Finding their stride

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Woodland’s Ally Mayne returns a shot versus Sacred Heart’s Colleen Flanigan Monday in Beacon Falls. Woodland won the match, 5-2. –ELIO GUGLIOTTI

BEACON FALLS — The Woodland girls tennis team wrapped the weekend with a pair of wins.

The Hawks improved to 3-1 on the season after back-to-back 5-2 wins over Sacred Heart on Monday and Wolcott last Friday.

Ally Mayne and Amanda Doughney earned 8-1 wins in singles play versus the Hearts.

With the match tied after the singles matches, the Hawks used the strength of their doubles teams to earn the win. The duos of Alyssa Varesio and Angelina Padilla and Morgan Stockheimer and Rachel Poulous took 8-1 decisions. Mia Piccolo and Alanna Carasone closed out the match with an 8-0 shutout.

The back-to-back wins followed a 5-2 loss to St. Paul on April 5.

“We lost to St. Paul and that still is a little egregious to me,” Woodland head coach Kate Gavigan said. “They came in and are a tough team, but my girls were a little sleepy that day. Ally lost for the first time this year, and then Amanda, who is a warrior, lost a heart breaker 9-8 in a tiebreaker.

“We just never came back from that. But we had a great practice after that and talked about some things and came back strong against Wolcott.”

Woodland’s Amanda Doughney returns a shot versus Sacred Heart’s Siobhan Gilmore. Woodland won the match, 5-2. –ELIO GUGLIOTTI

Woodland bounced back against Wolcott. Mayne took an 8-1 win and Doughney shut out her opponent 8-0. Kaitlyn Crosby gave the Hawks a 3-1 advantage heading into the doubles portion on the strength of an 8-4 win. Padilla and Varesio earned an 8-4 win, and Piccolo and Carasone won 8-0.

“We have talked about strategy because we see St. Paul again in a couple of weeks,” Gavigan said. “We have tremendous athletes and it’s all about developing the skills, technique and strategy to be successful.

“We have a great group of girls and they are all pulling for one another. I’m so proud of these girls. I really believe they have what it takes, and we are starting to pick up some momentum.”

Woodland will visit Ansonia on Thursday, then play Kennedy at Chase Park in Waterbury next Monday.