By Christopher Tremblay,

Staff Sports Writer

Caroline Cosgrove was not only involved in soccer as a youngster but she also found herself participating in field hockey, lacrosse and tennis. Although she enjoyed all of the sports she was taking part in, she found herself becoming more and more successful. As she started thriving on the court, she wanted to improve so she began looking for more competitive athletes to take on.

“The success that I started to have within tennis I decided to drop all the other sports and focus fully on tennis,” she said. “I loved the better competition and felt that it was pushing me in the right direction.”

 Cosgrove first picked up a racket at the age of five at the urging of her mother, a Division 1 collegiate tennis player at Providence College. Once she had that racket in her hand, it was her mother who taught her the game that she is playing today at a high level.

Through the years Cosgrove would begin taking lessons with Holliston’s Kelly Day at Goodwill Park, joined the Longfellow Club in Natick, played for the New England Tennis Association and took more lessons from Paul Parish. In addition to all the tennis she was learning, the Holliston sophomore would take part in clinics as well as trying to participate in three or four tournaments on the weekends. With all she has done, she currently finds herself ranked in the top 40 in New England in the under 16 age group.

Having decided to pursue tennis over all her other sports by the time that she got to high school Cosgrove was rather positive and confident in her ability on the court that was going to make the team. She felt that as long as she went out and played her game while being herself, there was no way that Holliston girls varsity tennis Coach Joel Bernstein would pass her skills by.

Not only did the Panthers Coach put her on the varsity squad as a freshman, but he also made her the team’s number one singles player. Playing in the number one position at her age going up against older girls was a little intimidating at first, but once she got into the groove she soon realized all she had to do was go out and play one match at a time and she’d be alright. 

That freshman campaign saw the young freshman go undefeated while being named to the Tri-Valley League All-Star team as well as the TVL large division’s MVP for the season. 

“I definitely didn’t expect everything that happened that year especially playing a lot of older girls. I was just looking to win as much as I could; I knew that I could win some matches, but not all of them,” Cosgrove said. “Being named the league MVP as a freshman was an amazing feeling, but I felt that it could put pressure on me during my sophomore season.”

As she entered her sophomore season this spring people were now expecting her to go out and perform at a high level once again and the young racketeer didn’t disappoint. Cosgrove backed up her undefeated freshman season with yet another undefeated campaign. After finishing her second season on the court for the Panthers Cosgrove not only found her career record to be a perfect 35-0 while only losing one set she also was once again named to the TVL All-Star team and given another league MVP award. 

 The sophomore had a feeling that she could once again complete the season without a blemish as she knew the players she was going up against and knew what to expect from them especially after watching them in warmups and figuring out their weaknesses. 

“She just came out and displayed a confidence on the court,” the Holliston Coach said. “She has an outstanding serve and her ball placement is phenomenal. By the time that she is a senior she has a good chance of winning an individual State Championship.”

With her perfect record still intact, the bullseye on her back just got bigger, but the incoming junior believes that she has nothing to be worried about. 

“I’m just going to continue to play as much tennis as I can throughout the year,” Cosgrove said. “This summer I’ll be attending some tennis camps and then in the fall and winter I’ll continue to practice every day and take part in as many tournaments that I can on the weekends.”

Over the next two years Cosgrove would like to achieve becoming a four-time league MVP, something that she noted would be a great accomplishment.

“It would mean the world to me as it is a very special opportunity that not many people have achieved,” she said.

While Cosgrove is looking to continue to remain perfect and collecting MVP trophies Coach Bernstein is looking for his outgoing sophomore to become is a team leader. 

“I’ll be looking for her to take on an expanding leadership role, while helping her teammates improve,” Bernstein said. “She has demonstrated that she can handle that a little this year and seems to becoming comfortable with the role.”

Cosgrove would also like to improve upon her state tournament play. As a freshman she was knocked out I the first round and this spring she made it into the Round of 16 before losing. She sees herself improving each year in the tournament and is hoping that by her senior season she could actually add a State Championship to her resume.

Although having two more years playing for the Panthers in the TVL, Cosgrove’s ultimate goal is to continue playing tennis on the collegiate level. 

“It’s been a dream of mine since the end of middle school,” she said. “I     would love to be able to play on a college team; it’s one of the reasons that I dropped all my other sports so I could stick with tennis and get better.”