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Pembroke girls tennis shrugged off controversy to claim state championship

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5 months ago

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Pembroke girls tennis shrugged off controversy to claim state championship

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They won. Oh, wait, no they didn’t.

OK, now they won. Wait a second, maybe not.

Then, eventually, yes, they actually did win … in court as well as on the court.

Then they won one more time, without controversy this time but still with plenty of drama.

Last week was wild for the Pembroke High girls tennis team. In the end, though, the Titans got to celebrate a Division 3 state championship.

All’s well that ends well, as they say.

“It was such a good feeling to win as a team. It was powerful,” said junior No. 2 singles player Ruth Dannison. “I know our school had never done that before, so it was uncharted territory. We were all super excited to see how far we could go (when the playoffs started). I’m glad that we could pull through.”

Third-seeded Pembroke (20-2) claimed the program’s first-ever MIAA team crown Saturday at MIT, beating No. 4 Weston, 3-2, in a match that came down to first singles. That development was good news for the Titans, considering sophomore No. 1 player Nicole Makarewicz had yet to lose this spring.

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Predictably, Makarewicz righted the ship after a rough second set and beat Weston’s Olivia Rome, 6-2, 4-6, 6-1, to clinch the crown.

“It was an adrenaline rush,” said Makarewicz, who pushed her 2024 record to 20-0 and her career mark to 42-1. “I felt a lot of pressure because I was up 40-love (on championship point). I was serving. I missed my first serve but then I got my second one in and we rallied for two shots before she missed into the alley.”

“I had so much faith in her,” said senior No. 3 singles player Emma Gerlach, who won her match, 6-2, 6-0, in the final. “I knew she was going to pull through. She’s so level-headed; nothing ever breaks her mentally. And she always knows how to troubleshoot. If she sees a weakness in her opponent, (she exploits it). If she realizes that she needs to work on something in her game a little bit better, she knows how to fix it. … She’s the best player we’ve seen (in Pembroke) in years.”

The final was tight — Dannison scored the other point with a 6-3, 6-1 win at No. 2 singles — but certainly more clear cut than the 3-2 semifinal victory over two-time defending champ Newburyport. That result was in doubt for a couple of days and wasn’t officially locked in until late Friday afternoon when a Salem Superior Court judge denied Newburyport’s request for a temporary restraining order blocking Pembroke’s advancement.

The semifinal had come down to No. 3 singles, but the on-site USTA official had erred in directing Gerlach and Newburyport’s Bridgette Mellet to play a first-to-10-points super tiebreaker in lieu of a full third set. Gerlach prevailed, 10-7, but when the error was discovered, tournament organizers at first ordered the two players to return to Sharon High’s courts the next day to play out the third set.

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As Gerlach endured what she called a “restless night,” Pembroke appealed the decision, and the next morning the MIAA reversed course, ruling that since neither player had gained an advantage, the super tiebreaker result would stand. That seemed to be that, until Newburyport took their case to court, only to be denied.

Newburyport athletic director Kyle Hodsdon told the Boston Globe that despite the ruling, his players “felt really good about (Pembroke) moving on” because the Titans had demonstrated “nothing but class” during the semifinal.

“It was definitely very hectic,” Dannison said of the controversy. “And it was a little disappointing for the players because it didn’t really feel like a victory. There was a lot of confusion coming from that. I’d say we were in kind of a weird spot.”

Winning the title “really confirms that the girls deserved to be there,” said Pembroke coach Jessica Walls. “All my singles players who won on Saturday are year-round players and tennis is their only sport. They’ve dedicated a lot of time and effort to honing their craft and working on their skills. It was nice to see that confirmation.”

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Pembroke also got strong work from its doubles teams this season as the all-senior No. 1 team of Madison Buckley and Amanda Considine and the No. 2 team of senior Claire Richardson and junior Lauren Pearson helped the Titans claim the Patriot League Fisher Division crown.

All in all, a memorable spring.

“It was truly amazing, especially as a senior since this was the end of my high school career,” Gerlach said. “It was great to top it off with a state championship win. And it was great to win after all that had happened on Wednesday with the match with Newburyport. I couldn’t be more grateful for my team and my coach and for everyone who helped support me. It’s all I’ve ever wanted.”

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