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Saturday was just another day at the park for the North Smithfield boys tennis team.

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5 months ago

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Saturday was just another day at the park for the North Smithfield boys tennis team.

PAWTUCKET – There was a championship on the line, but the North Smithfield boys tennis team didn’t really act like it.

For them, Saturday was just another day at the park.

The Northmen won the RIIL Boys Tennis Division III title the same way they’ve won every match this season. Every person in the ladder, from No. 1 singles to No. 3 doubles, had full faith and trust that the other would get the job done. Saturday, they all did, starting with Noah Schwartz at No. 3 singles and ending with Sam Drolet at No. 1 that completed a 4-0 win over Cranston East and completed the Northmen’s undefeated championship season.

“As long as you have trust in your teammates, it’s all going to be OK,” Drolet said. “You have your individual match and it’s all you should be worrying about – getting that one win.

“We’ve been doing that all year and having that trust in teammates make us win every time.”

“It’s so surreal. At the beginning of the season the goal is always to win, but you never know how it’s going to turn out,’ Schwartz said. “But I had faith in the team that we could pull out a good season and that’s exactly what we did.”

Last spring North Smithfield had its championship dreams extinguished in an upset loss in the semifinals. This season, the Northmen came in ready to chase a title but understanding things had to change with how they approached each match.

“Last year we just got in our head a lot and that’s what lost us the … semifinals,” Drolet said. “This year when we’re down, we wanted to make sure we’re not in our head and we just play our game of tennis.

“We’ve been doing it all year, so why stop now?”

Schwartz made sure North Smithfield never got down.

The junior went undefeated at No. 3 singles this spring and, more often than not, was the first player done in every match the Northmen played.

Saturday, Schwartz did what he’s done all season. He played conservative when needed, hit big winners when needed, never got off his game and as soon as he was finished with his straight sets wins, he went off to support his teammates to go chase another point.

“He’s beats his opponents pretty quick,” Drolet said. “I don’t even know if I was done with my first set by the time he finished.”

“Coach had a little talk with me before the game, he had faith in me and that led me throught he game,” Schwartz said. “I was tired, it was hot out, I know I felt like if coach believes in me, then I need to believe in myself and it was good enough today.”

North Smithfield led on just about every court at Slater Park and in the matches it wasn’t ahead, a third set was being played or about to be played.

There was a short gap of time between Schwartz win and the second point which came from the No. 3 doubles team of Dylan Driscoll and Bryce Santos. The No. 2 doubles team of Nate Comeau and Kaiden Dalby was next and with what was going on, the race for the fourth point was coming down to Drolet and the No. 1 doubles team of Nate Tremblay and Tim Ferri.

Drolet didn’t realize what his match meant after he closed out the second set. There weren’t many at Slater Park who did and it took a few beats for officials to announce the fourth point had been recorded and the match was over.

“It was kind of cool. I didn’t know it at first,” said Drolet of the Northmen’s quiet championship celebration, which got louder after the trophy ceremony when coach Matthew Gambardella was doused with water bottles after he stepped on the sidewalk outside the courts. “But after realizing it I was like ‘dang, we just won’ and it was really good.”

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SINGLES: 1, Sam Drolet, NS, def. Eston Fowler, CE, 6-2, 6-4; 4, Noah Schwartz, NS, def. Jackson Sigler, 6-3, 6-1.

DOUBLES: 2, Nate Comeau/Kaiden Dalby, NS, def. James Fabiano/Jefferson Shi, CE, 6-2, 1-6, 6-2; 3, Dylan Driscoll/Bryce Santos, NS, def. John Narwocki/Danny Song, 6-0, 6-4.

SUSPENDED MATCHES: Davis Carter, NS, vs. Eri Ogunde, CE; Justin Elledge, NS, vs. Adrian Rosales, CE; Tim Ferri/Nate Tremblay, NS, vs. Jason Barrera/Ansony Chavarria.

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