each other’s games — although Martone’s decision to order a hot dog during their last DQ trip was controversial.
But they agree on the things that really matter. Cheer hard, have fun, keep their rackets intact and go as far as they possibly can.
This article appears in May 15, 2026.