This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.
05/06/2017 12:00 AMThe Branford girls’ tennis team stayed strong through some tough times early on this spring with the hope that effort would translate to victories as the campaign unfolded. After losing their first six matches, the Hornets saw their upbeat attitude pay off in the form of three recent victories, including a nail-biting win against a team that had previously defeated them. Head Coach Jim Cole’s squad has high spirits and is riding a nice wave of momentum heading into the home stretch this season.
“They’ve made good progress,” Cole said. “It hasn’t shown until now, but everything is starting to jell for them a little bit, and that’s great.”
Branford earned its first win by blanking West Haven 7-0 on April 28. Following a 5-2 loss versus Law on May 2, the Hornets were back in Branford the next day and netted a 4-3 win over a Shelton squad that they’d lost to earlier in the year. The day after that, Branford claimed its third win in its last four matches by prevailing 6-1 at Career.
“I’m really happy for them, and the thing is that nobody is giving them these matches,” said Cole. “There are only three kinds of matches: the ones you never win, always win, and in the middle. So if you play at the right level most matches in the middle, that’s where the fun is--being a competitive challenge where winning is really meaningful...Shelton was the one where they had to roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty on that one.”
The Hornets’ initial win of 2017 was a 7-0 home shutout over West Haven. Senior captain Lauren Elmasry posted a 6-0, 6-0 victory at the No. 1 singles position, while junior captain Jen Hwang was a 6-2, 6-3 winner at the No. 2 spot. Senior Carol Frye won a 6-1, 7-6 (7-5) decision at No. 3 singles, and sophomore Jaime Fappianos earned a 6-2, 6-3 victory in the No. 4 singles match.
On the doubles court, Branford’s No. 1 tandem of juniors Keeley LePre and Tory Rudden won 6-2, 6-1, plus the freshman duo of Julianna Pegnataro and Amanda Gage prevailed 6-4, 6-4 at the No. 2 spot. Junior Libby Keyes and freshman Ellie Bartlett won by an 8-6 final at No. 3 doubles as the Hornets put their first victory on the board this year.
“They were over the moon. They had lost six matches, but there was no pouting or negatives. They got knocked down and got back up and got back to practice,” Cole said. “So they were able to separate who they are from what they were doing, and that let them keep working with a positive outlook, and then that’s when the progress happens.”
Branford’s next match was a 5-2 home defeat against Law. Elmasry and Hwang each won 6-2, 6-3 decisions at the No. 1 and 2 singles positions, respectively, for the Hornets. Both captains moved up one spot in the lineup from where they played last year.
“One of the difficult things about being No. 1 and, to a lesser extent, No. 2 is that, playing people at that level, you don’t get to practice against a wide variety of styles of play...and so you have to think fast on your feet and adapt your game in minutes, and that is one of the things that Lauren and Jen do really well,” Coach Cole said. “Lauren’s style of play is an all-court player who will take a short ball and will come into the net and volley and hit overheads. Jen is an expert of the baseline, moving them around, and leading them into errors from the baseline. Jen is less apt to come to the net, but is very strong mentally, which most baseliners are, and so she is one of the elite No. 2 singles players because of that.”
Elmasry (6-0, 6-0) and Hwang (7-5, 6-0) were once again triumphant when Branford edged out Shelton, 4-3, on May 3. LePre and Rudden won a 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 contest in the No. 1 doubles match, and then Gage and Keyes clinched the victory by rallying for a 0-6, 7-5, 6-4 win at No. 3. Coach Cole said that Gage and Keyes were “the heroes of the day” for teaming up for the first time and helping Branford avenge a 5-2 defeat at Shelton in its season opener.
“That’s important because it’s always good for a team, both individually and as a group, where they can see measurable progress,” said Cole. “They know what the results were from last time head to head, and being able to change head to head matches in a month...that’s really important because it validates the believe that they have in themselves.”
Cole also noted an exceptional effort from Fappianos and Frye in their 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 loss at No. 2 doubles in the Shelton match.
Then on May 4, the Hornets recorded a 6-1 victory over Career to improve to 3-7 on the season. Elmasry won 6-3, 6-1 at No. 1 singles, Frye posted a 6-0, 6-0 win at No. 3, and Fappianos took a 6-3, 6-2 decision in the No. 4 match. Bartlett, a freshman, played No. 2 singles in this contest after playing No. 3 against Shelton.
For the doubles duels, LePre and Rudden notched a 6-1, 6-0 victory at No. 1, Keyes and Gage won 6-0, 6-0, at No. 2, and the freshman pairing of Samantha Velardi and Maggie Martin claimed a 6-0, 6-1 win in the No. 3 contest. Branford features two more freshmen on its roster this year in Sarah Berdon and Jessica King.
From the Sidelines
Jim Cole is in his second season as head coach of Branford girls’ tennis. Cole grew up in Vermont, where he was a skier and a tennis player, although his high school did not have a varsity tennis team. However, Cole played tennis when he attended Lyndon State College in Vermont. He was a tennis pro for 40 years, the last 14 of which were at the New Haven Lawn Club. Last spring, Cole was named the Southern Connecticut Conference Girls’ Tennis Division I Coach of the Year in his first season with the Hornets.
Cole is working alongside a volunteer assistant coach in Ellie Bloomquist, who was one of the Hornets’ singles players and a senior captain last year.