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The girls’ tennis team is all smiles after capturing their third consecutive ECC Div. II title last week. Photo courtesy of Keith Athchinson/Woodstock Academy.
It was a lot of work.
But at the end, there was a big reward.
The Woodstock Academy girls’ tennis team survived a four-hour marathon against Lyman Memorial in Lebanon last week and posted a 4-3 victory.
The win improved the Centaurs record to 5-0 in Div. II of the ECC and gave them their third consecutive division title.
“This was a stressful one, I will tell you,” said a relieved coach Keith Atchinson. “We had some very close matches where we had to come back. A number of them went to three sets. I’m super-happy for the girls, especially losing all the seniors from last year, that we came back and had a nice season again this year.”
The second doubles team of Gianna Musumeci and Kerrigan Reynolds were the duo that put the Centaurs over the top against the Bulldogs.
They had to battle three sets and a tiebreaker to do it, but they eventually posted a 3-6, 7-6, 3-2 (10-7) win over Kendall Breault and Skylar Hofmann.
“That clinched it for us. Peyton Bentley also had a huge come-from-behind win for us at fourth singles. We went up 3-1 in the match but (Lyman) took the first set in all three doubles so it wasn’t looking good for a while there,” Atchinson said.
Bentley lost her first set, 4-6, but rallied in the next two with a pair of decisive 6-1 victories over Naomi Duhaime.
Ellie Bishop-Klee, at first singles, was the only straight-set winner for the Centaurs with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Nina Gardella.
Wynter Worth, at second singles, posted a 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 victory over Alexis Zimnoch.
In all, five of the seven matches went to three sets.
“It was a long one, a lot of long points,” Atchinson said.
“A four-hour match is tough especially at this time of year with exams starting. This was the first match of six in the next seven days so it wasn’t the best way to start that stretch but it is what it is and we will do the best we can.”
The Centaurs were 50-50 for the remainder of the week in a pair of non-divisional matches and also had one match, at Stonington, postponed by rain.
They fell to East Lyme down by the shoreline, 7-0, to East Lyme but rebounded on Saturday for a 4-3 win over St. Bernard at the Pomfret School.
The win raised the Centaurs record to 6-3 overall.
Worth just got past Meri Kambolli of the Saints when Kambolli was forced to retire due to injury while trailing 4-0 in the third set. Worth had won the first set 7-6, but lost the second 5-7.
Bentley captured a win in the fourth singles with another three-set marathon. Bentley jumped out ahead of Carmela Rangel 6-1, but lost the second set to her St. Bernard opponent, 6-7. Bentley rebounded in the third set to win the match with a 6-0 victory.
The Centaurs finished things off with a pair of doubles wins.
Musumeci and Reynolds captured the second doubles with a straight-set victory while Maeve Lusignan and Kate McArthur were also winners at third singles.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
.