OLD LYME – Piper Remillard had only really struggled once with a tennis match this season. The Coginchaug senior had dropped the first set of a match against Megan Bache of Westbrook but quickly regrouped and won.
Tuesday, Remillard had to face Bache once again, this time for the Shoreline Conference championship. If she won, it would be her fourth Shoreline title. It would also be her 75th career high school victory, between the regular season and the Shoreline Conference tournament.
She did win, 6-1, 6-0, closing out her high school career at 75-0.
“It’s been crazy,” Remillard said. “Freshman year, I thought that (to go undefeated) would be a great goal for me to keep my expectations high and have something to aspire to.
“But then after I finished last year and I still had my streak going, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is a lot of pressure. I have to keep this up.’ Not because of what everybody else thinks but because of my own dedication to what I wanted to do.”
The only time Remillard has lost has been in the State Open individual tournament, where the farthest she has advanced is the quarterfinals.
Remillard, who has played tennis since she was 6 years old, will play at Stonehill College next year. She plans to study neuroscience. Remillard, a National Honor Society student with a 4.0 GPA, took an AP psychology course last year, which sparked her interest in the subject.
“I was completely fascinated with it, especially the parts that had to deal with the actual biology and structure and function of the brain itself,” she said. “I thought it was all fascinating and also the different disorders that went along with it, they were also very interesting.
“I want to do something in a career that will directly impact peoples’ lives and help people.”
Coginchaug coach Amy Schaefer knew about Remillard before she came to high school because Schaefer had her in class in seventh and eighth grade as a middle school teacher.
“I knew her and her family and we knew she was good,” Schaefer said. “Somebody emailed me when she was really little and said, ‘Hey, you have a star coming up. A red-headed star.’
“She was so excited and proud to put on her uniform for the first time and just be part of the team. That’s how it’s been for four years.”
Her team came to cheer her on Tuesday at Old Lyme High School.
“She’s the easiest kid to coach,” Schaefer said. “I wish somebody – for four years – hot mic’ed us when we had to talk in between sets.
“Sometimes I know I can’t even talk to her about tennis. Her mindset is so focused. We talk about school. ‘What are you doing this weekend? Hey, I like your nail polish.’ Total opposite of tennis because she needs to just sit there and breathe and not talk about tennis. You know exactly what you have to say to her.”
Tuesday was not like that.
“When I talked to her in between sets, before I even asked how she felt, she said, ‘I feel great,’” Schaefer said. “I knew going into that second set – I felt calm because she felt calm.”
Remillard has her own rituals as well.
“She has a fantastic mental game,” Schaefer said. “She knows how to get herself out of a funk. She has a ritual she does at the back of the court. She faces away from the court. Does a mild talking to herself. Kicks her racket a little. Then she’s right back into it.”
The Class S state team tournament begins Friday (Coginchaug finished the regular season 8-7) and the State Open individual tournament June 2. Remillard lost in the round of 16 last year to fifth-seeded Peyton Gaudreau of Branford.
“I’d love to make it to the quarterfinals this year,” Remillard said. “But it’s really difficult because it’s a whole different caliber of play.”