High School Tennis Teams Remain Unbeaten

By Andy Hutchison

Newtown High School’s girls’ and boys’ tennis teams continued their perfect seasons heading into the middle of this week. The girls improved to 10-0 with a 7-0 win at Immaculate of Danbury on April 25, a 6-1 win over visiting New Fairfield on April 26, and a 7-0 blanking of visiting Bethel on Monday.

In the win over Immaculate, each of Newtown’s top three singles players won via 6-0, 6-0 triumphs and all of the team members came away with two set wins. The first through fourth singles winners were Caroline Kelly, Lauren Frazzetta, Maria Biondi, and Emily Jerris. Newtown’s doubles winners were Julia Frattaroli and Stephanie Roman at the top spot, Aimee Alexander and Meghan Logan at No. 2, and Caroline Tanner and Rachel Durno in the third slot.

In the win over New Fairfield, only Frazzetta, at second singles, was pushed to a third set. She prevailed over Julianne DePaoli 6-1, 6-7, 6-4. Changes in the lineup included Mia Terracino at third singles, and Maggie Kost and Annie Beier at second doubles.

In the win over Bethel, Newtown again won all of its matches in the minimum two sets. Following Kelly and Frazzetta in the singles lineup were Terracino and Biondi. The doubles winners were Frattaroli and Roman at No. 1, along with Logan and Alexander at No. 2, and Tanner and Jerris at No. 3.

The boys’ team improved to 7-0 with a 5-2 win over Immaculate on April 25 and a 7-0 win over Bethel on Monday, ensuring a better-than-.500 record.

All of the boys’ team’s starters and subs alike have played in the minimum three matches necessary to earn a varsity letter, Newtown Coach Marty Margulies said.

In the win over Immaculate, Newtown’s top two singles players, Cam McCleary and Tyler Ruefenacht, came up short but played what Margulies said was perhaps their best-ever tennis in extending Immaculate’s top players to three sets.

Brian Hatcher defeated McCleary, 6-3, 1-6, 6-4, and Nick Hatcher outlasted Ruefenacht, 7-6, 2-6, 6-4. Margulies called those two matches “some of the finest and most exciting high school tennis that I’ve seen in my ten years of coaching here. And the rest of the team also played well in defeating a much-improved Immaculate squad. McCleary’s and Ruefenacht’s performance, and that of the others, make me believe that we can confront Barlow and Weston — who shape up as our two toughest opponents — on more or less equal terms,” the coach added.

Ricky Fuentes and Sean Elliott won two-setters at third and fourth singles, respectively, and all three of Newtown’s doubles tandems prevailed in two sets: Yossi Kohrman-Glaser and Keaton McCleary at No. 1, Adam Oelberg and Mason West at No. 2, and Charlie Poarch and Stefan Hennessey at No. 3.

In the win over Bethel, the same singles players and top two doubles teams that competed against Immaculate all came out on top. At third doubles, Kunal Marwah and Nic Klein were victorious in a three-setter.

The girls’ and boys’ squads were both slated to take on Brookfield on Wednesday (after The Bee sports section went to press). After facing New Milford on May 3, the boys will visit Weston on May 7 and host Joel Barlow of Redding on May 9. The girls will travel to nonconference opponent Fairfield Ludlowe on Friday, May 4, before also facing Weston and Barlow May 7 and 9, respectively, in potentially tough matches.