Don’t mess with the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School girls tennis team’s mojo.
That’s what athletic director Mark McCarthy said before the state finals Saturday at MIT, where the Vineyard emerged as state champions — mojo unmessed with.
The Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School girls tennis team defeated Dover-Sherborn in the nailbiting Division 3 state final that lasted over three hours. The girls pulled out the 3-2 win over the Raiders, capping off a perfect 20-0 season.
The finale was a rematch in more ways than one. At last year’s title match, the Vineyard lost to Dover-Sherborn 5-0. Earlier in the season, they beat the Raiders 3-2.
“[We are] so proud of the girls, thankful to so many people, the school, our tennis community,” said head coach Bill Rigali. “They can all share in this.”
First singles Laina Dubin and third singles Josey Johns both picked up a first set against Dover-Sherborn early in the match, while second singles Charlotte Marshard and first doubles Zoe Treitman and Leah Thomson dropped their first sets.
Second doubles Tessa Schulz and Bella Schilling also dropped their first set, and put up a fight in the second. They eventually lost the match, 6-1, 7-5, giving Dover-Sherborn their first point of the match. That score ticked up to two when Marshard lost her match, 6-4, 6-1.
But the Vineyard wasn’t done just yet. Johns won her match 6-3, 6-4, picking up the Vineyard’s first point. Treitman and Thomson won their second set, and ended up winning 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.
“Josey played her usual consistent, precision shot-making game,” said assistant coach Eddie Stahl.
“Zoe and Leah battled it back and gave us a shot,” said Rigali.
Fans trickled to the edge of the courts to watch Dubin and Dover-Sherborn’s first singles player, Leah Hills, battle it out in the title-deciding match. Dubin won the first set 6-1 but lost the second 4-6.
The tension and afternoon heat were heavy in the air as Dubin and Hills traded lobs, pushing each other far behind the baseline.
It was a strategy that led to Dubin’s early season loss against Hills.
“Dover-Sherbon does that,” said Stahl. “That’s how she beat Laina at our courts. It’s a test of patience and persistence.”
It’s also difficult to hit a winner so deep on the court, said Stahl. Early in the match, Dubin’s strategy was to play at the net. When that wasn’t working anymore, Dubin changed her strategy: beat Hills at her own game.
“It started working,” said Dubin.
Points were long, lasting several minutes. It was like watching someone hit against a wall, one spectator remarked. It was chess, said Stahl: high-balling, top-spinning, slow and patient tennis. As Dubin inched the score up, the wind came in.
“That seemed more familiar,” said Stahl. The wind was their secret weapon of the season, the players so used to windy matches on the wind-tunnel of the Vineyard’s courts.
Dubin clinched the win 6-2 with a crushing forehand, bringing the girls the championship they’ve been looking for all season.
She attributed the team’s season — and their crowning achievement — to their fun practices, and their calm and confident approach to matches.
Dubin’s was one of the tightest matches Stahl had ever seen — one match point lasted several minutes. Dubin kept cool the whole way.
“She crushed it,” said Stahl.
But Stahl attributed the season’s success to all five courts, and all the players that played their tennis, one match at a time.
“Everyone this season came through right when we needed them to, every week,” said Stahl, his lucky pink scarf wrapped around his head. Rigali posed with the girls — and their trophy — in his first post-match photo of the entire season.
“I didn’t wanna change our karma, that’s the Italian in me,” he said.
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