Ellington-Somers Tennis Has Best Season Ever

The - girls’ tennis team enjoyed its best season in program history. The team finished 15-4, second place to Avon in the North Central Connecticut Conference, and is ranked eighth in the state in Class M. 

The eighth ranking earned Ellington-Somers a home match in the first round of the state team tournament which started on Tuesday.

In that match, the team defeated Torrington 6-1. Hannah Riley, Janna Grinaski, Kristine Gouin, and Kat Sisco scored points for Ellington in singles. Courtney McGowan-Jess Baker and Kaitlyn Powers-Courtney Binkowski won in doubles.

The ladies head to East Lyme on Wednesday for the quaterfinals. 

The team also qualified five players for the girls’ individual state tournament — Riley in singles and two doubles teams, Karli King-Hayley Babineau and McGowan-Baker. The individual tournament starts on Saturday at Yale University.

On Thursday, the girls competed in the NCCC Conference Tournament. They had a strong showing, finishing second to Avon in the overall tournament team standings and winning two individual championships — Riley at No. 1 singles and Powers-Binkowski at No. 3 doubles.   

Let Patch save you time. Get great local stories like this delivered right to your inbox or smartphone every day with our free newsletter. Simple, fast sign-up here.

The team was led all season by Riley at No. 1 singles. She was undefeated during the regular season, a perfect 19-0, and then went on to sweep through her flight in the NCCC Tournament raising her record to 22-0. In her 22 match wins, Riley did not drop a set the entire season.  

“She truly had a magical season,” coach Rich Willis said. “Hannah improved her game significantly in strength, variety and strategy from last season and it really showed in her results, especially her consistency.”

Riley had plenty of help in producing team wins throughout the season. Janna Grinaski played at the No. 2 singles position. 

“She made the difficult jump from No. 4 singles the year before and often struggled with the tough competition,” Willis said. “However, she contributed six match wins on the season.” 

The team lost three key seniors last season, two of them playing in the No. 2 and No. 3 singles positions. With Grinaski jumping up to the No. 2 position, the question at the beginning of the season was who would fill the No. 3 and No. 4 singles positions.  Two freshmen, Kristine Gouin and Kat Sisco, stepped up in tryouts and earned their way into those positions. 

“These two girls not only filled these positions, they went on to post 24 match wins during the regular season,” Willis said. 

Sisco finished with a 14-2 record at the No. 4 Singles position, Gouin was 10-7 at the No. 3 singles position. 

“What a huge lift they provided the team and what an impact they had as freshmen,” Willis added.

Willis said that one of the great strengths of this team all season was its balance between singles and doubles. In the 19 regular season matches, each played for seven points, and the team’s overall points won/loss record was 101-32.  Of the 101 points, 53 of those points came from singles and 48 came from doubles. 

Courtney McGowan and Jessica Baker led the way at No. 2 doubles with 16 match wins. Kaitlyn Powers and Courtney Binkowski followed closely behind with 15 match wins at No. 3 doubles and Karli King and Hayley Babineau contributed eight match wins at No. 1 doubles. 

King’s record was 13-2 at No. 1 doubles as she partnered with Allison Steinmetz for a 3-1 record through the first four matches of the season and then a couple of other partners throughout the season as illness and injury took their toll on the lineup at different parts of the season. 

The Steinmetz loss was a large one. 

“She contracted strep throat and mono in the second week of the season and was lost for the remainder of the season,” Willis said. “Babineau stepped into her position and did a fine job.”

Willis added that Emma Gardner and Emily Ventura provided great versatility and depth in filling in both singles and doubles positions as need constantly arose during the season. 

“The final result was a true team effort in earning their 15 wins,” Willis said.