2015 CapeCod.com All-Cape & Islands Tennis Coach of the Year (Male): Mike Sarney, Barnstable High School
Mike Sarney – Barnstable High School
2015 Capecod.com All-Cape & Islands Coach of the Year and his 2015 Div. 1 State Champions
Ever since tennis took a strong foothold as a varsity staple at Barnstable High School in the early 1970s, year-in, year-out the Red Raiders have done everything but take a taste of glory from the golden chalice of Massachusetts High School tennis.
To be precise, since 1970, the Barnstable High boys tennis team captured 23 league or conference championship titles, a pair of south sectional championships and one southeastern Massachusetts title, but never before had the Red & White net men reached the MIAA Division 1 State Championship finale, and most assuredly, they had never hoisted that trophy of all trophies above their collective heads.
That is, of course, until this spring.
Head coach Mike Sarney’s Red Raiders set a new school record little over a week ago, finishing with 22 wins to just one loss (Duxbury), took home the south sectional title and then erupted at St. John’s (Shrewsbury) when sophomore Max Francis outlasted his opponent to net the final points needed for the win.
Since Sarney took the tennis helm at BHS in 2011, he has amassed a 92-10 record, maintained the 12 straight Old Colony League championship reign begun by former athletic director and tennis coach Dick Norman in 2004, and in essence took a top-shelf program and turned it into a powerhouse.
Named the Boston Globe Division 1 Boys tennis coach of the year for his efforts, there was little question Sarney also had our nod for the region’s very best. Personable, but old school in many ways, Sarney harnessed the youngest tennis talent available in Barnstable and molded the resilient group into a championship-caliber, driven squad the halls of Barnstable High may never see the likes of again.
2015 Capecod.com All-Cape & Islands Tennis Coach of the Year (Female): Nina Bramhall, Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School
Nina Bramhall – Martha’s Vineyard
2015 Capecod.com All-Cape & Islands Coach of the Year
A first-year varsity head coach, Bramhall took her Vineyard girls to a level they had never before attained when they defeated Hopedale for the MIAA Division 3 Girls Tennis State Championship title. Undefeated at perfect 22-0, the Vineyarders were welcomed home to an uproarious, congratulatory crowd when Bramhall’s girls touched shore after taking home the title, marking a historic moment for the school and greater island community.
From the bitter, gray, teeth-chattering days of early spring, with mounds of snow piled up around most local courts at the season’s outset, Bramhall molded a defiantly focused group and turned it into a collaborative of talent confident in each other.
Named the Division 3 Coach of the Year by the Boston Globe, Bramhall is deserving of such an honor and for her success in her rookie campaign is also our 2015 Capecod.com All-Cape & Islands Team Coach of the Year.
2015 Capecod.com All-Cape & Islands Boys’ Tennis Player of the Year: Max Francis, sophomore, Barnstable High School
To be perfectly frank, had various coaches not recommended this honor, we would have been hard-struck not to make this selection if left solely to our own devices.
Indeed, Barnstable High’s boys’ tennis team was overloaded with talent and skill, with the likes of Sonny Bisazza and Tyler Shibles, Donnie Brodd and Cooper Blaze. The entirety of the varsity starters for Red Raider tennis, in fact, was named to the Old Colony League all-star team.
Max Francis – Barnstable High School
2015 Capecod.com All-Cape & Islands Player of the Year (Boys).
Sean Walsh/Capecod.com Sports Photos
But to be a champion one must have that special athlete who turns in the least expected effort, the least imagined results, the added, ineffable qualities that are borne from desire.
Barnstable High School sophomore Max Francis, long living in the shadow of his older sister – Red Raider all-time great Jess Francis – as well as his former athletic director father Steve Francis, stepped out into the world on his own and made something not only for himself – of his own accord – but more importantly for his beloved teammates. His hard-fought victories in the postseason, all of them the final, key components to the ultimate Red Raider success, were eye-opening and invaluable.
Francis (23-2) went through this season with little fanfare and did not seek the limelight, whether he was shifted from third singles to second to first, the end result was the same: he won and he did so with humility.
