As the perennial Shoreline Conference powerhouse and a squad which knows how to defy the odds, the Westbrook girls’ tennis team captured its third-consecutive conference title on May 23 with a 7-0 shutout victory over Cromwell on Senior Day. What turned out to be so special about this triumph was that for the first time in the past three years, the Knights sit alone atop the throne despite having graduated five seniors from the previous campaign.

“I just feel relieved to have our own title—we’ve worked so hard for this and improved so much this year and we’ve pushed through and are doing such a great job,” said senior tri-captain Erica Martel, who at No. 3 singles, finished the regular season undefeated for the second year in a row. “This was our Senior Day, we were pumped, it was a gorgeous day—we’re always mellow, thinking we’re the underdogs and we still have that mindset so we still don’t overestimate ourselves.”

Tied with Old Lyme in 2010 and Old Saybrook in 2011 for the title—the latter campaign in which the Knights did not have one senior on the team—Westbrook finished a stellar 18-0 regular season and had its entire team to thank for the success behind undefeated players Caroline Barton, Martel, and doubles tandem Kathlyn Cyr and Sarah Chapell.

“No one lost more than two matches all season on the entire team—all the way down the line they did a phenomenal job,” said Coach Paula Fitzgerald. “Especially for the seniors [Martel, Cyr, and Chapell] that start regularly for us, they all started playing in their sophomore year, so when you think about what they’ve done, it’s amazing. For them, especially, winning it outright is a big thing for them.”

Versus Cromwell, the Knights hosted the Panthers in a match that saw each of their players handily defeat their opponents. No. 1 singles player and junior Caroline Barton won 6-0, 6-0 over Rachel Scrivino, capping off her second-consecutive undefeated season at No. 1 singles.

“My freshman and sophomore years we didn’t lose any seniors, so this year we had lost five people in our varsity lineup and it was a big challenge to do the same thing over again with a totally new team—it is such a great feeling to know we can do it,” said Barton. “I think this year I played a lot more aggressively in my matches so I showed improvement.”

Additionally, Taylor Amendola defeated Sofia Lavrentyeva 6-0, 6-1 at No. 2; Martel won over N’Krysta Kramer 6-0, 6-0 at No. 3; and Michaela Crowley won over Melanie Spada 6-1, 6-3 at No. 4 singles. In doubles action, senior captains Kathylyn Cyr and Sarah Chapell defeated Stephanie Rand and Kristin Pudlinski 6-0, 6-1, also ending the campaign with an undefeated mark. At second doubles, Callie Burns and Lydia Murphy won over Jennie Barillo and Shannon Quinn 6-1, 6-2; and Meghan Provost and Sarah Luft defeated Yelena Cosford and Sarah Cosford 7-5, 6-1.

“I think a big thing this year is we talk about how tricky it is when you have two really good seasons like we did; you have to be careful to not let expectations get ahead of themselves,” said Fitzgerald. “This team has been doing so well for a couple of years now, we weren’t going to talk about or mention anything until we got through April. Also, the last couple of years we didn’t finish the season as strong as we started and one of the things we’ve been working hard at is not letting our games do it all and actually keep improving. We had also replaced five starters—those new players came in and did a phenomenal job stepping up and filling those spots.”