Newtown High Tennis Teams Knocked Out Of Tournaments

By Andy Hutchison

Newtown High School’s boys’ and girls’ tennis squads were eliminated from South-West Conference Tournament team title contention on May 24. Individuals from the NHS squads, however, remained in contention for singles and doubles championships this week.

The second-seeded boys fell 5-2 to No. 3 Pomperaug of Southbury and the third-seed girls dropped a 4-3 nail-biter to No. 2 Joel Barlow of Redding in the semifinals. Both matches were moved indoors because of anticipated rain after Mother Nature’s moisture caused postponement of the start of the tournaments multiple times since May 19.

The boys competed at Middlebury Racket Club and got their two wins at the top two singles positions as Rob Beier and Tyler Ruefenacht both earned two-set triumphs. Beier beat Andrew Orawecz, 6-3, 6-3, and Ruefenacht topped Shryan Appalaraju, 6-4, 6-3. No. 3 singles player Ricky Fuentes and the top doubles tandem of Connor Howell and Sean Elliott lost three-setters. The No. 2 doubles team of Adam Oelberg and Yossi Kohrman-Glaser took their opponents to a tiebreaker before falling in two sets.

The Nighthawks were without one of their top singles players, Cam McCleary, who was ineligible to play because he had unknowingly exceeded the maximum allowed number of outside tournaments. McCleary is a competitive player outside of high school tennis.

Newtown Coach Marty Margulies said he was proud of the team for putting up a tough, close fight even though it was shorthanded, and noted that it would have been challenging for the Nighthawks to earn a win even at full strength despite the fact Newtown beat Pomperaug 5-2 back on April 8.

“Ricky Fuentes battled heroically, playing a level above his normal position, and nearly pulled it out with some truly first-rate tennis; he fought off several match points, and moved the ball masterfully all over the court. And Rob Beier solidified his standing as the conference’s best player by beating, for the second time this spring, an opponent who has not lost to anyone else in the conference,” Margulies said.

“Adam Oelberg and Yossi Kohrman-Glaser also deserve credit for extending the conference’s best second doubles team with repeated precision lobs and well-executed ground strokes. But that team had a little too much height, and it told,” the coach said of Pomperaug’s Ben Tepperman and Alex Burnham.

Margulies said the Nighthawks hope to capture individual championships in the SWC individual tournament, which was slated to begin on Thursday (after The Bee went to press). The Nighthawks captured three of seven titles last spring, and are striving to at least equal that number, the coach said.

The Newtown girls competed at Woodbridge Tennis Club and, for the third time this spring, dropped a hard-fought 4-3 decision to Barlow. All three of Newtown’s doubles teams pulled out wins. The No. 1 tandem of Meghan Loose and Julia Frattaroli won a 6-2, 6-1 match, and the No. 2 combination of Sara Benson and Stephanie Roman won 6-3, 6-1. The No. 3 team of Meghan Logan and Annie Beier, after losing the first set, came back to win, ultimately capping off the match in a 10-point tiebreaker because of the rental time at the tennis club running out near the end of the competition. In the end, the duo prevailed 6-7, 6-4, 10-1.

“They played their hearts out. They really, really wanted to win,” said Newtown Coach Maureen Maher, adding that Barlow made things difficult by splitting up the doubles lineups her team had seen during the regular season, to form a very strong singles ladder.

Maher was pleased with all of her team members’ efforts, including those of singles player Mia Terracino, who played in the third position and battled her opponent to deuce numerous times.

Like the boys, the girls now turn their attention to the conference’s individual tourney. The top doubles team of Loose and Frattaroli, which lost only once this spring, earned the top seed and the No. 2 doubles team of Benson and Roman earned the second seed. No. 1 singles player Lauren Frazzetta earned the third seed. The third doubles and fourth singles positions also earned spots in the tourney. Maher and Assistant Coach Bess Hutchison entered into the individual tourney with options of which players to insert into those positions.