On Tuesday, October 1st, the West Brunswick women’s Tennis team squared up against Ashley high school. As the warm evening began, a nice breeze kept the players comfortable and ready to begin. The Trojans were at the courts at 3:00 to start their warm-up with coach Scott Mehalick who afterwards gathered everyone for a motivational talk. With a record of 0-9 against Ashley, the athletes were ready for a comeback.
After Mehalick’s pep talk he announces the lineup for the singles matches. Hannah Cumbee at first seat, Sydney Beliveau at second, Kimberly Bart at third, Finn Gorritz at fourth, Abigail “Abi” Davis at fifth, and Taylor Hughes at sixth. After these top players hear their assignments they travel to their courts where they will be spending the next few hours. Before the games begin the opponents warm up with each other and mentally prepare themselves.
At the hour and a half mark there were two wins with number one seat Hannah Cumbee and number four Gorritz. Hannah Cumbee left it all on the court with bloody knees and a ball to the chest. Gorritz also overcame her jitters with motivation from spectators in the bleachers. Beliveau and Hughes fought valiantly but succumbed to their opponents.
On court three and court five nail biter matches were occurring at once. Bart and Davis were competing separately for wins against Ashley. After a long bar of tiebreakers Bart’s match ended in a loss. But Abi overcame and won her match after almost two hours of playing.
Since these matches tied the games at 3-3 the doubles became the deciding factor. With two wins, West Brunswick would become the conference champions for the first time in over twenty years. The doubles teams are Davis and Phoebe Cumbee, Gorritz and Bart, and Beliveau and Hannah Cumbee. As the sun started setting, Beliveau and Hannah Cumbee started their match. All three doubles teams were up by one and the outcomes were promising.
At the end of the matches Gorritz and Bart ended in a loss with a close score of 6-8, Hannah Cumbee and Beliveau lost with a score of 3-8. Finally Davis and Phoebe Cumbee won the sole doubles win with a score of 8-6.
At the end of the night, although it ended in a loss, the girls were happy with a much improved score of 4-5. Their next match will be on October 3rd at North Brunswick High School where they will once again aim for 3A conference champions.
