Ellington-Somers Tennis Has Strong Tournament

The - girls tennis team, ranked 21st in Class M, faced off against No. 12 Crosby High School of Waterbury (13-6) in the qualifying round, and in an exciting upset, defeated Crosby 6-1. 

Hannah Riley, Rebekah Fox and Janna Grinaski picked up points for Ellington-Somers in singles. Doubles teams of Haley Moss and Allison Steinmetz, Karli King and Courtney McGowan and Kaitlyn Powers and Courtney Binkowski were victorious as well.

This was both the first team tournament appearance and the first tournament victory for Ellington-Somers.

The first round victory earned the team a shot at No. 5 Berlin (15-1). Berlin had only a single loss on the season and its strong play and experience carried it to a 7-0 win over Ellington-Somers (12-8). 

"Many of these matches were very close, but Berlin had the answers against a somewhat fatigued Ellington-Somers," coach Rich Willis said. "(It was a) great trip to the state team tournament for the Ellington-Somers girls!"

The girls will now turn their attention toward Yale University and the individual tournament that begins on Saturday.

Ellington-Somers is sending Riley at No. 1 singles and Moss and Steinmetz at No. 1 doubles and King and McGowan at No. 2 doubles.

These girls qualified to compete in the individual portion of the tournament based on their stellar match records during the regular season. Riley was 16-2, Moss and Steinmetz were 10-4 and King and McGowan were 13-3.