Brookstone girls tennis team heads back to state finals
The Brookstone girls tennis team will play for the program’s 11th state championship next week after a 4-0 victory over Walker at home Friday morning.
The win over Walker in the Class A-private school semifinals didn’t come easy, however. While none of the four matches went to a third set, they were some tightly contested second sets.
The word is reselliance,” Brookstone coach Mary Lynne Cumiskey said. “I guess because we came on strong in the first sets that we played — we won all the first sets easily — then we may have fallen asleep a little bit. but we fought back.
The second sets, the way we came back. they were just determined to do that.
“But we need to work on that.”
The Lady Cougars will now have a chance to rest up and prepare for the finals, which will be held May 7 at Clayton County International Park in Jonesboro. Their opponent has not been decided.
“I told them to take break this weekend, take a break from tennis,” Cumiskey said. “We have all next week to re-goup to re-focus, find out who we play.
“It is hard to play back to back like that, and you have your academics to keep up with.”
Rachel Hemmings, playing at No. 3 singles, gave Brookstone a 1-0 lead with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Alice Jiang.
Abigail Pitts and Gracie Glass won at No. 2 doubles, rallying in a second-set tiebreaker to win 6-0, 7-6 (8-6).
The No. 1 doubles team, Abbie Dillon and Lillie Patton, clinched the match for Brookstone with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Sydney Harkins and Audrey Cunningham.
Gracie Hemmings closed out her match at No. 1 singles, 6-2, 6-2 over Katie Busch just a couple of minutes later.
The No. 2 singles match was pulled with Brookstone’s Sammi White leading 6-2, 4-5.
Kevin Price: 706-320-4493, kprice@ledger-enquirer.com, @lesports
Brookstone 4, Walker 0
Friday at Brookstone
Singles results
No. 1: Gracie Hemmings (B) d. Katie Busch 6-2, 6-2. No. 2. Sammi Rice (B) vs. Landi White 6-2, 4-5, match pulled. No. 3. Rachel Hemmings (B) d. Alice Jiang 6-2, 6-1.
Doubles results
No. 1. Abbie Dillon/Lillie Patton (B) d. Sydney Harkins/Audrey Cunningham 6-3, 6-2. No. 2. Abigail Pitts/Gracie Glass d. Sophie Klass/Holland Martin 6-0, 7-6 (8-6)
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This story was originally published April 29, 2016 at 12:37 PM with the headline "Brookstone girls tennis team heads back to state finals."