By ALEX SPONSELLER The Cranston East girls tennis team has been one of the biggest surprises this fall season and continues to impress as it picked up a 4-0 Division II Quaterfinals victory over St. Ray’s on Monday afternoon.

The Lady Bolts, coming off of a down year in 2019, have surged back in 2020 and wrapped up a 4-3 regular season record, while winning four of their last five contests to punch their ticket to the playoffs.

East took on St. Rays in the quarters on Monday and continued to roll and faced Classical in the semifinals on Wednesday. The results were not available at press time.

“(The team) came out swinging. After a long weekend of being on the courts, the girls did not stop. They were very motivated since this is the first time since the seniors’ freshman year that they made it into the playoffs. The girls fought very hard to secure the win to bring us to the second round against Classical on Wednesday. The girls are expecting another tough match against Classical. We have worked towards this moment for the past couple years and as their coach, I couldn't be more proud of them,” said East coach Drew Hochman of the club’s outing.

The Bolts got singles victories from Mina Grady (6-0, 6-3), Maura Potter (6-0, 6-3) and Mathilda Corcoran (6-0, 6-0). East’s doubles pairing of Grace Cordeiro and Hannah Faria-Meade also secured a 6-4, 6-0 victory to help secure the team’s win.

The Bolts had a hectic weekend as well.

Midway through their contest against Pilgrim on Friday, things were postponed until Saturday afternoon due to darkness. This forced East into a Saturday doubleheader as the team had its regular season finale against Scituate in the morning.

The Bolts rose to the occasion to top Scituate and to come back to beat the Pats.

Here are the results from the Bolts victory over Pilgrim on Friday:

Potter secured a 6-1, 2-7, 6-2 victory over Pilgrim’s Samantha Sheehan while Corcoran took a win at fourth singles by topping Abigail Vest 6-3, 6-4.

Faria-Meade and Cordeiro took home a doubles win over Pilgrim’s Mia Gustafson and Kaleigh Catucci, 6-2, 6-0.

Isabella Ba and Sophia Tomaselli topped Pilgrim’s Madelyn Narcavage and Madison Boscia 6-4, 6-2 to secure the 4-3 win.