Boys’ Tennis Team Reaches Final, Falls To Weston

By Andy Hutchison

TRUMBULL — Only one team defeated Newtown during the regular season: longtime rival Weston. The Trojans beat Newtown again in South-West Conference championship match, earning a 6-1 victory at the Tennis Club of Trumbull on Tuesday.

The match was originally scheduled to be hosted by top-seeded Weston on Monday but rain moved the clash a day and pushed it indoors.

Second-seeded Newtown got its lone championship-match win at the first single position as Cam McCleary got the best of the all-Cam match in a 7-6, 6-4 win over Cam Hagen. Weston won each of the other matches in the minimum two sets but the Nighthawks didn’t go down without a fight. Newtown’s third doubles team of Stefan Hennessey and Charlie Poarch, after dropping a 6-0 game to Nico Zirn and Robin Willis, pushed their opponents hard in the second game, only to fall 6-4.

The Nighthawks advanced to the championship match with a 6-1 win over third-seeded Pomperaug of Southbury in the semifinals of the four-team tourney, at Newtown High on May 17.

Wins in all four singles positions and in two of the three doubles matches propelled the Hawks into the pinnacle match. McCleary, Tyler Ruefenacht, Ricky Fuentes, and Sean Elliott all won two-setters in first through fourth singles play. The top doubles tandem of Yosi Kohrman-Glaser and Keaton McCleary prevailed in a three-set match after dropping the first game to John Filippo and Joe Sullivan, winning 4-6, 7-6, 6-0. The second doubles team of Mason West and Adam Oelberg dropped a hard-fought three-setter. No. 3 doubles players Nic Klein and Poarch won a two-set decision.

Newtown posted a 12-1 regular season, the best mark in Coach Marty Margulies’ decadelong tenure at the helm. The Nighthawks have had all of this success despite everyone having to move up in the ladder to compensate for the loss of would-be top singles standout Rob Beier, who has been sidelined the entire spring with a knee injury.

“There’s no doubt at all that Rob would have made a difference, but really I’m fortunate enough to have at least a half dozen players who are almost fungible in the sense that anyone can beat another on a given day,” Margulies said.

What’s more, everyone contributed — substantially — to the team’s winning ways. “I’m very happy that everyone has gotten to play in at least five matches,” said Margulies, adding that the goal each year is for players to get into a minimum of three to earn a varsity letter. “It wasn’t just a matter of grace and favor. They earned it — they played well.”

The season continues with SWC individual tourney action, followed by state competition.