By Steve Bigham

MONROE – Carol Lipnick had reason to be excited as she paced the sidelines of the Wolfe Park tennis courts in Monroe Tuesday night.

First, the Newtown High School girls’ coach still had a handful of players alive in the South West Conference tournament, including senior Alexis Nahoum, who advanced to the semifinals at second singles.

Second, her Nighthawks finished the regular season last week with an 8-6 record, improving on the team’s 7-7 ledger of a year ago.

“Finishing 8-6 was absolutely one of our team’s goals. I was delighted,” Lipnick said. “I wasn’t sure if we could do it, but our depth prevailed. Our new players stepped up – Kristin Daugherty and Caroline Kunkel – and all our doubles teams really played well. It was a very satisfying year.”

Both Nahoum and top singles player, Kaitlyn Lavery, anchored this year’s squad.

Nahoum advanced to the semifinals with a 9-8 tie-breaker win over Weston’s Katherine Ann Miller, who she had lost to in three sets during the regular season.

Nahoum finished the season at 11-4 at second singles and her hustle on the court prompted one writer to describe her as “scrappy.” In between matches this week, Nahoum asked her coach to describe what “scrappy” meant.

“You’re scrappy. That’s a good thing,” Lipnick said, urging Nahoum to keep it up.

Nahoum, who was nominated to the all-SWC team, eventually fell to Joel Barlow’s Bev Coppolla in the semis, 6-0, 6-1. Coppolla, a junior, was the tournament’s top seed at second singles and was the clear favorite to win it all.

Meanwhile, Newtown’s first doubles team of Caitlin Martin and Monica Alpert was engaged in a heated match against the New Fairfield team of MacMillan and Miller. The two Rebels were considered the best doubles tandem in the conference, but when the lights flickered on at the Wolfe Park courts, the Martin/Alpert duo found itself leading 6-5 in what was an eight-game pro set.

However, New Fairfield rallied late for an 8-6 win despite some incredible forehand shots off the Martin racquet.

“It was a heartbreaker. They were right there against the league’s best doubles team. They were just a hair away from knocking them off,” Lipnick said.

In other action, senior Kristin Daugherty, Newtown’s third-seeded singles player, was ousted early on by second-seeded Laura Lazar of Joel Barlow, 8-4.

At fourth singles, Caroline Kunkel, seeded fifth, was beaten by fourth-seeded Sarah Mars of Lauralton Hall, 8-5.

The state tournament starts next Tuesday against a team to be announced.