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07/22/2017 12:00 AMThe North Haven girls’ tennis team enjoyed one of its best seasons in recent years this spring as the Indians notched six more victories than they did in 2016 by finishing with an overall record of 18-5.
North Haven went 17-3 for the regular season on its way to qualifying for the playoffs for the eighth straight year with Head Coach Bob Migliorini. The Indians then earned a 4-3 win over Lauralton Hall in the SCC Tournament quarterfinals before losing to eventual conference and Class M state champion Hand in the semis. North Haven had a tough draw in the Class M State Tournament, dropping its first-round contest by a 4-3 final against Guilford, which later lost to Hand in the championship match.
While he was hoping his team could advance further in the postseason, Coach Migliorini felt pleased with the sum total of his team’s campaign and was impressed that his squad won 18 matches in the ultra-competitive SCC.
“It was a little better than I thought. We turned out to be one of the four best teams in the SCC, and I didn’t think we’d be that good. So, overall, it was a better season than I expected,” Migliorini said. “It was a much better season than last season. We had girls on the team that matured and became better players and, ultimately, that translated into more wins and few losses relative to the previous season. It was one of the strongest seasons we’ve had in terms of overall wins and losses.”
The Indians’ two biggest wins came against defending Class M champion Lauralton Hall, which they had never defeated in Coach Migliorini’s tenure. North Haven posted a 4-3 victory over the Crusaders on May 1 and then prevailed by that same score in the SCC quarterfinals later in the month.
“The two wins versus Lauralton Hall were the keys. Those were the biggest victories we had,” Migliorini said. “It was our first time ever beating Lauralton Hall, who was the Class M state champion the previous two years, so they’re a strong team and a strong program. We had really close, exciting matches against them, and those were, by far and away, our two most important victories.”
North Haven swept all four singles matches in both meetings versus Lauralton Hall, led by No. 1 singles player Julia Migliorini, who followed by her fantastic freshman season with a sensational sophomore year. Migliorini went 26-1 and won every set she played until taking her lone defeat in the quarterfinals of the State Open Tournament. For the second straight season, Migliorini was named North Haven’s Most Valuable Player, made the All-SCC Team, was selected as the SCC Girls’ Tennis Player of the Year, garnered All-State honors, and earned a spot on the New Haven Register All-Area Team. On top of that, Migliorini was chosen as the Register’s All-Area MVP for the first time. In her two seasons at North Haven, she owns a record of 48-3.
“Julia had a significantly better year, because she was a significantly better player than she was last year. She improved from a lot of training and playing in a lot of tournaments in the offseason,” said Coach Migliorini. “Julia grew three inches over the course of the year and, when you’re taller, you can hit the ball harder, and she had more power on her serve and more power in her ground strokes. Her backhand is tremendously better than last year. She knew that was something she had to work on, she spent a lot of time on it, and it got a lot better.”
No. 2 singles player Olivia Hoyt also improved considerably from last year by progressing from 11-10 to 18-8, while qualifying for the State Open. Hoyt, who captained the team with fellow seniors Sejal Atluru and Nina Padro, received the Indians’ Sportsmanship Award.
“This was a great season for Olivia. She had big wins against Lauralton Hall, where we really needed her to win those matches, and they were close matches. She also performed really well in the State Open and had a great overall record,” said Migliorini. “A lot of it came from another year of experience at 2 singles in our lineup. Olivia was a year older, more mature, more experienced, and is just a great, steady player.”
Hoyt’s sister and fellow senior Hillary Hoyt also improved upon her record from last season. After going 15-5 at No. 3 singles as a junior, she finished with a record of 22-1 this year. Coach Migliorini noted Hoyt’s 7-6, 6-4 victory against Hand in the SCC semis as a major statement.
“Hillary is a steady performer, and her biggest victory of the year was beating Hand in the SCC Tournament. She lost her first match to Hand during the regular season, but in the SCC Tournament, she pulled of a victory against a really strong player,” he said. “Hillary played better in the second match. Maybe she caught the girl a little by surprise after she had defeated Hillary in straight sets, but she just played better in the second match, as opposed to the first one.”
Another player who finished with a better record than last year was junior Rachel Petry, who improved from 15-4 to 18-3 at the No. 4 singles position. Petry was selected as North Haven’s Most Improved Player and will captain next season’s team with fellow soon-to-be-senior Avery Hill, plus Migliorini.
“Rachel got a lot better during the course of the season, particularly cutting down unforced errors on the baseline with her ground strokes, but also when she came up to the net. She also cut down her double faults on serve,” Coach Migliorini said. “One benchmark was how Rachel competed against Olivia and Hillary in practice. At the beginning of the year, they were beating her easily, but by the end of the season, it was really close, and that was because of how much Rachel improved. And like Julia, she played a tremendous amount of tennis in the offseason and trains hard all year.”
Moving to North Haven’s doubles lineup, the duo of senior captain Nina Padro and fellow senior Amber Jean-Guillaume won six matches in their first year playing the No. 1 spot. Coach Migliorini said their biggest triumph came in a rematch against a Hamden tandem that had defeated them earlier in the year.
At No. 2 doubles, senior captain Sejal Atluru and sophomore Zoe Bowerman tallied a record of 10-9, including a win versus a team from Mercy that they had lost to in their initial meeting.
The Indians’ No. 3 team of juniors Avery Hill and Katrina Nadolny netted eight victories and gave a gritty effort while dropping a pair of narrow decisions versus a formidable pairing from Hand.
Junior Lexi Porto and sophomore Lily Mezzi also played a couple of varsity matches for North Haven this season. The rest of the Indians’ roster was comprised of juniors Jashan Kang, Abby Smalley, Jennifer Smith, and Jessica Thomas; sophomores Daniella Bryson, Yasmin Mohamed, Jessica Tran, and Melinda Vissicchio; and freshmen Faitmah Anwar, Claire Looney, Victoria Porto, Jesse Rodrigues, and Anna Wootton. Head Coach Bob Migliorini completed his ninth season as the helm and was assisted by Justin Simon.