Boys’ Tennis Team Wins Four, Girls Defeat Masuk

By Andy Hutchison

Newtown High School’s boys’ tennis team closed out the regular season with four straight wins this past week. The Nighthawks beat Masuk on Monroe 7-0 on May 10, topped Joel Barlow of Redding 5-2 the next day, beat Brookfield 6-1 on May 12, and blanked Masuk again, 6-0 in a rain-shortened match on Monday, a clash in which the teams played eight-game pro sets in an effort to beat the precipitation. The boys finished the regular season with a 12-1 record, the best regular-campaign mark in Coach Marty Margulies’ ten years with the team.

“What’s more, every member of the team contributed because every member had substantial playing time. I’m proud of them all, and they should be proud of themselves. We are focused now on the post-season — one match at a time,” Margulies said.

The girls, meanwhile, had a less busy week in terms of match play. They defeated Masuk 6-1 on Monday in their first competition in a week, and were scheduled to close out the regular season on Wednesday (after The Bee sports section went to press) with their undefeated mark in conference play on the line against Barlow.

The biggest win of the week — the triumph over Barlow — was arguably also the most significant victory of the spring, thus far, for the boys as they handed the tough Falcons only their third loss of the season and put themselves into position to earn the South-West Conference’s second seed behind top-seeded Weston. The four-team tourney’s semifinals were scheduled to be held on Thursday and conclude with the finals on May 21.

“Cam McCleary played the match of his life in notching the win of his life against an opponent whom many had regarded as the conference’s best player, and our third doubles team of Nic Klein and Stefan Hennessey displayed extraordinary poise and perseverance in bouncing back from a first-set defeat to win consecutive tiebreakers,” Margulies said of his team member’s efforts against Barlow.

McCleary defeated Dennis Henning 6-2, 6-3. Klein and Hennessey prevailed over Todd Waterman and Reid Escoff 3-6, 7-6, 7-6. Other Newtown winners were Tyler Ruefenacht, Ricky Fuentes, and Yossi Kohrman-Glaser at second through fourth singles, respectively.

The girls, in their win over Masuk, got wins from their top three singles players, Caroline Kelley, Lauren Frazzetta, and Mia Terracino. All three doubles tandems came out on top: Julia Frattaroli and Stephanie Roman; Maggie Kost and Annie Beier; and Meghan Logan and Alyssa Ruefenacht.