PAWTUCKET — They had one day’s notice to prepare for the biggest match of their lives.
That was Sophia Han and Hailey Archambault’s daunting task leading into Saturday’s Division III girls tennis championship. The Tiverton doubles tandem had never played together before and Archambault was a junior-varsity player before the weekend.
Her first varsity match was a plunge into the deep end. And the Tigers came out swimming.
With Han leading the direction at the net and Archambault playing the baseline, Tiverton’s No. 3 doubles team served up the Tigers’ championship victory against Exeter-West Greenwich, 4-3, at Slater Park.
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“We felt the ferociousness, and we felt like we were moving forward,” Han said of the match. “We just kept pushing and pushing, we were light on our feet. And we’re just hungry, we’re going to Olive Garden after [the championship], but we’re also hungry for that point. I feel like the last game, we were just balling.”
Archambault sent over a serve that the Knights returned long and the sophomore handled the volley perfectly. EWG’s second return was sliced down at the net by Han for the winning point in a 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 finish. After upsetting Providence Country Day in the semifinals, the third-seeded Tigers (15-4) won the league’s biggest prize on the back of the senior-sophomore duo.
“I was really nervous, but I’ve been getting lessons … from our other team members,” Archambault said.
“It happened really fast. It made me so nervous when I realized that we were the winning point, I was so scared.”
The pair learned on Halloween that they would be playing together in the championship and used Friday as a crash-course on each other and a championship strategy. They looked the part of a doubles team playing together for the first time in the opening set. But rallied in the second frame before finishing off the match in the decisive third set.
Championship matches were played concurrently and as EWG’s Sadie Ray won the No. 1 singles, 6-4, 6-2, the only remaining contest was the winner-take-all doubles final. Spectators, teammates and media members alike, all swarmed Slaters only action-packed court to see the finale.
“Everybody came over and that was definitely a shock factor,” Han said. “This also being my senior year, and I talk with the other seniors … that this is our last game, let’s make it the best.”
The winner-take-all final was the perfect way to close out the D-III championship. Both teams deserved to be there after the fourth-ranked Knights (12-6) also pulled off an upset of No. 1 Coventry in the semifinals.
The championship victory is Tiverton’s first since 2004.
“We lost the first set, but during the second set I was pumped up,” Archambault said. “We were making mistakes, but we learned so fast to fix those mistakes and I’m so proud of us for doing that.”
Tiverton 4, Exeter-West Greenwich 3
Singles – Sadie Ray, E, def. Lexus-Alyn Boissonneau, 6-4, 6-2; Clare Titus, E, def. Julia Keating, 6-0, 6-3; Courtnie Smith, T, def. Danae Mahan-Audette, 6-3, 6-4; Brooke Sowa, T, def. Ellise Fuller, 6-0, 6-0. Doubles – Avantika Kumaraguru/Shreya Kumaraguru, E, def. Caroline Durost/Lia Doster, 6-2, 6-3; Carly Sanna/Angelleena Cordeiro, T, def. Hailey McCoombs/Alexa Barrett, 6-3, 6-4; Sophia Han/Hailey Archambault, T, def. Eleanor Kocab/Adalyn Fink, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3.
jrousseau@providencejournal.com
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This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Tiverton girls tennis captures glory with final winner-take-all match
