Girl's Tennis: After Tragic Loss, Villa Novans Persevere, Defeating Cranston East 4-3

The Woonsocket Girls Tennis team lost a brother, a cousin, and a classmate last week, as 17-year old Woonsocket High School student Victor Inthisone passed away. Victor was a cousin of four members of the tennis team, and the brother of singles player Diana Inthisone. After taking all of last week off due to the tragedy, the Villa Novans returned to the courts this week, and on a beautiful Wenesday night, filled with smiles, laughter, and camaraderie between both teams, Woonsocket pulled off the upset in dramatic fashion.

Cranston East came out of the gate strong, as number one singles player Megan Duchesne defeated her opponent convincingly 6-0, 6-0, to give the Thunderbolts an early match lead.

Number two singles was a much tighter match, which went to the third set. Kathryn McDaniel outlasted Ericka Phenyasy, 6-2, 2-6, 6-2, making it 2-0 Cranston East in the totals.

Victoria Norkham picked up a much needed win for Woonsocket in third singles, defeating Ashley Logan, who was forced to move up in the Cranston East rotation due to an absence, 6-2, 6-4. 

Fourth singles was one of the best matches of the day, going into a tiebreaker. Sarah Mahdesian of Cranston East trailed 5-1 in the third set, but rallied to take a 6-5 lead and was one point away from taking the match, but could not complete the comeback. Amy Boutsabouabane tied it up at 6-6 in the third set and won the tiebreaker 7-4, creating a tie in the match totals at 2-2.

Doubles play would determine this match, and all three matches went to three sets. Woonsocket took first doubles, tripping up in the second set but taking the third set rather convincingly at 6-2. Woonsocket rallied, beating the Cranston East third doubles, which was undefeated on the season, and tying up the contest at 3 match wins apiece.

Third doubles finished before second doubles, so all of the spectators were crowded around the second doubles match, as it would determine the winner between the two schools. It was a close match but Kerri Darling and Brenda Shatee pulled off a three set victory for Woonsocket, and the Villa Novans stormed the court, excited for their second match win of the season, and happy to enjoy an evening of fun tennis after a truly difficult week. Woonsocket wins 4-3.

Cranston East Head Coach Michael Boyajian was happy with his team's performance.

"They played very well. We could've won many of the matches we lost, and we could've lost many that we won. We asked a lot out of some of the girls; some to play singles, and the third doubles team played for the first time. And all of the matches were close. We're very proud of the girls," Coach Boyajian said.

Cranston East drops to 6-3 on the season, and has two difficult matches coming up against Ponaganset and Scituate.

Woonsocket picked up its second win of the season on Wednesday, but more importantly, after an emotionally draining week suffering the loss of a friend and relative, the Villa Novans got back out on the court and enjoyed doing something they love again, playing tennis.

"It was nice for them. It's been rough with all the sadness, and you could see that with their reaction at the end of the match, how excited they were," Woonsocket Head Coach Tony Ciresi said.

"These are great girls, and this was fun for them," Ciresi added.