By Kim J. Harmon

MILFORD – They have been walking along the ragged edge of disaster, but have yet to tumble over the side.

That’s because the Newtown High School boys’ tennis team sports a strong singles contingent and in matches against Jonathan Law (last Friday) and Masuk (Monday), it was the singles that paved the way towards back-to-back 4-3 wins.

The Nighthawks are now 6-1.

“The singles have carried us,” admitted head coach Marty Margulies, “and we have been hurt by the inexperience of the doubles teams.”

Last week in Milford, Jason Garbarino was moved from doubles up to No. 4 singles to fill in for the absence of Matt McFadden and his tough 7-5, 6-7 (8-10), 6-2 win over Mateus Krol was the key to the Newtown victory.

“Jason saved the match, our playoff hopes, and our season,” said coach Margulies. “Keeping his composure even after losing a 5-2 lead and a tie-breaker in the second set, he overcame a persistent, difficult ‘retriever’ in the final and decisive set to give us the edge.”

Coach Margulies got what he expected out of Jon Perachio, Sean O’Mahoney and Justin Bass (all wins), but was worried about what he would get from his three doubles tandems (all losses), which made Garbarino’s win so important.

Perachio breezed past Miles Holley 6-1, 6-0 at No. 1 singles, O’Mahoney slipped past Jason Betz 6-1, 6-1 at No. 2 singles, Bass defeated Min Lin 6-0, 6-0 at No. 3 singles and since all of those matches were well over while Garbarino was still working hard against Krol, it set the stage for a dramatic finish.

Mark Stephenson and Matt Lask were beaten 7-5, 4-1 (default) by Terence Brunau and Ross Kolwicz at No. 1 doubles, Tom Rodbell and Jim He were defeated 7-5, 6-1 by John Palmer and Dan Henchman at No. 2 doubles, and Jim Wilkins and Peter Kim were beaten 6-2, 6-1 by Tim Cook and Jeff Gibbons at No. 3 doubles.

Things went pretty much the same way on Monday as the ‘Hawks clipped Masuk, 4-3.

Perachio beat Jeff Kramer 6-3, 6-1 at No. 1 singles, O’Mahoney defeated Marcu Svensson 6-1, 3-6, 6-2 at No. 2 singles, McFadden beat Tony Pane 6-3, 6-4 at No. 3 singles and Bass defeated Mark Weindling 6-0, 7-6 (7-2) at No. 4 singles.

“O’Mahoney was especially impressive in holding off his opponent to win the decisive match,” said coach Margulies.

Garbarino and Lask were edged 6-3, 7-5 by Kyle Geson and Aston Bouloch at No. 1 doubles, Bruno Moura and He were edged 6-3, 6-2 by Matt Scholman and Stephen Esnres at No. 2 doubles, and Rodbell and Felipe Moura were stopped 2-6, 6-4, 6-7 (5-7) by Jon Fernandez and Ken Benedict at No. 3 doubles.

Those were two touch matches following a much easier 6-1 win over Bethel last Wednesday at Treadwell Park. Perachio, McFadden, Bass and Garbarino were all singles winners (together, losing just six games) while the Stephenson/B. Moura and He/Rodbell doubles teams were winners. Drew Adamelk and Max Margulies were locked up in a tough match with Chris Perry and John Erdman at No. 3 doubles and fell 5-7, 6-3, 8-10 (a tiebreaker).

“The second- and third-doubles matches, with their extended tiebreakers, were exciting to watch,” said coach Margulies. “I was encouraged to see our players – all of them young – keep their poise despite the closeness of the contests.”