Naugy girls off to a fast start

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Naugatuck’s Sabrah Cegielski prepares to return a shot during a match against Woodland’s Rachel Poulus April 10 at Naugatuck High School. –LUKE MARSHALL

NAUGATUCK — The Naugatuck girls tennis team is giving head coach Jose Sendra plenty to think about.

After opening the season with a 4-3 win over Holy Cross and a 7-0 sweep of Wilby, the Greyhounds ran their record to 3-0 with a 5-2 win over Woodland on April 10.

The Greyhounds were tied 3-3 with Watertown on April 9 when rain halted the final doubles match, which will need to be played out to determine the winner.

“It’s still early in the season and the girls are giving me something to think about as they are all playing hard and working to get playing time,” Naugatuck head coach Jose Sendra said. “The goal is to keep progressing and getting better each day. Holy Cross gave us a good test, and it was our doubles that carried us in that match. We did have two All-NVL doubles teams coming back, and I split one of them up to form our top two singles.”

Sabrah Cegielski has taken on the No. 1 singles role. Her doubles partner from last year, Catarina Rego, is the No. 2 singles player this season. Sendra went to a couple of new tandems to complete the doubles teams, and all are working out well in the early going.

“Catarina is 3-1 on the season and has been doing well switching from doubles to singles,” Sendra said. “She lost on a tiebreaker to Holy Cross, so we did well splitting up one of our doubles teams.”

Naugatuck’s Catarina Rego serves during a match against Woodland’s Kaitlyn Crosby April 10 at Naugatuck High School. –LUKE MARSHALL

Against Woodland, Catarina Rego earned an 8-4 win in singles play over Kaitlyn Crosby, and Cristina Rego beat Ella Parker, 8-5. Yahna Ancheta knocked off Morgan Swift, 8-2, and Cegielski lost an 8-6 decision to Rachel Poulus.

Naugy took a 3-1 lead into doubles. The team of Natalie Paradise and Abby Lariccia won 8-3, and the duo of Adriana Moreno and Alison Bodyk took an 8-4 decision. The team of Brielle Behuniak and Hailey Russell lost 8-2 to Mia Piccolo and Alanna Carasone, the Hawks’ All-NVL doubles team.

Sendra said the Greyhounds can learn from each match lost.

“With every loss in a match, it’s a good thing, it gives us some food for thought and tells us where we need to improve,” Sendra said. “We faced Watertown and Woodland [last] week and it shows us where we need to get better.”

Naugatuck will face defending NVL champion Sacred Heart on Wednesday, before playing St. Paul on Thursday.