With his teammates on the collective edges of their seats in the state championship finale, it was Francis alone who outmatched his opponent and raised his racquet high in triumph but it was also all the little things he did throughout the season that added up to the grand ending that will go down in Barnstable High history as one of the school’s greatest all-time sports moments.
2015 Capecod.com All-Cape & Islands Girls’ Tennis Player of the Year: Samantha Potter, Senior co-captain, Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School
Sam Potter (20-2) had a look about her early this spring, long before her VIneyarders began to bleep on the tennis radar screen. Serve-by-serve, match-by-match, Potter exhibited a cool, steely resolve that epitomized the demeanor and drive every senior captain in every high school sport would do well to emulate.
Samantha Potter – Martha’s Vineyard
2015 Capecod.com All-Cape & Islands Player of the Year (Girls).
Sean Walsh/Capecod.com Sports Photos
Fingers frozen, winds howling in her face, Potter nevertheless forged ahead from March to June and led her team by example, one small victory at a time until the final volley of the campaign resulted in the school’s first-ever girls’ tennis state title.
Stepping off the ferry onto the loading ramp in Oak Bluffs, it was Potter at the forefront of the Vineyard girls’ tennis juggernaut, trophy hoisted high above her head, the perfect ending to a four-year high school career before she steps out into the world at the United States Air Force Academy where she headed to just days after her Vineyarders were crowned champions.
For her leadership and just as importantly, for her unwillingness to yield when her team needed her most, this number one singles player will always be remembered as the team co-captain who led her teammates down the path to school history.
2015 Capecod.com All-Cape & Islands Girls’ Tennis Team:
Samantha Potter, Martha’s Vineyard
Kat Roberts, Martha’s Vineyard
Lizzie Williamson, Martha’s Vineyard
Charlotte Potter, Martha’s Vineyard
Josie Iadicicco, Martha’s Vineyard
Avery Hazell, Martha’s Vineyard
Madison McBride, Martha’s Vineyard
Michaela Cornwall, Barnstable High School
Taya Berler, Barnstable High School
Laura Persson, Barnstable High School
Emma Doe, Barnstable High School
Katie Tynan, Barnstable High School
Allie Dadoly, Nauset Regional High School
Haley Benz, Nauset Regional High School
Anna Godshalk, Nauset Regional High School
Haylee Whiteley, St. John Paul II
Emily Canzano, St. John Paul II
Julia Moskal – Falmouth High School
Sean Walsh/Capecod.com Sports
Allison Santos, St. John Paul II
Kay Stanton, Sandwich High School
Liz Siranosian, Sandwich High School
Julia Moskal, Falmouth High School
Marysia Moskal, Falmouth High School
Carly Donovan, Monomoy Regional High School
Abby Burke, Monomoy Regional High School
Olivia Burke, Monomoy Regional High School
Caley Street, Monomoy Regional High School
Lily Gorman, Monomoy Regional High School
2015 Capecod.com All-Cape & Islands Boys’ Tennis Team:
Sonny Bisazza, Barnstable High School
Donnie Brodd, Barnstable High School
Cooper Blaze, Barnstable High School
Max Francis, Barnstable High School
Tyler Shibles, Barnstable High School
Daniel Dettinger-Klemm, Barnstable High School
Cooper Tomchik – St. John Paul II
Sean Walsh/Capecod.com Sports
Cooper Hesse, Barnstable High School
Cooper Tomchik, St. John Paul II
Oliver Dyche, St. John Paul II
Jon Logie, St. John Paul II
Mike Logie, St. John Paul II
Andrew Logie, St. John Paul II
Logan DeSouza, Monomoy Regional High School
Zak Danz, Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School
Connor Downing, Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School
Reed Jenkins, Nauset Regional High School
Keenyn Pombo, Nauset Regional High School
Jake LaMotte, Sturgis East
Tommy Andre, Sturgis East
Daniel Barrachini, Bourne High School
Andrew Forsberg, Bourne High School
Gunnar Mahoney, Mashpee High School
— The 2015 Capecod.com All-Cape & Islands Boys’ and Girls’ Tennis teams was compiled from coaches’ selections and recommendations, season’s records, championship titles and assorted other data. Written by Sean Walsh, sports editor for www.capecod.com. His email is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @coachwalshccbm
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