Prout girls tennis avenges last year's loss, wins Division II championship over Rogers
PAWTUCKET – Prout girls tennis wasn’t at Slater Park for a long time. But it was a good time.
The Crusaders were in and out of Pawtucket in just over an hour with the Division II trophy in hand. Prout swept Rogers, 4-0, for the school’s seventh girls tennis title and the first since 2021.
Saturday afternoon, Nov. 1, was a coronation under warm sunshine, a season in the making for Prout. The top-seeded Crusaders (15-0) won each of their divisional games easily as only No. 3 Rogers and Lincoln School took two points against them in regular-season matches this fall.
Prout then swept each of its three playoff matches, with Westerly, Lincoln School and Rogers all falling in quick fashion. And it comes on the heels of losing to Westerly, 4-1, in the championship last season.
“It feels great, because last year felt so close, but so far at the same time,” Prout’s Olivia Lemay said. “Now, grasping it, I broke out in tears. We actually did this.
“Our team was great last year, but this year I had a lot of hope. I felt more stable with this team. I felt like everyone was consistent, so I had a lot of trust that we would make it.”
But this isn’t a normal redemption arc that saw Prout return all its lineup from last year’s team. Prout only has three seniors, and last year’s duo tandem of Caitlin Tadamala and Olivia Lemay were the only Prout winners against Westerly. That duo split this season as the Crusaders essentially rebuilt with a new lineup.
Olivia Siravo entered the Crusaders’ lineup as a freshman at No. 1 singles. Lemay, a sophomore, paced No. 3 singles and was first off the court for Prout as she set the tone with a 6-0, 6-1 victory.
“I was so nervous watching them,” Lemay said of the other matches. “I couldn’t sit still … and it was definitely really nerve-racking just trying to run around and to get scores.”
A new doubles duo of Tadamala and sophomore Cecelia Bormes were second with a 6-1, 6-4 triumph at No. 1 doubles. And Reese Campbell, at second singles, had Prout seeking another playoff sweep with a 6-1, 6-4 win.
Then Cathryn Cavanagh and Abby Cichon took care of business at No. 3 doubles with a 6-4, 6-1 win.
“I foot faulted [before the winning point], and it was my only one of the match, and it came at the worst possible time,” Cichon said. “But it was kind of funny, because it made me focus more and be less nervous.”
“We were very motivated,” Cavanagh said. “We made it far last year, and we were just locked in. It’s a pretty new team, so we all had to kind of start from scratch, and we worked together and came together in the end.”
Rogers arrived at Saturday’s title match as the No 3. seed in the tournament. The Vikings dispatched North Providence in the quarterfinals 4-0 and upended No. 2 East Providence in the semifinals, battling to a 4-3 victory. Rogers ends a stellar season at 12-5.
Anything less than Prout winning handily in the D-II championship would’ve been the surprise of the tennis tripleheader. But a lot of pressure comes with that expectation, and Prout handled it perfectly. They came to play, with the intention of avenging last year’s loss, and returned to Wakefield in plenty of time for an early dinner celebration.
“At first I was shaky,” Cavanagh said of the winner. “And I don’t think I processed it right away, but then I turned to [Cichon] and said, ‘We just won that for everyone.’ Our friends were cheering us on, and it was just a good feeling.”
“I just think we all balanced each other out,” Cichon said. “We’re all friends on this team, and we all love each other so much, and we just focused together.”
Prout 4, Rogers 0
Singles: Reese Campbell, P, def. Isla O’Donohoe, R, 6-1, 6-4; Olivia Lemay, P, def. Nicole Rivera, R, 6-0, 6-1.
Doubles: Cecelia Bormes/Caitlin Tadamala, P, def. Grace Muenter/Angela Jolon, R, 6-1, 6-4; Cathryn Cavanagh/Abby Cichon, P, def. Charlotte Rochelle/Addy Correia, R, 6-4, 6-1.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Prout wins 2025 Division II girls tennis championship over Rogers
