Newtown Tennis Standouts Earn Individual Titles

By Andy Hutchison

Newtown High School’s girls’ and boys’ tennis team were well-represented — and represented their school well … extremely well, in fact — in the South-West Conference’s individual tournaments (the girls at Joel Barlow in Redding and the boys at Monroe’s Wolfe Park), May 23 and 24.

The girls’ squad, coming off a team championship in the conference a few days earlier, had five or seven possible first-place results in the individual tourney. The boys, meanwhile, earned three of four titles in singles play.

Top-seeded Caroline Kelly defeated No. 2 seed Mary Kate Fornshell from Lauralton Hall of Milford, 6-0, 6-1. Lauren Frazzetta, the top seed at second singles, defeated No. 3 Sam Goldberg from Joel Barlow, 7-5, 6-3. At third singles, top-ranked Mia Terracino defeated No. 2 Keelen Boivie from Masuk of Monroe, 6-1, 6-2.

In the doubles portion of the individual tourney, the No. 1 tandem at first singles, Stephanie Roman and Julia Frattaroli, defeated No. 2 Alyssa Lyon and Adriana Maconochie (Joel Barlow), 7-5, 6-7, 6-2. Newtown’s No. 2 doubles team of Maggie Kost and Annie Beier, the second seed, lost to top-seeded Jessica Levine and Sarah McCain of Barlow, 3-6, 3-6. At third doubles, the top seed of Meghan Logan and Aimee Alexander defeated Barlow’s No. 2 team of Alyssa Gontzes and Maddy Frierson, 6-1, 6-2.

“I was blown away,” Newtown Coach Maureen Maher said. “They wanted it — they were excited about it.” The coach added that the girls worked hard after practices, and on weekends, to stay sharp and improve their skills all season long.

The boys’ tennis team, which was runner-up in the team tourney to Weston, earned three of four singles titles in the individual bracket. Newtown Coach Marty Margulies said all of these matches were “excruciatingly close and took unusual turns.”

At first singles, Cam McCleary, prevailed over Joel Barlow’s Dennis Henning for the second time this season. McCleary lost the first set 7-5, as Henning repeatedly hit seemingly impossible winners, but the Barlow player was unable to sustain that pace in the second set, and McCleary drew even, 6-2, Margulies noted. Toward the end of the set, Henning sustained an ankle injury and had to retire, leaving McCleary in possession of the tournament crown.

This marks the second consecutive year that Newtown claimed the tournament championship at first singles. Last year’s winner, Newtown senior Rob Beier, was unable to play this spring because of an injury.

At second singles, Tyler Ruefenacht was toppled 6-1 in the first set by Bunnell of Stratford’s Mike Dolph. But Ruefenacht changed his tactics, playing for consistency instead of trying to match Dolph’s power, Margulies said. By doing so, he eked out a 7-6 (7-2) win in the second set, and then ran off the third set at 6-0 for the victory.

In what the Newtown coach called perhaps the most exciting match of the day, fourth singles player Sean Elliott seemed firmly in control after winning the first set 6-0 and building a 3-0 lead in the second. Barlow’s Joe Greenspan fought back to capture the second set in a 7-6 (7-5) tiebreaker. Elliott then raced to a 5-1 lead in the third set and was at match point when Greenspan came back again, evening the contest at 5-all. Elliott, however, kept his composure and held on to win 7-5.

Newtown’s only loss of the day came at third singles. Rickey Fuentes was beaten 6-1, 6-2 by Weston’s Oscar Morris. The match was far closer than the scores suggest, and included numerous deuce games and extended rallies, Margulies said.

Newtown had no finalists in the three doubles rounds, all of which were won by Weston. This marks the first time the Nighthawks captured three of four singles trophies, Margulies notes. Newtown won three individual championships two years ago — the same year that it won its first team championship in more than a decade — but one of them came at doubles.