BOSTON — Yes, it’s a dynasty.
The Hamilton-Wenham girls tennis team left no doubts regarding who the Commonwealth’s best Division 4 squad this season by dispatching Lynnfield, 5-0, in the state championship match Saturday afternoon at the DuPont Tennis Courts at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The top-seed Generals finish the year 19-2, have won 15 consecutive playoff matches and are now the 11th squad in the history of the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association to win three consecutive state girls tennis championships.
Senior captain Sienna Gregory and her partner Emily McIntosh were last off the court when they finished off a 6-4, 7-5 decision to make it a clean sweep. As the lone returning senior from last year’s state title team, Gregory was then first to hold the trophy, displaying it over her head with an enormous smile.
“Those last two points, I was pretty much shaking,” said Gregory. “This is unbelievable … I can’t even believe it.”
Facing a Cape Ann League rival in the finals for the second straight year, the Generals expected No. 3 seed Lynnfield (16-7) to be an especially challenging foe in doubles play. The Pioneers used the “Australian formation” a few times (meaning both players lined up on the same side of the court) and also tried to use lob shots to keep H-W’s two pairs off balance.
“Lynnfield is a very well-coached team and we know they’d have some tricks up their sleeve,” said H-W coach Joe Maher. “We worked on a few things throughout the week, and the girls adjusted really well.”
It took just 50 minutes for second singles ace Naomi Provost to prevail, 6-0, 6-0. A three-year starter, she’s won more than 60 matches (the most of any player in Hamilton-Wenham tennis history, boys or girls) and set the tone with her hard, aggressive returns.
Only 10 minutes after that, Emma Jani finished off her opponent at first singles, 6-0, 6-1, to put the Generals just one point away from the three-peat.
“What more can we say about Emma and Naomi? We knew they’d come out firing and they did,” said Maher.
At second doubles, seniors Maddie Minich and Angelina Meimeteas took the opening set, 6-2. Perhaps sensing their team was closing in on the championship, they thrived with a number of winners close to the net and cruised to a 6-1 second set triumph that brought a happy cheer from the H-W fans lined up along the fences surrounding the courts.
“We work on playing aggressive up at the net. We want to set up on the baseline, too, and the girls did a great job,” said Maher.
“Maddie has worked so hard to get where she is. Angelina’s a kid I always thought of as a singles player, and one weekend she spent seven hours working on her volleys. She just wanted it really badly this year.”
Though the result wasn’t in question, there were plenty of spirited volleys at third singles. Hamilton-Wenham’s Ellie Holbrook took the first set, 6-2, but Lynnfield’s Maddie Sieve had a lead in the second set. Holbrook rallied to win the final game of the second set and was then in total control of the tiebreaker to earn a 7-6 (7-1) decision.
“Ellie was the highlight for me,” said Maher. “She did some things in terms of coming to the net that she hadn’t done all season. She’s very much a baseliner, usually, but she took some chances against a great player and it made a huge difference.”
It wasn’t long after Holbrook’s win that Gregory and McIntosh completed the sweep.
“It was all about taking our time and finding our technique,” said Gregory. “We did a good job passing. We had to focus on staying aggressive, moving our feet and following through on our shots.”
With five players in the lineup that didn’t appear in the 2023 state championship match, the Generals did a phenomenal job of reloading to defend their state title. Massive improvements by players like Minich and McIntosh made a huge difference, and the way H-W’s doubles teams found their chemistry midway through the season unlocked the team’s true potential.
“This year was a whole different experience — and I loved that. I loved figuring out a new partner and how to play together,” said Gregory, who will study at Fairfield University next year. “All of our girls worked so hard with extra practice to get into their spots. Everyone pulled through.”
After stopping for celebratory ice cream, the Generals were met with a police escort when they arrived back in town. Sirens rang out all the way back to the high school to signify yet another state tennis title for the H-W girls.
“You couldn’t have scripted it any better,” said Maher. “This was a great culmination of the season. It was a great, fun match against a really talented opponent. All of our girls played awesome.”