Clippers rise above Mounties
Cumberland eyes playoff spot after Division I win
WOONSOCKET — The match had already been decided in favor of visiting Cumberland and the sun had already disappeared behind the trees abutting Mount’s tennis complex, but Mount senior No. 1 singles standout Ally Romano was determined to win her final home match.
In the third set of her fascinating contest with Cumberland standout Amiah Sommer, Romano trailed 5-4 at the penultimate changeover.
Romano, a native of Bellingham, rediscovered the form that helped her dominate the opening set. Romano won the match’s final three games to claim the three-set victory.
“You just have to keep focused and keep your eye on the ball,” Romano said of the diminishing sunlight at the end of her match. “The big thing was to take it one point at a time. You can’t focus on the score and being down 5-4, you have to think like ‘This is my match, I’m going to win this match no matter what the score is.’ Even if the score was 5-1, I would’ve taken the same approach.”
Cumberland (6-5 Division I), however, was just a little bit better than a Mount team that had won five straight matches headed into Tuesday’s contest. Thanks to impressive three-set victories from No. 3 singles player Kelsey Lindsay and the No. 1 doubles team of Abby LaRose and Taylor Lindsay, the Clippers made the short trip back across the Blackstone River with a 5-2 victory.
“This was a big pick me up after a couple of tough losses to La Salle and Barrington,” Cumberland coach Brandon Hannaway said. “The girls showed a lot of resilience going to three sets and not letting that affect the way they played. Kelsey Lindsay came to me for advice during the changeovers in her third set. She took the advice and played well. All of them played their hearts out, but if I had to pick one girl today, it would be Kelsey, she’s just a freshman.”
Mount St. Charles (6-5 Division I) was in position to host a quarterfinal if certain results went their way in the final week of the season, but now the Mounties are assured of a road trip in the first round of the playoffs next week. Along with Romano, the Mounties also received a dominant victory from No. 4 singles player Emily Graham.
“I compared the scores coming in and I knew this was going to be a tight match – and it was,” veteran Mount coach Richard Lawrence said. “There were several three-set matches, so it goes that way. We have the percentage to reach the playoffs, but we’re bunched up with a number of teams also trying to reach the playoffs.”
Tuesday’s match starts
a busy week for both squads to finish the end of the regular season. While the Clippers are at the friendly confines of Tucker Field to face East Greenwich Wednesday and Westerly Thursday, the Mounties will in Kent Country to finish the regular season. Mount visits struggling Toll then day.
Romano will then head to Slater Park Friday afternoon to compete in the state tournament. In the first round Friday afternoon she will play Ponaganset’s No. 1 singles standout, Amelia Gate Wednesday and Cranston West ThursCampanelli. She would then likely need to beat Wheeler’s Giuliana Mardo to earn a spot in Saturday’s quarterfinals.
“I’m just so excited because I worked hard my whole high school career to be at the one spot,” Romano said. “I’m honestly honored to be in the state tournament with all of those good players.”
The only other Blackstone Valley player in the field is Shea junior Sophia Panzo who will play La Salle’s Hannah O’Brien in the first round Friday.
Tuesday, the duo split up to earn the Clippers two of their five points. While LaRose and Taylor Lindsey won the third set of their match with MaryKate Tillinghast and Tanvi Bhatia, Rock and Lauren Gervais posted a straight-set victory at No. 2 doubles.
Cumberland swept the doubles matches with Lia Rajabiun and Briana Nuay posting a 6-1, 7-5 victory over Isabella Sughrue and Tira Albergo-McGovern.
Cumberland’s Salma Taghzout and Mount’s Emily Graham posted straightset victories to set the state for a pair of three-set singles matches. After dropping the opening set, Lindsay lost just four games over the next two sets to defeat Piper O’Connell 5-7, 6-1, 6-3.
“In the changeovers with Kelsey, I just told her some of the simple strategies we always focus on,” Hannaway said. “We want our kids to play to the backhand and don’t let their opponent get comfortable. A lot of it is just mental, one point at a time.”
Playing to the backhand was also the strategy Romano used to win the final three games against Sommer, who did a superb job moving the senior around the court to get back into the match after dropping the opening set. Romano, even though her team had already lost the match, won the final three games of the afternoon to win her match.
“I keep my eyes on my own match, so I never know what the score is when I’m playing,” Romano said. “[Sommer] was hitting a lot of drop shots and that really got me, especially in the second set. She hit very deep into the corner very well. I just started hitting to her backhand side consistently and that helped me.”