Hawks stumble on the court

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Boys perfect no more, girls drop 2 of 3

Woodland’s No. 3 singles player Salma Shitia returns a shot during her match with Watertown’s Alyssa Mucciaro Monday afternoon in Beacon Falls. Mucciaro won 8-5 as the Indians topped the Hawks 5-2. –ELIO GUGLIOTTI

BEACON FALLS — The Woodland boys tennis team finally lost. But it took a team outside the Naugatuck Valley League to do it, and it still wasn’t easy.

The Hawks fell to Lewis Mills, 3-2, on Monday afternoon to end a 33-match winning streak. Woodland is now 14-1 while the Berkshire League’s Spartans are 14-0.

The match was played in the best-of-three set format, compared to the NVL’s eight-game pro set style. The best-of-three style will be the way Woodland will have to play its league and state tournament matches.

No. 1 singles player Kyle Beynor suffered the first loss of his career to Trevor Robinson. Beynor dropped the first set, 4-6, before rallying for a 6-3 win in the second set. Robinson outlasted Beynor, 10-5, in the tiebreaker.

No. 2 Matt Murphy dropped a straight-set decision to Holden Robinson, while No. 3 Pat Dietz earned the Hawks’ only singled victory of the day. He beat Bill Bentley, 4-6, 6-1, 10-8.

In doubles, Jimmy Tompkins and Stephen Pec also needed the distance to beat Zack Marcoux and Nick Krause. The Hawks’ duo took a 6-2, 4-6, 10-6 victory.

The match came down to the final doubles match, which the Spartans’ Sinclair Bush and Clark Leonard took over Chris Zmuda and Nick Rioux, 6-2, 6-4.

The loss to Lewis Mills came after a pair of NVL victories last week to stay unbeaten in the league. The boys beat Wilby, 8-1, last Wednesday before holding off Naugatuck, 6-3, last Thursday.

The boys beat Watertown 6-3 on Wednesday and will play Wilby on Thursday before a showdown at Wolcott on Tuesday. Should the Hawks beat the Eagles, they will win another Brass Division championship.

Meanwhile, the Woodland girls (6-8) lost two of their three matches on the week. After sweeping Wilby, 7-0, last Wednesday, the Hawks lost matches to St. Paul and Watertown by 5-2 scores.

The Ayah Galal-Olivia Harrison and Liz Martin-Hope Gavigan doubles teams both earned two victories last week, while Rachel Mariano, Julia Lawton, Salma Shitia, and Lauren Tompkins all earned wins in singles play.

The girls are scheduled to visit Seymour on Friday and Ansonia on Monday before hosting Wolcott in the final regular-season match on Tuesday. The NVL team tournament begins May 18.