Brookstone girls win their 11th state championship

Although she’s just a freshman and was making her first trip to the Class A-private school finals, Gracie Hemmings had a feeling things were going to go well for the Brookstone girls tennis team on Saturday.

“We prepared all week because we’ve had a series of really hard matches,” Hemmings said. “We came here ready to go, had a good night sleep. We got here early and had a good warmup. We all played as well as we can.”

Although Hemmings didn’t get to finish her No. 1 singles match, Brookstone defeated Stratford Academy 3-0 to win the program’s 11th state championship. It was the first title for the Lady Cougars since 2009.

“My girls are amazing,” Brookstone coach Mary Lynne Cumiskey said. “They did it.”

Brookstone won at No. 2 singles, where freshman Sammi Rice defeated Evans McCook 6-0, 6-0 to complete an unbeaten season.

The Lady Cougars won both doubles matches. Lillie Patton and Abbie Dillon defeated Elizabeth Copelan and Lora Kate Diponzio 6-0, 6-0 at No. 1, and Abigail Pitts and Gracie Glass beat Emily Claire Fussell and Grace Adams 6-1, 6-1 at No. 2.

Gracie Hemmings was ahead 5-4 in the first set against Eliza Freedman at No. 1 singles and senior Rachel Hemmings and Stratford’s Jessica Gratigny were even at 1-1 in the first set when the match was decided.

Brookstone (18-2) defeated Stratford for the third time this season. Both teams compete in Area 1.

“When we realized we were going to be playing Stratford, we knew that maybe we were the team that was supposed to win,” Cumiskey said. “I told my girls, you can’t think, ‘Oh we beat them twice and we’re going to do it again.’ You’ve got stay focused and get out there and do your job and win the match. They were ready.”

Gracie Hemmings, who also finished the season undefeated, agreed with her coach. “Everybody showed up mentally ready. It was a good day for us. No one was down on themselves. We were all nervous but nervous was good.”

Stratford coach Jaime Kaplan’s team reached the championship match in their second season in GHSA. It was their first appearance in the final since 2010 when competing in the GISA.

“We’re so excited about being here.” Kaplan said. “We didn’t want to settle about just being here but they had too much firepower for us.”

This story was originally published May 7, 2016 at 11:36 AM with the headline "Brookstone girls win their 11th state championship."