Lady Warrior Rackets Give Seniors Triumphant Sendoff

By Eliot Schickler

Three Brookline High seniors capped their Waldstein Park tennis careers with an important victory.

Captain Gabby Toppelberg and classmates Kaya Vadhan and Donya Shah were instrumental in leading seventh-seeded Brookline to a 3-2 home victory over 10th-seeded Braintree Friday in the first round of the Division 1 South Sectional Tournament. The Lady Warriors raised their record to 13-3 and will play at second-seeded Bridgewater-Raynham (11-0) Monday (June 21) in the quarterfinals. Braintree its season at 9-6.

“I definitely think we can win our next match,” Toppelberg said. “We have to go into the match with confidence. It’s good to beat Braintree after losing to them in the regular season.”

When Brookline lost 3-2 at Braintree May 24, it was missing its top two players. Having its full lineup made a difference at the friendly and festive confines of Waldstein Park.

“The girls played very well today and I’m glad we were able to get the win,” Lady Warriors Coach Rebecca Hehn said.

Having arguably the best player in the state, junior Caroline Driscoll, also helped Brookline end the Lady Wamps’ season. Driscoll has lost only one game (not a set, not a match, but a simple game) all year and dominated Braintree’s Charlotte Yang by bageling her, 6-0. 6-0. Moreover, the Lady Warrior junior finished off her Lady Wamp opponent in less than 30 minutes with the match (more like mismatch) ending at 4:35 p.m.

“I just trust my training and try my best,” said a modest Driscoll on the key to her tennis prowess. “I do what I can to help the team.”

Yang is a good player as she had a good season at first singles for a playoff team. However, Driscoll is in a league of her own and showed it by slamming winners to the gaps and deftly placing her drop shots far away from Wang.

“I try to fight hard and focus on every point,” Driscoll said.

Driscoll closed out the match in perfect style by serving four straight aces.

“I’ve been working on my serve a lot and on placing my serve as well, which helps a lot,” Driscoll said.

Luckily for Brookline, the only player who could give Caroline Driscoll a competitive match is her younger sister, freshman Maddie Driscoll. Maddie Driscoll plays at second singles for the Lady Warriors and going into her match against Braintree’s Hailey Pham, she lost only two games (not sets and matches, but games) all spring. On most teams, the younger Driscoll would start at first singles, but for Brookline, she plays at second singles.

Maddie Driscoll was masterful in placing the ball against Pham and won the first nine games of the match. The younger Driscoll’s serve was working as she had her share of aces, slammed winners and forced Pham into hitting errors.

Pham was a very competitive and determined opponent and held serve in the fourth game of the second set.

“As the match went on, she [Pham] played a lot better and it’s a credit to her,” Maddie Driscoll said. “Once we had closer games, it [losing only two games all year] and it got into my head.”

The younger Driscoll was determined to not lose another game and closed out the match with three straight wins. Although Maddie Driscoll didn’t bagel Pham, she did achieve a plate and a knife with a 6-0, 6-1 victory.

“After she managed to get a game off of me, I focused on what I could control, and I did well with serve and volley,” Maddie Driscoll said. “I thought I played very well today. Throughout the match, I played better and focused on what I do well.”

Maddie Driscoll clinched the team’s second point at 4:49 p.m. when she held serve and was artistic when she returned a Pham shot by placing a drop shot near the net, well out of reach of her Lady Wamp opponent.

“I’ve been working on it a lot lately and I’m happy with my drop shots today,” Maddie Driscoll said. “It is a strength of mine and part of my game plan.”

After the Driscoll sisters efficiently finished off their Braintree opponents, all the Lady Warriors needed was one more point to secure the overall victory of the match. Shah and junior Fiona McGill delivered the clincher with a 6-1, 6-0 victory at second doubles over Annie Ruan and Vanessa Sam.

“I’m just really proud of my team,” Shah said. “We’ve been working and practicing hard. I’m just happy to be there.”

McGill said, “We just stayed calm and I communicated well with Donya. “We were able to strategize and found open holes on the court.”

The Lady Warriors played well at third singles and first doubles. In fact, they won more games than their Braintree counterparts. However, tennis isn’t decided by who wins more games and points, but who wins more sets and the tiebreakers weren’t kind to Brookline.

At third singles, Lady Wamp Jolin Yang defeated Toppelberg, 0-6, 6-3, 7-1 in the tiebreaker (not set). Emily Cao and Sophia Tam edged the Lady Warrior tandem of Vadhan and junior Anika Maya, 7-6 (8-6), 2-6, 12-10.

Toppelberg was stellar at the beginning of her match but Yang was on fire after that. Vadhan and Maya played well at first doubles and battled back from a deficit in the first to force a tiebreaker, and in the tiebreaker (they didn’t play a third set to decide the match), they erased a 9-5 deficit and tied it, 9-9 with four straight points.

Vadhan’s service ace tied it 10-10, but Ruan and Sam got the next two points and won the match.

Although Bridgewater-Raynham is 11-0 and the higher seed, it plays in the Southeast Conference, which isn’t as strong in girls tennis as the Bay State Conference. Not only did Brookline play much tougher teams, but it’s on a roll and has improved since the season began. Moreover, the Lady Warriors have found the right winning combination with the Driscoll sisters being automatic wins at first and second singles and Shah and McGill, who are undefeated as duo, being reliable at second doubles.

Toppelberg, Vadhan and Maya are also stellar players and no one, including the Lady Trojans, should take them for granted.

“It’s very good to know we have very strong players at first and second singles,” Hehn said. “We also have strong players at third singles and both doubles teams. On any given day, they can win their matches. Third singles and first doubles both won a set against Braintree.”

If Brookline beats Bridgewater-Raynham, which it is expected to do, it will play at either third-seeded Wellesley (15-2) or sixth-seeded Needham (12-2) in the Division 1 South Sectional semifinals. The Lady Warriors won their last two matches against Wellesley and their last match versus Needham.

Brookline is definitely on a roll and could be the team of destiny. It’s plausible for both Brookline tennis teams to win the state title as the boys team, which won 57 straight matches, aims for its third straight state title.

“I hope we both win states,” Caroline Driscoll said. “We support the boys team and they support us. We’re all good friends.”

Although the Lady Warriors have done very well lately, the road to a title will take a lot of hard work. Both Wellesley and Needham are formidable opponents and so are the teams on the other side of the bracket. Tournaments are usually unpredictable.

“I don’t know how we’ll do, but at the end of the day, we win as a team and lose as a team,” Hehn said. “It comes down to teamwork.”