Newtown High Tennis Teams Strong To Start

By Andy Hutchison

Newtown High School’s boys’ and girls’ tennis teams are off to strong starts this spring season. The boys had a 2-0 record and the girls carried a 2-1 mark into the middle of this week.

The boys’ squad opened the season with a 5-2 win over Joel Barlow in Redding on April 7 and followed with a 5-2 triumph over visiting Pomperaug of Southbury on Monday.

In the Barlow match, No. 2 singles player Peter Manos earned a 6-1, 6-3 win, No. 3 player Rob Beier won 6-0, 6-0 and No. 4 player Casey Tenney came away with a 6-2, 6-1 victory. The No. 2 doubles tandem of Rich Andreotta and Tyler Ruefenacht prevailed in a three-setter, 3-6, 6-1, 6-0 and the No. 3 duo of Cam McCleary and Max Paynter won 6-1, 6-3.

Against Pomperaug, Beier and Tenney were singles winners, each scoring 6-3, 6-3 victories, and all three doubles teams came out on top. The No. 1 team of Colin Jacob and Connor Howell won 6-1, 6-4, the No. 2 duo of Andreotta and Ruefenacht won 6-4, 3-6, 10-6 and the No. 3 team of McCleary and Paynter won 6-1, 6-3.

“We are off to our most promising start ever. We’ve gained our third consecutive win over Barlow, an ancient nemesis, and have beaten Pomperaug by our widest margin in nearly ten years,” said Newtown Coach Marty Margulies, whose team had not beaten Barlow in about a decade before last season’s win.

“Our team is very well balanced, with players at the bottom who are capable on a given day of beating, or at least challenging, players at the top. And while we are not looking past any opponents — we take all matches seriously — we have our sights set, for real, on defeating Weston this coming April 28,” the coach added. “Which, if it happens, will be a first-ever in Newtown High School tennis memory.”

Margulies believes that if his team plays with more consistency and greater control, it has a genuine shot at going unbeaten or winning almost every match.

The girls’ team also got off to a 2-0 start, topping visiting Lauralton Hall of Milford 5-2 on April 7 and blanking Notre Dame-Fairfield 7-0 on April 9. Newtown lost a tight one, 4-3, at Pomperaug in Southbury on Monday.

In the win over Hall, top singles player Christina Ciamarra came away with a 6-1, 6-2 triumph and No. 2 singles player Lauren Frazetta, a freshman, won her first high school match, in convincing fashion, 6-1, 6-0. No. 3 player Caitlyn O’Mahoney went down with a rolled ankle and had to forfeit the match.

In doubles play, all three tandems came out on top. The No. 1 duo of Megan Loose and Ashley Cech won 6-0, 6-1, the No. 2 team of Sara Benson and Ale Fuentes battled back to win 3-6, 7-6, 7-5, and the No. 3 team of Stephanie Roman and Jillian Ciamarra came out on top, 6-2, 6-4.

Against Notre Dame, the top two singles players, Christina Ciamarra and Frazetta both won 6-0, 6-0, Fuentes stepped in at No. 3 and won 6-0, 6-1, and Maria Biandi got her first win, also with a 6-0, 6-1 score.

All three doubles teams — Loose and Cech at No. 1, Jillian Ciamarra and Grace Winans at No. 2 and Ayesha Dholaka and Nicole Vournazos — all won 6-0, 6-0.

Newtown fell just short in the Pomperaug match. At No. 1 singles, Christina Ciamarra won 6-3, 6-2, Frazetta won 6-3, 7-5 at No. 2 and Vournazos prevailed 6-4, 6-4 at No. 3.