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04/21/2013 12:00 AMFollowing a historic 2012 that saw North Haven girls’ tennis win 17 matches en route to the semifinals of the conference and state tournaments, the Indians find themselves alongside Hand, Amity, and Foran in the top division of the realigned SCC.
North Haven has faced all three of those teams early this season, losing to Hand and Amity before earning win against Foran two weeks ago. The Indians then took that momentum into last week’s matches and swept all three, prevailing at Cheshire 6-1 and then earning a 6-1 home win against East Haven and a 5-2 home victory versus Branford, putting Bob and Sherry Migliorini’s squad at 5-2 with a five-match win streak.
“Our success over the last few years has resulted in us being in the top echelon of the SCC as we’re now recognized as one of the top teams in the conference,” said Bob Migliorini. “This means we’ll play Amity and Hand twice instead of once and it’s still our goal to beat them and have as good a record as possible going into the postseason.”
Last week, North Haven first defeated Cheshire 6-1 behind dominating performances from each member of its singles lineup. Sophomore Emily Migliorini—who went 19-2 between the No. 2 and 3 spots to make All-Area last spring and is now in her first season at the No. 1 spot her sister Alyssa held down the last four years—earned a 6-0, 6-0 victory. Senior captains Amelia Hoyt and Erin Norden—who went 13-2 to make All-SCC in No. 1 doubles last spring—prevailed 6-1, 6-0 and 6-1, 6-1, respectively, at the No. 2 and 3 singles positions. Junior Alexia Petruzziello, who was 18-3 at No. 4 singles last season, claimed a 6-0, 6-1 victory at that spot.
“Cheshire is historically a good team and our singles lineup, which is the strength of our team, was dominant,” Migliorini said.
The Indians also saw their top doubles tandem of senior captain Santina Marinelli and Allie Carroll post a 6-1, 6-3 win with its No. 3 duo of juniors Reagan Fitzgerald and Meredith Whitcomb prevailing 2-6, 6-4, 6-4. Seniors Caitlin Barrett and Lauren Arpino took a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 defeat at No. 2 doubles.
Coach Migliorini talked about what he’s seen from his doubles lineup so far this season.
“Allie and Santina both played doubles last year, but not together, yet they are already jelling and getting stronger this year by getting more aggressive at the net and cutting down unforced errors,” Migliorini said. “Meredith and Reagan played a lot of ghost matches together last year and work well with each other so we decided to keep them together this year. Caitlin and Lauren still have a ways to go in terms of getting them to the level we want them to be at, but they’re playing reasonably well are two seniors who we know can step up.”
Against the Yellowjackets, North Haven saw more dominance from its singles lineup with Migliorini winning 6-1, 6-0 at No. 1 and Hoyt, Norden, and Petruzziello all claiming 6-0, 6-0 victories at the No 2 through 4 spots, respectively.
In doubles, Marinelli and Carroll won 6-0, 6-0 at No. 1 and the tandem of junior Jenny Cheung and sophomore Emma Dzialo triumphed 6-2, 7-6 at No. 3. Whitcomb and Arpino took a 7-5, 6-3 defeat in No. 2 action.
“This was Jenny and Emma’s first appearance of the season and it was nice to see them win a close match in a second-set tiebreaker,” Migliorini said.
In the Branford win, Migliorini, Hoyt, Norden, and Petruzziello all claimed 6-0, 6-0 wins in singles play. Marinelli and Carroll won 6-2, 6-2 at No. 1 doubles; Whitcomb and Arpino battled tirelessly in dropping a 6-7, 6-2, 10-6 decision at No. 2; and Dzialo and Cheung lost 6-4, 6-4 at No 3.
All and all, despite his team’s 0-2 start, Coach Migliorini is pleased with the early returns of the 2013 campaign.
“We started out with two losses, but bounced back by winning some matches that we felt we were supposed to win,” he said. “North Haven girls’ tennis is a strong team and the girls want to keep it going.”
The Indians’ roster additionally features juniors Maureen Gill and Justine Tumacder, sophomores Angela Demaio, Hannah Grant, Mary McLamb, Sharlynn Parikh, and Angela Yin; plus freshmen April Chen, Lia Crowley, Julia Gill, Ahna Knudsen, and Marisa Montovani.