Lady Pats tops Rogers in thriller

By RYAN D. MURRAY
Posted 10/18/18

By RYAN D. MURRAY -- The Pilgrim Lady Pats edged out the Rogers Vikings 4-3 in a Division III Tennis thriller at Pilgrim High School on Tuesday afternoon during senior night. The meet was decided by a super tie-break in the No. 2 doubles match where the

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Lady Pats tops Rogers in thriller

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The Pilgrim Lady Pats edged out the Rogers Vikings 4-3 in a Division III Tennis thriller at Pilgrim High School on Tuesday afternoon during senior night. The meet was decided by a super tie-break in the No. 2 doubles match where the freshmen duo of Abigail Vest and Mia Gustafson defeated Emma Patterson and Kayleigh Mosher (6-4) (4-6) (6-4).

“Luckily, we didn’t know it was the deciding match because then it would have been a lot worse,” Mia Gustafson said half-jokingly.

“We kept each other positive, giving each other good advice and made strategies to try to mess them up,” Vest added.

During the No. 1 singles match, Pilgrim sophomore Jenna Gustafson overpowered Tess Nunes (6-1) (6-1).

Lady Pats sophomore Samantha Sheehan beat Liza Nunes in the second singles matchup (6-3) (6-2).

In the third singles duel, Pilgrim sophomore Alana Resendes made quick work of senior Josephine Carwile-Ridnour (6-1) (6-0).

Lady Pats sophomore Ella Centracchio fell to Jaden Petrie in the fourth singles match, (0-6) (6-3) (0-6).

In the first doubles match, seniors Lauren Simpson and Jada O’Brien lost to senior Aubrey Baker and junior Phoebe MacDonald (1-6) (6-4) (3-6).

Rogers sophomore Keeley Sheekey and senior Miren Arambarri beat Pilgrim’s Isabella De Melo and junior Bianca Smith in the third doubles match (7-6) (4-7) (6-3).

Following all that, the squads were deadlocked at three wins a piece and all eyes were on the second doubles match featuring the Lady Pats’ Vest and Mia Gustafson against Patterson and Mosher. That bout was a back-and-forth battle that went to a super tie-break up to 10 and saw the Pilgrim freshman duo squeak out a 13-11 victory.

“They’re a freshmen team and they’ve been playing second doubles pretty much all year, with a couple sprinkling in of first doubles,” Pilgrim head coach Daniel Robinson said. “But it builds confidence,” “So, there was a lot of pressure on them, but they played it well. They did a really good job.”

With the victory, Pilgrim improves its record to 11-3 and sits in the fourth place while Rogers rests at 9-4 in the fifth spot.

The Lady Pats finish the season at Woonsocket on Thursday afternoon and with only one game left in the season, it's looking like Pilgrim and Rogers will meet again in the opening round of the playoffs.

“They put up a really good fight,” Vest said. “But I believe hopefully next week we can go in and get another win.”

Coach Robinson was happy with his team’s effort throughout the contest as they try to close the season strong.

“The losses that we had were very close,” Robinson said. “We lost two matches in three sets. . . Across the board, it was a hard-fought match and the team did well. Win, lose, or draw, they all stuck it out and did their best and that’s all I ever ask of them. As long as they leave it out on the court, that’s all I expect. And it makes it easy to be a coach when they do that.”

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