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Ponaganset sophomore Joshua Steere, shown getting ready to return a serve during last Friday afternoon’s Division II match against Classical, rolled to a 6-0, 6-2 victory at number one singles to help the Chieftains post a 5-2 triumph and raise their record to 5-2. Ponaganset will host defending D-II champion Cumberland this afternoon.
Ponaganset sophomore Ethan Clegg, who posted a 12-0 record in number two singles last season to help the Chieftains win the Division III championship, entered this week with a 7-0 mark. He won his singles match with ease last Friday, 6-1, 6-0.
Ponaganset senior Nicholas Hooper, shown returning a backhand during his number three singles match last Friday, rolled to a 6-4, 6-1 victory. A newcomer to the program, Hooper starred for the Chieftains’ hockey team this past winter.
Ponaganset sophomore Joshua Steere, shown getting ready to return a serve during last Friday afternoon’s Division II match against Classical, rolled to a 6-0, 6-2 victory at number one singles to help the Chieftains post a 5-2 triumph and raise their record to 5-2. Ponaganset will host defending D-II champion Cumberland this afternoon.
Ponaganset sophomore Ethan Clegg, who posted a 12-0 record in number two singles last season to help the Chieftains win the Division III championship, entered this week with a 7-0 mark. He won his singles match with ease last Friday, 6-1, 6-0.
Ponaganset senior Nicholas Hooper, shown returning a backhand during his number three singles match last Friday, rolled to a 6-4, 6-1 victory. A newcomer to the program, Hooper starred for the Chieftains’ hockey team this past winter.
GLOCESTER – After cruising to the Division III championship last spring with a 12-0 record that included seven shutouts, the Ponaganset High boys’ tennis team is back in Division II after a year’s absence and enjoying a lot of success in its return.
Entering Tuesday afternoon’s action, the Chieftains sported a 5-2 mark, and while that’s outstanding, what makes their strong start extra remarkable is that they only have the minimum 10 players on this year’s roster.
Last June’s graduation took away the Chieftains’ number three and four singles matches and half of their number one doubles squad. But when their number two doubles team decided not to return to the program this spring, that left the seven remaining players and second-year head coach Kara van Zyl in a bind.
“We tried to recruit some players,” van Zyl admitted last Friday afternoon during the Chieftains’ match at home against Classical. “I was a little bit on edge in the preseason when we weren’t sure if we were going to field enough players.”
But Ponaganset eventually picked up two players who starred in other sports during the offseason, as well as a promising freshman, and their contributions have helped the Chieftains occupy fifth place in a competitive division that features the teams who played in last season’s D-II finals, defending champion Cumberland (6-2) and Mount Saint Charles (8-0); neighboring Smithfield (7-0), which dropped from D-I, and Tiverton (7-2).
“We work with what we have,” added van Zyl. “We knew we had strong singles players, and we knew that a lot of our players were playing over the summer. And when they returned this spring, they showed tremendous improvement from where they were last year.”
The Chieftains’ top two singles players are back in sophomore sensations Joshua Steere and Ethan Clegg, and they entered this week with unblemished records. Steere, who lost just one match at number one singles last year, is 6-0, and Clegg, who posted a 12-0 mark at number two last spring, is 7-0.
One of the Chieftains’ newcomers is patrolling number three singles, senior Nicholas Hooper, who was a forward on the Chieftains’ hockey team, but according to van Zyl, had played tennis before attending high school. Junior Erin Helly, who plays on the girls’ volleyball team in the fall, has been another welcomed addition and playing number one doubles.
Senior Kyle O’Connor, who started at number one doubles last season, rounds out the singles players in the number four spot, where he boasts a 5-2 record, and sophomore Doug Baima, who played number three doubles last spring, has joined Helly in number one doubles.
The number two doubles team is made up of senior Brady Printer, who played number three doubles last season, and sophomore Lucas Estrela, and the number three team contains senior Richard Buckley and freshman Dylan Manchester, who according to van Zyl, “is new to playing tennis, but thoroughly enjoys being out here with us.”
Having only 10 players on a team means that perfect attendance is mandatory each match to fill out the four singles and three doubles spots. But the Chieftains have been forced to forfeit their third doubles matches on a few occasions, and in their match last Wednesday, April 27, at Burrillville, they forfeited the second and third matches.
That has meant that van Zyl has needed to shuffle her lineup often, “but they’re learning to adapt and they’re helping each other out,” she added.
As for their match against the Broncos? The Chieftains still came away with a 5-0 victory because the Broncos were also unable to field those two doubles teams. And in last Friday’s match against the Purple, Ponaganset didn’t have a third doubles team, yet produced a 5-2 win that capped a three-win week – the Chieftains opened last week with a 4-2 triumph over Westerly.
The win over Classical saw Ponaganset take the first three singles matches with ease, thanks to the solid play of Steere (6-0, 6-2), Clegg (6-1, 6-0), and Hooper (6-4, 6-1). Printer, who moved up to number one doubles, teamed up with Helly to net a 7-5, 6-3 victory, and the number two team of Estrela and Buckley won a 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 battle.
The Chieftains, who were scheduled to visit Cranston West on Tuesday afternoon, will host Cumberland today in a 5:15 p.m. showdown and kick off next week’s schedule by visiting Middletown on Monday. As for the match against Smithfield? Ponaganset won’t see the Sentinels until their regular-season finale on May 18.
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