Laliberte cherishes victory over Cougars

2000 victory showed how much Tigers improved in short span

PAWTUCKET – Choosing what he deemed the most memorable moment in his lengthy coaching career at the two public high schools in the city proved quite challenging to current Tolman High Athletic Director Frank Laliberte.

He picked not his lone state championship girls’ tennis team in 2000, a thrilling 4-3 verdict over previously-unbeaten Prout School, but a mere Class C regular-season clash against rival North Providence the year before.

“If you’re talking about the best feeling you’ve ever had as a coach, the most elation you’ve ever felt, then – yes – it’s the 2000 title; the 4-3 win over

Prout,”

Laliberte said. “But if you’re talking about the best in terms of getting the most out of your kids?

It’s the 1999 team that lost to North Providence, 4-3, early in the season, but then turned it into a 7-0 win later on.

“That rarely, if ever, happens, and that’s what the Tolman girls did that year. It was absolutely incredible!”

Laliberte admittedly had to look up details of those two campaigns, but insisted it was a joy to do so – reliving a golden moment over two decades ago.

“It was our third match of the season, we were 2-0 in Class C and we had an away match at North Providence on Sept. 9,” he recalled. “We were tied, 3-3, before our No. 1 doubles team – (juniors) Kerri DaFonseca and Kim Foster – lost to Adrianna Goode and Stephanie Troia, 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-1. We ended up losing, 4-3.

“It looked like we were in some control of that match because we won the first set and pushed the second to a tiebreaker, but we lost; my guess is (DaFonseca and Foster) might have gotten a bit worn out,” he added. “One of the big differences is when you play at Notte Park (in North Providence), they only have four courts, so you have to wait for the singles’ segment to finish.

“Even coaching is different because, at Notte, you’re only coaching four matches, and – at Slater Park – you have all seven matches going off at the same time.

“At a place like Notte, it’s different on the kids’ psyches. The doubles’ teams have to wait to get on the court, so maybe they lose a little bit of their edge. When they get off the bus, they go and warm up and are ready to go; they’re all pumped up.

“When you have to wait, I know, it isn’t easy.”

Not long after that verdict, Laliberte decided to re-enforce a mindset he had delivered the previous year, and he claimed he repeated it every day before, during and after practice.

“I said something like, ‘Girls, we have a lot of talent, and everyone of you is fully capable of playing your perfect match. It’s going to happen someday, so think about it,’” he stated. “The thing is, those girls were really smart; in fact, I had the smartest kids in the school. They all, over a two- or three-year period, were ranked in the top 20 in their class.

“I thought they were thinking, ‘Hey, Coach, we know what you’re trying to do – give us motivation – but it’s all just a ploy.’ That wasn’t it at all. I truly believed in what I was saying – they were going to play their perfect match.”

Apparently, the Tigers chose to deliver that “perfect match” on Oct. 5, 1999, an afternoon Laliberte described as “cold and gray, with a hint of rain in the air.

“Before the match, I forget what I said, but I’m sure it was something like, ‘Hey, girls, we can beat this team! We almost did before, so let’s go out and play that perfect match,’” he said. “I actually started drumming that up the year before, in 1998, and it was my ‘catchphrase’ for us for several years after that.”

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Laliberte conducted several challenge matches to improve and solidify his lineup before that Oct. 5 meeting at Slater Park, and decided to switch DaFonseca and Foster to No. 3 doubles, and senior Kelly Dubuc from fourth to third singles, with junior Katherine Steiner reversed to Dubuc’s position.

“We had won two out of the three doubles in our first match against NP, but only took one of the singles,” he said. “The most remarkable thing was what the singles’ players did. Kerri and Kim took the first point at third doubles, then Kelly earned a 6-3, 6-0 win at third singles. Katherine, who had the distinction of being the only singles’ winner in both matches, beat her opponent, 6-3, 6-1, and the clinching point came from her sister, Jackie, a sophomore who won.

“Incredibly, she had lost the first time to Nicole Aiello, 6-2, 6-2, but then reversed that to win, 6-4, 6-4. That’s basically unheard of in the span of a month against the same opponent,” he continued. “Then there was Liz Gilchrist, our No. 1, who was crushed by Jackie Dao, 6-0, 6-2, in September.

“In the 7-0 victory, she pulled out a 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 decision, so that’s one of the greatest turnarounds of all time as far as I’m concerned. She also finally put together her perfect match … After we were finished, Jerry Rubino of North Providence, who’s one of my best friends in coaching, came up to me and gave me this big handshake and hug.

“Instead of him being disappointed with team’s effort, he congratulated us for putting together an incredible match. That’s what I remember most.”

Tolman actually finished the Class C campaign at 11-3, and ironically tied the Cougars for the No. 3 seed entering the state tourney. Because it had pasted NP in the rematch, they earned that spot due to the head-to-head overall points scored, and on Oct 21, walloped Pilgrim, 6-1, in the quarterfinals, then Westerly, 7-0, in a semi, also at Slater.

“Now that sounds like the perfect match, but it wasn’t because they were lacking their top player; she was out, and that affected their lineup big time,” he noted. “We made the state final (on Oct. 25), but lost a tight one to Classical, 4-3. Still, we partied like it was 1999, which – naturally – it was.”

(Yes, he laughed at his pun, though had good reason)!

“I pulled up an article about that, and it said their kids spray-painted (head coach) Steve Cohen’s hair purple; obviously, that’s their school nickname and color,” he chuckled again. “He was a very good friend of mine, so we celebrated together. There was so much camaraderie between us and the two teams.

“We had played on our own court at Slater, so we were very comfortable and played extremely well; O mean, they had beaten us twice earlier in the year, 6-1, and just dominated.”

After that campaign, one in which Laliberte’s crew finished at 13-4 overall, the Tigers once again opened their Class C schedule against the Cougars, but this time at Slater Park.

“The rivalry obviously was stronger, but we ended up losing, 4-3, again,” he remembered. “In our next match against NP, we had to use two different sites to beat them. That time, later in the season, we started at Capt. Stephen Olney Park that day, but we were tied, 3-3, and the sun was going down, so we had to move it over to Notte, which had lights.

“Our No. 1 doubles’ team, Melissa Pastore and Kim Foster, they had play their final set, and they pulled it out, so we won it, 4-3,” he continued. “We never lost again that season, but that second match proved to be a pivotal moment in that championship year. I have to say that the girls who played in ‘99, and even ‘98, they were the ones who laid the groundwork for that 2000 team.

“We had kept inching closer and closer. Those are the girls who showed the younger players coming in how we play. They told them, ‘Hey, we win matches, so you’re going to have to develop a winning attitude,’ and that sort of became contagious. That’s how we ended up beating Prout for the Class C title, and they came in unbeaten. That was played at Cumberland.

“I coached Tolman’s girls from ‘97 to ‘04, and we never had a losing season, and that 1999 team had a whole lot to do with it. That turnaround against North Providence is my highlight, but I have to say the victory over Prout is a close second!”