Cumberland faces No. 1 Prout in semifinals
CUMBERLAND —The West Warwick tennis team proved last season that seeds simply don’t matter in the playoffs after the Wizards, then a six seed, defeated the No. 3, No. 2 and No. 1 seeds on their way to the Division II title.
Wednesday, the No. 5 Wizards hoped to carry that magic into a new playoff campaign, but No. 4 Cumberland wouldn’t have any of it.
The Clipper No. 1 doubles team of Caden Eckman and Seth Goldman and the No. 2 duo of Tyler Robillard and Josef Madour gave the Clippers an early lead in the Division II quarterfinal contest. And star freshman No. 1 singles player Luke Cunningham put the
finishing touches on a 4-0 Clipper victory at Tucker Field with a 7-5, 6-0 victory over Mario Gambardella.
“This was a lot closer than I thought it was going to be even though we won the match 4-zero,” Cumberland first-year coach Justin Kuncz said. “We lost a set at second singles and the match at first singles was very close after the first set. It was much, much closer than I expected.”
West Warwick (9-5 Division II) was facing an uphill battle even before making the trip north because of an injury to one of the Wizards’ singles players. As it was, senior No. 2 singles player Dylan Wheeler was on his way to victory when the match stopped, while No. 4 singles player Nathan Flor was still battling.
“I knew it would be very difficult, but I was hoping we would at least give them a match,” affable West Warwick coach Greg Gonsalves said. “I even said to Justin that we were confident we could at least take one of the matches left on the court, particularly No. 2 singles. It was going to be very tough for us to get four wins.
“Since we’ve had the boys tennis team five years ago, we’ve made the playoffs every year. That’s good for us. I would’ve liked to go one more round, but credit to Cumberland because they’re a very good team.”
Cumberland (11-3 Division II) will now make the trip to Barrington High this afternoon at 3 to take on undefeated Prout for a spot in Saturday’s Division II title match. Prout overcame No. 8 Ponaganset, 4-2, in the quarterfinals.
When the two teams met earlier this month at Tucker Field, the Crusaders secured a 5-2 victory. Cunningham and the No. 2 doubles team of Robillard and Madour posted victories in the defeat. The Clippers didn’t win a set in any of the losses.
“We’re going to have to play our best match of the season,” Kuncz said. “They outplayed us in every aspect of the match the first time. We took two points from them and we were lucky to take two. They were the better team that day, but I don’t think we’ll play them as poorly as we did the first time, tomorrow.”
Cunningham found himself in an interesting situation Wednesday because the match was the freshman’s first since a 6-2, 6-4 first-round loss to Wheeler standout Julia Pezzuco in the state tournament Friday.
The freshman was forced to battle Gambardella for a 7-5 victory in the opening set, but the Clipper’s consistent pressure and pin-point shots eventually wore down the Wizard in a 6-0 second set.
“I told him to put the state tournament match behind him because I knew he had aspirations to go deeper in that than he did,” Kuncz said. “That was done. I told the boys at the beginning that they have an opportunity to do something special this year and they need to be ready to make that happen. He came through.”
Kuncz said Courtemanche played “phenomenal” in his 6-1, 6-2 victory over Alex Greissan to secure a point for the Clippers. Eckman and Goldman dropped just four games in their victory, while Robillard and Madour posted a 6-4, 6-2 victory. Singles – Luke Cunningam, C, def. Mario Gambardella, 7-5, 6-0; Nathan Courtemanche, C, def. Alex Greisan, 6-1, 6-2.
Doubles – Caden Eckman and Seth Goldman, C, def. Jeffrey Mendoza and Kevin Herold, 6-2, 6-2; Tyler Robillard and Josef Madour, C, def. Adrian Valdez and Ben Cuomo, 6-4, 6-2.