NHS Boys’ Tennis—

Hawks Win Semis, Then Fall To Weston In SWC Title Match

The third-seeded Newtown High School boys’ tennis team knocked off No. 2 Pomperaug 4-3 in the semifinal round of the South-West Conference Team Championships at Pomperaug on May 21, then traveled to top-seeded Weston and lost 7-0 in the championship match on May 22.

The Nighthawks then participated in the conference’s individual tournament this week.

Newtown had capped off the regular season with a 4-3 win over Pomperaug only three days before their rematch in the postseason opener. Although the final team score was identical, the individual results had some variation between the two matches.

As was the case in their regular-season match on Monday, Newtown’s No. 4 singles player, Peter Manos, came out on top. This time he defeated a different opponent, however, as Pomperaug’s Kyle Richardson was inserted into the lineup. Manos’s previous opponent, Shryan Appalaraju, was put in the No. 3 singles slot and Newtown’s Timo Roehrs came away with a three-set win for Newtown’s other victory in singles play. Roehrs lost the first set and was down 6-1 in a second set tiebreaker, but rallied to even the tiebreaker and save four more match points before winning it 13-11 and then pulling away 6-1 in the final set.

The Nighthawks had only one singles match win in the May 18 regular-season match and swept the doubles match-ups en route to the win. In the semifinal match, Newtown’s first and third doubles teams were victorious.

Individual results from the SWC tourney match are as follows:

Singles:

1.  Joe Shannon, P, def Adam Wenick, 6-2, 6-1.

2.  Ken Westerman, P, def Evan Batzer, 6-3, 6-4.

3.  Timo Roehrs, N, def Shryan Appalaraju, 4-6, 7-6 (11), 6-1.

4.  Peter Manos, N, def Kyle Richardson, 6-4, 7-5.

Doubles:

1.  Casey Tenney/Joe Cappiello, N, def Andrew Gravecz/Scott Siegler, 6-3, 6-1.

2.  Shayan Riahi/Steve Randolph, P, def Colin Jacob/Connor Howell, 6-3, 6-3.

3.  Rob Beier/Rich Andreotta, N, def Eric Heller/Dan Burnham, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-1.

Results from the championship match against Weston are as follows:

Singles:

1.  Luke Andreika def Wenick 6-0, 6-0.

2.  Jeremy Schwartz def Batzer 6-2, 6-1.

3.  Andrew Pesca def Roehrs 6-0, 6-2.

4.  Ben Smith def Manos 6-3, 6-4.

Doubles:

1.  Charles Buffa/Sebastian Buffa def Tenney/Cappiello 7-5, 6-1.

2.  Dan Toutoungi/Adam Geller def Howell/Beier 6-2, 6-1.

3.  Ben Kamisar/Cameron Hagen def Andreotta/Eric Sippin 6-2, 6-0.

All of Newtown’s starters qualified for this week’s SWC Individual Tournament. Batzer and the first and third doubles teams earned No. 2 seedings.

Third-seeded Manos and Masuk’s Steve Diamond had their match interrupted by rain.

The No. 1 doubles team of Tenney and Cappiello beat Ray Deguila and Jon Strumpf (Masuk) in an eight-game pro set quarter-final match and then defeated Dave Pisano and Jon Dinihanian (Bunnell) 7-5, 6-3 in the semis to advance to Wednesday’s weather-permitting finals (after The Bee sports section went to press).

Second-seeded Beier and Andreotta beat Kyle Richardson and Dan Burnham (Pomperaug) 7-5, 6-3 in the semifinals.