SK's Alexa Clark wanted to be a more complete player. Sunday she showed what that means.
PAWTUCKET — Hey Alexa — dominate.
So maybe that wasn’t the exact goal for South Kingstown’s Alexa Clark at the RIIL Girls Tennis Singles Championship Tournament, that’s exactly what she did.
For three days of the tournament, culminating with Sunday’s final, Clark showed why she’s one of the best players the state has produced in a number of years. Clark dropped three games on her way to Sunday’s final, where she lost the first to La Salle’s Arianna DeThomas. The SK sophomore didn’t lose another, putting together one of the most impressive championship performances in recent memory in a 6-1, 6-0 win.
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“It feels so good,” said Clark after becoming the first Rebel since Alex Geremia in 2008 to win the singles crown. “I’ve worked really hard for this and it’s a really big accomplishment for me.”
Clark burst onto the scene as a freshman last year. Her power was unmatched and she went undefeated in Division II and suffered her only loss in the semifinals of the singles tournament, losing a three-setter to eventual champ Kylie Eaton of Moses Brown.
In the last year, a lot has changed for Clark. With a new fitness routine, she took her athleticism to a new level. Her power remained, but Clark worked hard become a more well-rounded player.
“Strategy,” said Clark when asked on her improvements. “I need to read the player and see how I’m going to win by absolutely not destroying the ball. Trying to spin, high, low, all of that stuff.”
She was facing a player in DeThomas who had nothing to lose. DeThomas, the No. 2 at La Salle, has some of the best strokes in the game and covers the court like no other. The senior showed little nerves and aced Clark on her first serve of the game before taking the first set.
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“I knew I could do it from the beginning,” said DeThomas, who’s believed to be the first No. 2 player to earn a spot in the state singles final. “I just wanted to come here and fight for every point I could.”
The game woke Clark up quick.
What happened over the next 12 games was clinical. Clark opened and closed the second game with an ace and never lost an ounce of momentum.
Over the final 12 games, Clark showed off her impressive array of shots. Her stats from the match were staggering, as Clark hit 16 forehand winners, six with the backhand and only made seven errors. She was immaculate from the service line, hitting 23 of her 30 first serves in and finishing with four aces, 10 service winners and only one double fault.
Clark moved DeThomas left to right, forward and back, and each shot set up the next. Her winners drew plenty of oohs and ahhs, but her most impressive shots were the ones that served the purpose. In the fifth game of the first set, Clark had DeThomas racing to her right and instead of trying to dot the ball to the corner, Clark simply ripped it into DeThomas’s body, preventing the La Salle senior from getting good racket on it.
“She’s a really good player,” Clark said. “That was my goal – I was trying to move her as much as I could and hit a variety of different shots. I think that worked out for me in the end.”
“She’s just a great player,” DeThomas said. “I did what I could and that was all I could do.”
After winning the first set 6-1, Clark remained in control in the second. She won two deuce points in the first set but didn’t face one in the second. On championship point, Clark forced a tough return by DeThomas that sailed wide, giving Clark her title.
Instead of celebrating once the ball landed out, Clark walked over to retrieve it, then walked up to the net for the post-match handshake and gave DeThomas a congratulatory hug.
“I’m just playing point by point until it’s over,” Clark said. “I just tried to keep my composure [after the final point] and commend her on doing a great job, too.”
DeThomas took the loss in stride. After seeing teammate Bridget Casey fall to Clark in the semifinals, DeThomas knew what she was in for and proud to make a little history in her final season for La Salle.
“It was definitely a goal,” said DeThomas of reaching the finals. “I just wanted to go out here every match and show what I can do and perform the way I can. The fact I made it here was a dream come true.”
After the best finish at the state tournament in her career – she was eliminated in the quarterfinals by Casey last fall – DeThomas will now shift her focus to the rest of the regular season and playoffs. La Salle is undefeated in Division I and hopes to finish that way as it chases its 10th straight state title.
“I’ll definitely enjoy it, but the next goal is team championships,” DeThomas said. “We’ll do what we can do to advance each round and hopefully pull out a championship.”
Clark will be doing similar things in Division II.
The South Kingstown girls tennis team is undefeated and with three regular-season matches left, will head into the postseason with a full head of steam as it chases its first championship since winning the Class B title in 2002.
“There’s pressure, but we know how to handle it,” Clark said. “We’re undefeated right now, so I think there’s going to be a good chance to win it all.”
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: South Kingstown's Alexa Clark wins 2023 RIIL Girls Tennis Singles title
