Brebeuf Jesuit’s Annabeth Barnard and Gabrielle Rubenstein were admittedly nervous Saturday at the start of their doubles state championship match against Carmel’s Megan Renninger and Olivia Trancik. Once the nerves went away, the Brebeuf pair took off.

Barnard and Rubenstein rallied from a 2-0 deficit to win going away, topping the Carmel pair 6-4, 6-1 at North Central to win the Braves’ first tennis state title of any kind since 1991.

“I was definitely nervous,” said Barnard, a senior. “I was even having trouble with my toss-up on my first service game. But once we got going, it became just another tennis match for us.”

Barnard and Rubenstein finished the season — their only one playing doubles — at 24-1 and avenged their only loss of the season. The Braves’ pair had fallen to the Carmel pair in just their second match together this year.

“They played and practiced a lot together and got better each time,” Brebeuf coach Rick Scotten said. “Annabeth settled down after those first few games, and when (Rubenstein) is on, I think she’s the best doubles player in the state.”

After falling behind 2-0, losing eight of the first nine points in the process, the Brebeuf pair rallied to tie the set at 2. Things stayed on serve until the ninth game, when a Rubenstein volley was hit long on break point to give the Braves their first lead of the set. A Rubenstein smash at 40-15 on Barnard’s serve gave Brebeuf the first set.

Another Rubenstein smash on break point in the first game of the second set gave the Braves a 1-0 lead, and while Brebeuf continued to hold serve, Carmel was broken again in the fifth game to fall behind 4-1. An easy hold by Rubenstein — punctuated by a Barnard smash at the net on game point — pushed the lead to 5-1.

At deuce in the next game, Barnard’s volley gave the Braves match point. Following two let serves, Renninger double-faulted, ending the Greyhounds’ season at 25-2.

“We were nervous because they were the only team that had beaten us this year,” said Rubenstein, a junior. “But Coach Rick calmed us down. After that, we just tried to hit everything down the middle and not try to do anything we couldn’t do. We played pretty well.”

Munster senior Mary Hill won the singles state championship. Her 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 victory denied Columbus North junior Caroline Hedrick a second consecutive singles title.

Hill finished 28-0, while Hedrick (26-1) lost for just the second time in three high school seasons. The other loss came in the championship match of her freshman year.