Girls' Tennis Bounced by Holy Cross

In a hard-fought first-round match in the Class S state tournament, the Woodland girls’ tennis squad fell to Holy Cross, a team with which they had split a pair of regular season meetings, 4-3, to end its season.

The number-one singles match pitted two familiar rivals, Hawks junior Stephanie Badale and Cross’s Dre Moschello, against each other. Just last week, Moschello defeated Badale, 6-3, 6-0, in the Naugatuck Valley League tournament final. This time, it was hardly different, as Moschello swept Badale again, 6-3, 6-3.

“She’s really good,” Badale said. “She’s got a good forehand, good backhard, she’s great at net, and gets to every single ball. She’s a great all-around player. The only way to beat her is to hit a real winner.”

The number-two and –three singles players, sophomore Megan Wester and senior Carly Winterhalder, also dropped their matches, putting the Hawks in a 3-0 hole. Sophomore Lauren Tremaglio won her match as the final singles player, making it 3-1 with doubles left to play.

Woodland’s top two doubles teams, juniors Sam Angeloszek and Erika Barnett along with senior Christina Genz and junior Jill Pagoni, both secured wins in straight sets to tie the overall match at three. The final doubles team of senior Kathryn Broderick and sophomore Angela Vallillo, though, were straight-setted and the Hawks were bounced from the tourney, 4-3.

Despite the loss, Woodland finished with another solid season, going 16-4 in the regular season and winning its second-straight NVL Copper Division title with mostly new faces at every level of the team.

“I think we had another outstanding season to follow up last year,” Angeloszek said. “We were Copper Division champs again and our team’s overall performance was excellent. Some of the key parts of this year, like Steph, Meg, and my doubles team, did very well and are coming back next year.”

Badale, now a three-time league medalist with her silver-winning performance this year, finished her year on a bit of a down note, but still feels she did well and looks forward to returning next season.

“I think I did pretty well this season. I really only lost to Dre and once to Naugatuck. I think Dre’s my biggest competition, and I’m excited to play her next year. I’m not really disappointed with this year, because I know I played my hardest and that’s all that counts.”