Tennis Team Captures State Championship

The unbeaten East Greenwich Avengers wrapped up the 2011 season with a victory Monday at Slater Memorial Park, upending the Cranston West Falcons, 4-0, to capture the Division II title.

Freshman first-singles sensation Shiv Patel picked up point No. 1 for East Greenwich Monday, defeating Cranston West junior Jay DeRobbio, 6-4, 6-3.

“Although he’s a freshman, he’s played a billion tournaments. He’s not going to get nervous out there,” said East Greenwich senior co-captain Aidan McNamara. “We could trust that he was going to win, so that just takes a little bit of pressure off.”

After Alex Serino and Dylan Leyden upped the Avengers’ lead with a straight-set win at second doubles, McNamara and his first-doubles partner, junior Jason Brown, defeated Cranston West’s Michael DeRobbio and Will Accetta, 7-5, 6-2, to set the stage for a championship celebation.

“Coach [David Kelaghan] was giving me updates, and so were the guys,” said East Greenwich senior co-captain Chris Mainiero. “Then coach came over and said, ‘Finish the set out and we win the championship.’”

Mainiero delivered a 6-4, 6-3 victory at third singles, beating Cranston West’s Justin Bilodeau to secure the crown for East Greenwich (18-0). In accordance with Interscholastic League rules, matches in progress were “abandoned” thereafter.

Dan Accetta withdrew, holding a 6-3, 4-3 lead at fourth singles for Cranston West against Chris Shea, and Tom Morgan ended his match up, 4-1, in the second set after dropping the first to the Avengers’ Carson Oberg, 7-5.

The Falcons’ Ryan Durigan and Dhruv Jain also held a three-game advantage in the third set before RIIL officials suspended play.

“We had a good , and we practiced the same things we’ve been practicing the last few weeks to get ready for this,” said Cranston West head coach Steven Matzner. “They executed the gameplan. It just wasn’t enough.”

, and May 3, 4-3, en route to a second-place finish in Division II-South. Cranston West finished the 2010 campaign at 0-14 in Division I.

“The only team that beat us was East Greenwich, and the only team to come close to us, really, was East Greenwich,” Matzner said.

“We clearly were the second-best team in the division.”