Lady Warriors Blank Second-Seeded Bridgewater-Raynham

By Eliot Schickler

Throw out the regular season records when two teams from vastly different conferences meet in the tennis state tournament.

That was the scenario when the seventh-seeded Brookline High girls tennis team played at second-seeded Bridgewater-Raynham Monday. Going into the match, Bridgewater-Raynham was undefeated, but that’s because it plays in the Southeast Conference – which is much weaker than the Bay State Conference where Brookline belongs to.

Conversely, the Lady Warriors entered their second-round Division 1 South Sectional Tournament match with three losses – two at the beginning of the year against very tough opponents. Their third setback was May 24 at Braintree when it was missing their two best players.

Brookline improved as the year progressed and avenged all three losses – beating Wellesley twice – the second time in the Bay State Conference Championship match – and Needham (Bay State semifinals) and Braintree (first round of the Division 1 playoffs) one time each.

Sure enough, the Lady Warriors showed that they are the superior team which plays in a much stronger conference with a convincing, 5-0 win over the Lady Trojans, raising their record to 14-3. With the win, Brookline punched its ticket to the Division 1 South semifinals with its fourth match against Wellesley. Third-seeded Wellesley (16-2) hosts the match Thursday June 24 at 3:30 p.m. Bridgewater-Raynham ended its season at 11-1.

“This was the first match in the State tournament where we played outside of the Bay State Conference; I think the match demonstrated the strength of the Bay State Conference as both teams had solid records going into the match,” Lady Warriors Coach Rebecca Simone said.

Brookline displayed its efficiency in the victory. The match was over in less than an hour.

“All the girls were excited and ready to play our matches,” Lady Warriors senior captain Gabby Toppelberg said. “We served a lot of bagels and Caroline and I were done with our matches quickly. It was great for all of our girls and we’ll be ready Thursday.”

Toppelberg was referring to first singles player junior Caroline Driscoll, who is probably the best player in the state and who is heavily recruited to play collegiately in 2022-23. Driscoll and Toppelberg bageled their opponents, 6-0, 6-0 at first and second singles, respectively, and they didn’t need a half hour to finish off their Lady Trojan counterparts.

“It was the team connecting,” Driscoll said. “We were excited for the match and we were ready to play.”

Making Brookline’s win even more impressive was that the team won with ease despite missing freshman Maddie Driscoll, who had a prior commitment. The younger Driscoll normally plays at second singles, but with her absence, Toppelberg, who normally plays at third singles moved up to second singles.

“It shows the depth of our team,” Caroline Driscoll said. “It shows when someone is out, we have others who can step in when we need them too.”

Junior Annika Mayar, who normally plays in the doubles lineup, but would start high on the singles ladder on most varsity squads, moved up to third singles. Mayar showed her prowess with a 6-1, 6-2 victory.

“It was definitely a good opportunity for Annika,” Toppelberg said. “She played well and we were all excited for her.”

Simone said, “The key in this match was the girls playing consistently in each of the matches and working hard for each point. The girls brought a lot of positive energy and displayed teamwork; all of their effort in the regular season paid off. Anika Mayar rose to the occasion and played very well, scoring 6-1, 6-2.”

The Lady Warriors also won convincingly in doubles. Senior Kya Vadhan and sophomore Lily Feldman bageled Bridgewater-Raynham, 6-0, 6-0, while senior Donya Shah and junior Fiona McGill won, 6-0, 6-2.

“Kya had some amazing serves,” Toppelberg said.

It goes without saying that Brookline’s match at Wellesley will be the most important match between the two formidable squads. Although this is a South Sectional semifinals match, it’s for the de facto South Sectional Title because whoever wins this match would be a heavy favorite against top-seeded King Philip Regional High (15-0) and fourth-seeded Hopkinton High (15-2). King Philip plays in the Hockomock League while Hopkinton plays in the Tri-Valley League.

The Bay State Conference is much more competitive in girls tennis than the Hockomock League and Tri-Valley League. Although the Lady Warriors beat the Lady Raiders in their last two matches (one in the regular season), Wellesley will be tough and Brookline will need to play well in order to win. Having their full lineup will also help the Lady Warriors and will be even tougher with the return of Maddie Driscoll.

“We beat them twice and we want the third win against them,” Toppelberg said. “We’re excited to play them and hope to get to the finals.”

Simone said, “We will need to continue to bring a positive attitude and teamwork to the match. Wellesley has a great team and our record is 2-1 against them thus far. Hopefully we will win, but the one thing that is for certain is we will try our best.”