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07/16/2014 12:00 AMThe Westbrook girls' tennis squad has been a successful program as of recent years, but this year went beyond Head Coach Paula Fitzgerald's expectations as the Knights not only went undefeated in the regular season at 18-0, but won the Shoreline Conference title and were the Class S runner-up.
"No one expects to win a league title-that's got to be beyond your expectations," said Fitzgerald. "It's tough because we made it to the state finals and you hope to pull it off, but there's only one team that can finish without a loss and that was Northwest Catholic. I hope the girls look back and don't think of that one last match because the season was such a great season for them."
That season consisted of total domination for the Knights. Westbrook played Valley Regional, which had just one loss, in the final regular season match and the Warriors threatened to share the title with the Knights, but Westbrook won handily. The Knights then went into the Class S Tournament as the top seed and beat Old Saybrook 6-1 in the first round, Stonington 6-1 in the quarterfinal, Valley again in the semifinal, 6-1, and then fell in a heartbreaker to Northwest Catholic, 4-3. Westbrook finished its season 21-1 overall.
Leading the pack was senior Liza Goldberg, who manned the No. 2 singles spot and qualified for the State Open, winning 75 percent of her matches throughout the year. She was also named Honorable Mention All-Shoreline.
"She was the heart and soul of our team, from the way she practiced, the effort she put in, and how she supported the other players. I can't say enough good things about her," said Fitzgerald. "She was one of the few players who's been here the whole time. We've had a fairly good run the past couple of years and she's been through all of it. Liza has been the one person on the team this year who's been through the whole thing."
Also serving as leaders were seniors McKenna Atkinson and Annie Raunikar. Atkinson (Coach's Award, Second Team All-Shoreline) played No. 4 singles and went undefeated in both the regular season and postseason and Raunikar played second doubles and went undefeated in the regular season with partner and junior Angelina Raffone as the tandem earned the Most Improved Award and Second Team All-Shoreline.
Playing at No. 1 singles and completely dominating the competition was freshman Casey Burns, who managed an undefeated record, as well, and was named co-MVP with sister and No. 3 singles player Callie Burns, who was also undefeated. The sisters also both earned First Team All-Shoreline as Casey Burns won the Shoreline Conference 1-2 singles title and Callie was runner-up in the 3-4 bracket. Casey was additionally named All-State and New Haven Register All-Area after going undefeated through the state tournament at No. 1 singles and making it to the quarterfinals in the State Open.
"I knew Casey would be an outstanding player, but until you actually see her play, you don't get it. She was phenomenal," said Fitzgerald.
Also contributing greatly to the Knights' success was the first doubles tandem of Lydia Murphy and Anna Schneider, as well as third doubles duo of Kaitlyn Luft and Olivia Lawton.
With the loss of three seniors to graduation, Fitzgerald and the Knights will be looking to fill some big shoes next spring.
"We've got a good group coming back, but we've got some big shoes to fill," said Fitzgerald. "You have to consider who you are replacing-losing someone who went undefeated like McKenna and Liza at No. 2 who made the State Open-people have to move up and we'll have to replace half the singles lineup. We need to find a doubles player that can step up and played at second doubles. But I can't complain with what we've got returning, but we'll see what happens."