Tennis Town crowns two state champs
Stonington boys, girls earn dual titles on a memorable road trip
— On the third straight day this Woodbridge week in Tennis Town, USA, they got to leave school early Thursday. The boys confessed to bee-lining it for the bus to get the prime seating in the back to blast their tunes, all while the bus riders pondered more history.
This was the third straight day of tennis for the kids of Tennis Town, USA, this for the boys’ and girls’ state championships. The destination was Amity
High in Woodbridge, a crisp 70 miles from
Stonington — sorry,
Tennis Town — leaving ample time to ponder the circumstances and soak in the tunes.
“It was crazy,” boys’ No. 2 singles’ player Brady O’Neil said. “We had the speaker blasting and everyone thought we were crazy. But to have two Stonington teams playing for championships on the same day in the same place. Now that was really crazy.”
By night’s end, the bus got a police escort back to school, indicating the glory of the final results. The Stonington boys won their second straight Class S title, dusting Nonnewaug 6-1. The girls won for the second time in three years, earning the Class M title 7-0 over Lauralton Hall. Both teams are 19-0.
Tennis Town, USA.
“The girls wanted to do ride on the same bus. I really didn’t want to,” longtime Stonington girls’ coach George Crouse said. “It turned out well. My
“It was crazy. We had the speaker blasting and everyone thought we were crazy. But to have two Stonington teams playing for championships on the same day in the same place. Now that was really crazy.” BRADY O’NEIL, STONINGTON SOPHOMORE
senior leaders, were very gung-ho. They really wanted both teams to win. They work out together, hit balls together and go to lessons together.”
The players of honor: boys’ singles players Tucker Callahan, O’Neil, Matthew Turrisi and Peter Schoenecker. The doubles teams of Chase Donnarummo-Sam Lund, Thomas Lyon-Sean Lord and Henry Sawin/Ben Mahoney.
The girls’ singles players of Grace Duggan, Marcella Hamm, Misha Lewandowski and Marina Lewandowski. The doubles teams of Katya Snegovskikh and Lauren Buckley, Gwen McGugan and Angelina Williams and Bethany Schoenecker and Maya Bengston.
“This means everything,” O’Neil said. “I had visions of this, but I knew we lost some from last year. I thought through the lineups and knew it was a possibility, but I wasn’t sure we had the depth of last year. We overcame a lot. At the end, we have Chase and Sam playing No. 1 doubles and they’re both singles-level players.”
Neither team needed more than 90 minutes total to win, perhaps making the long bus rides to and from more palatable.
“We lost a lot of seniors from last year and at one time, that felt scary,” Callahan said. “We felt like we knew what we had, but we were just lacking in confidence. This is great.”
Callahan, too, admitted he quickly understood the gravity of the surroundings.
“I went down 1-2 in the first set,” he said. “I was thinking, ‘well, this is my last match.’ I thought that if anything ever really counts, this is it. This counts the most. Because it’s not just about me. It’s about all my teammates as well.” And the girls? Try undefeated. “This is an undefeated team,” Crouse said. “The base is from two years ago still when we won. We lost last year, but this year we conditioned better. We had three of the toughest matches in the Class M, too. Hand, we lost to them in the finals last year. Barlow has won a lot and Weston, our nemesis. It wasn’t easy.”