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Centaurs Ride Home
The Woodstock Academy girls’ tennis team was all smiles on its ride back home after a win over St. Bernard last week that gives them the ECC Div. 2 regular season title. Cotillo Sr. Day – Woodstock Academy’s Sara Cotillo was the only senior honored by the Woodstock Academy girls’ tennis team on Senior Day last week. Cotillo completed a very good day with a win at No. 4 singles. (Keith Atchinson photo)
Academy tennis teams take home two titles
The boys’ and girls’ tennis teams both had something to celebrate at Woodstock Academy last week.
The two both captured ECC Div. 2 titles.
The boys’ team had to share theirs with Montville as the two split their two matches this season and both finished 7-1 in the division.
Coach Siana Green said: “I am so excited for our team to share a title. This was our first division since I’ve been coaching and the first for the boys’ team in I don’t know how long. I went into the season just being happy to see our boys being able to get out and play. Winning the division was never the main goal.”
The girls’ team had clinched at least a tie for the division a week earlier but it made it a title of their own when they downed St. Bernard in Uncasville and again May 21 at home to finish 8-0 in Division 2.
“It feels great,” said junior No. 1 player Addy Smith. “After a long season of practicing really hard, it feels great. We didn’t go into the season with any expectations at all, actually, but we’re really glad that it happened.”
The two teams were both affected by the pandemic.
Tennis did not take place last spring. “It probably hurt us a little because we didn’t have access to the resources that we usually do but we worked really hard,” Smith said.
She added that there were some tough adjustments including starting with, essentially, a whole new team and a new head coach in Keith Atchinson.
The girls’ team had been helped by having very little change in its rotation. Smith, Jackie Trudeau, Sydney Schuler and Alexa Fernandez have been its singles players for almost the entire season.
That was shaken up a bit May 21 but only because Atchinson moved senior Sara Cotillo up to fourth singles to celebrate her Senior Day.
Cotillo is the only senior on the squad and delivered a win in a 7-0 shutout of St. Bernard in the second meeting of the week between the two schools.
The doubles teams were also steady with Ellie Bishop-Klee/Logan Reynolds; Cotillo/Morgan Bentley and Fiona Rigney/Stella Atchinson playing the majority of the matches.
“Consistency is always good in whatever you are doing and I think that really helped us a lot. We knew what to expect,” Smith said. “Although we play individually, the strength of this team has been that we can rely on each other.”
Four of the Centaurs boys will play in the ECC tournament which began May 24.
Stefan Chervenkov was seeded as the No. 5 singles player while Evan Haskins was No. 15 in the singles draw.
The top doubles team of Gabrial Viau and Asier Ruiz were given the eighth seed in the 12-team tournament.
“Going into an ECC tournament with half the amount of players as compared to normal (singles was a round of 16 rather than 32), I really only thought Stefan would get in. It was a nice surprise to get Evan in but he has worked really hard this season for all his wins and he deserves it,” Green said. “We worked on some things this weekend and I’m excited to see how are No. 1 doubles team adjusts to playing against some good players.”
The ECC girls’ tennis tournament also began May 24. Smith was seeded in the No. 4 slot while Jackie Trudeau was seeded 10th in singles play.
The Centaurs first doubles team of Ellie Bishop-Klee and Logan Reynolds were seeded No. 4 while the No. 2 team of Cotillo and Morgan Bentley were 10th.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy