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04/23/2015 12:00 AMEven though North Haven girls’ tennis graduated five starters from last year and has people moving up in the pecking order, Head Coach Bob Migliorini still expects his squad to post a winning record and reach the postseason in 2015. And why not? After all, the Indians have hit double-digit wins the past five years while making the playoffs in each one and so no one wants to take a step backwards.
Based on the campaign’s early returns, North Haven is in solid shape as Migliorini’s team owns a record of 4-2 and even put forth competitive efforts against solid squads in its two losses—a 4-3 defeat to Amity and a 5-2 loss versus Hand. Most recently, the Indians claimed two home victories with 6-1 wins against Sacred Heart Academy and Foran.
“Relative to last year, when we had a lot of seniors, this is a really young team with only two seniors. Because of that, it will be much more challenging for us to get in a groove and get used to match play, particularly in doubles due to lack of experience. I think if we ever had a rebuilding year, this would be it,” Coach Migliorini said. “But our goals are still to have a winning season, qualify for states, and make SCCs, and those are goals we can achieve even though we’re in a rebuilding process.”
Migliorini is counting on his singles lineup to lead that mission considering all four players were varsity regulars last season. Senior captain Emily Migliorini is back at the top spot with junior Julia Gill moving up from No. 4 to No. 2. Sophomore sisters Olivia and Hillary Hoyt, who banded together at second doubles last spring, are now competing at No. 3 and 4 singles, respectively.
The doubles depth chart features less experience, although senior captain Emma Dzialo saw plenty of varsity court time last year at No. 3 and is now playing No. 1 alongside junior Sophie Bates. Sophomore Sejal Atluru and freshman Rachel Petry are the squad’s No. 2 tandem with sophomores Nina Padro and Amber Jean-Guillaume at No. 3.
“We need our singles lineup to perform really well. That’s the strength of our lineup and so we need all four of them to have a good winning percentage. In doubles, we’re looking for them to show continuous improvement, win some of their matches, and then carry that over to next year, when we’ll have almost everyone back,” said Migliorini. “So far, we’re off to a good start. We put little scare into Amity by winning three singles matches and were also competitive against Hand.”
The Indians won six of their seven matches in completing their season sweep of Sacred Heart Academy. Migliorini had no difficulty winning her No. 1 singles contest, 6-0, 6-0. She also prevailed the next day when the team took on Mercy, although that match was stopped due to rain and will be completed at a later date. Migliorini then won 6-1, 6-0 versus Foran to move to 7-0 on the season and boasts a record of 67-9 for her career. Last season, she posted 20 victories en route to being named the SCC Player of the Year and New Haven Register All-Area MVP, in addition to her third consecutive All-Area bid and second straight All-State and All-Conference accolades, as well as claiming North Haven’s MVP Award for the second year in a row.
“Emily is solid as a rock and I expect her to have another year like last year—maybe even better,” Coach Migliorini said of his daughter, who will compete at Connecticut College in the fall. “We’ve been working more on her net game so that when she gets a short ball, to try and hit an approach shot and follow it with a volley to end the point sooner and to also hit more winners when she has the opportunity.”
Meanwhile, Gill is certainly faring fine in her first go-round at No. 2 singles. After winning nine matches as North Haven’s No. 4 last season, Gill is out to a 5-1 mark to open 2015, including a three-set win against Hand. In her victory versus SHA, Gill sailed to a 6-0, 6-1 triumph, after which she won against Foran 6-1, 6-0.
“Julia’s game was improved tremendously as she’s gotten a little stronger and developed into a nice singles player.” Migliorini said. “Julia is cutting down on her unforced errors and is moving her opponents around more. She’s off to a great start and her win against Hand was probably the biggest one she’s ever had.”
Each of the Hoyt siblings has also picked up a big victory as both were victorious when the Indians battled Amity. Olivia dropped a 5-7, 7-5, 6-4 decision against Sacred Heart, yet bounced back to defeated her Mercy opponent 6-2, 6-1 before the rains came and she then posted a 6-2, 6-0 win versus the Lions. Olivia, who was filling in at No. 2 singles for the halted Mercy contest, stands at 5-2 for the season. Hillary made short work of her SHA adversary by winning 6-2, 6-0, followed by a 6-0, 6-1 win against Foran, and has a mark of 5-1. Last season, the duo went 10-9 playing No. 2 doubles.
“They don’t make a lot of mistakes. They’re like a backboard with how they keep the ball in play, which wins you a lot of matches at 3 and 4 singles,” said Migliorini. “I think their games are better suited for singles with how they like to stay back and rally from the baseline. It was huge for them both to win against Amity.”
Moving to the doubles lineup, Dzialo and Bates have won two matches thus far, including a 6-2, 7-6 victory against Sacred Heart Academy. Migliorini was pleased to see them dominate the tiebreaker after squandering a lead in the second set. Dzialo went 11-8 with graduate Jenny Cheung at No. 3 doubles last year.
“Emma is a good doubles player with a really good net game and Sophie is working on her net game, so we’ll hopefully see them continue to develop as a team,” he said. “After the other team forced a tiebreaker, they turned things around and won convincingly.”
Atluru and Petry are 3-1 at No. 2 doubles and won 6-1, 7-5 against SHA. The third doubles pairing of Padro and Jean-Guillaume have a 4-2 record. They notched a 7-5, 6-4 triumph versus the Pacers and a 6-1, 6-2 victory in the Foran match,
“Rachel and Sejal are two promising players who play in the offseason and we may be grooming them for No. 1 doubles next year,” Coach Migliorini said. “Nina and Amber are both competitive kids with good athletic ability who we’ve thrown into the fire and so it’s a matter of them getting experience to hopefully form a strong team at the No. 3 position.”
Migliorini added that there are some other athletes who may contribute in doubles as the season unfolds in juniors April Chen and Sabrina Tessitore; sophomores Marie Duffy and Celeste Battipaglia; plus freshmen Katrina Nadolny (who teamed with Petry versus Hand), Avery Hill, Alexis Porto, and Jessica Thomas. Chen and Hill teamed up at No. 2 doubles against Foran and gave a great effort in taking a 7-5, 3-6, 6-0 defeat. Dzialo and Atluru played No. 1 doubles that day and won 6-0, 6-3.
The rest of the Indians’ roster features sophomores Lanna Akil, Anicia Anderson, Letcia Avila, Jillian Elliot, Augusta Keo, and Abby McKiegan; along with freshmen Niti Bidja, Roma Moore, and Disha Patel.
Notes
Bob Migliorini is in his eight season as the head coach of North Haven girls’ tennis. He’s assisted by assistant coaches Sherry Migliorini, who’s also in her eighth year; and Justin Simon, who joined the program last year.
North Haven went 11-5 for the regular season in 2014. The team then defeated Shelton 4-3 in the SCC Division I quarterfinals before losing to Amity 5-2 in the semis. After that, the Indians beat Newington 6-1 in the Class L State Tournament qualifying round, after which they took a 7-0 loss to Darien to finish at 13-7.
North Haven plays in Tier 1 of Division I of the SCC with Amity, Hand, and Guilford. The Indians have faced Amity and Hand once and have road rematches with those teams on May 6 and May 14, respectively. North Haven hosts Guilford on Monday, May 4 and then plays on that squad’s home court in the regular season finale on May 22. Tier 2 features Lauralton Hall, Cheshire, Branford, Sheehan, and Shelton; Tier 3 consists of Foran, Hamden, Sacred Heart Academy, and Mercy; and Law, Career, Lyman Hall, East Haven, and West Haven are in Tier 4.