Tennis players take on state competition 

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After successful Naugatuck Valley League seasons for the Naugatuck and Woodland tennis teams, both schools mostly wrapped up their spring campaigns in state tournament action at the end of May.

In the Class S boys tournament, Woodland earned a pair of No. 8 seeds with Josh Powanda in singles action and Dante and Devon Polletta in doubles play.

Powanda earned a pair of victories — a 6-0, 6-0 win over Cromwell’s Aakash Dave in the first round and a 6-3, 6-1 win over East Hampton’s Noah Gibson in the second round — before suffering his only defeat of the season to No. 9 Joe Wilson of Immaculate in a 6-4, 6-3 third-round match.

The Polletta twins earned a first-round bye in the doubles tournament but suffered a 6-4, 6-3 loss to Morgan’s Zachary Johnson and Charles Whelan in the second round.

Woodland’s other doubles squad of Andrew Hopkinson and Tyler Macdowall earned a 6-3, 6-3 first-round victory over Wamogo’s Garrett Oliver and Aidan Weik before dropping a 6-1, 6-2 decision to No. 14 Conner Wyman and Theodore Wayland of Old Lyme in the second round.

Jeff Varesio, Austin Roberts and Richie Weishner also qualified for singles action but lost first-round matches.

The only winner for Naugatuck in Class L tournament play was the doubles squad of Jay Mezzo and Jared Montini. They earned a 6-3, 4-6, 10-7 win over Guilford’s Nicholas Antony and Ethan Corpuel in the first round before falling, 6-0, 6-0, to No. 2 Christopher Calderwood and Romano DeCaprio of Darien.

In singles play, Brian Andrade qualified for the main draw with an 8-1 win in the opening draw, while Timothy Rosa fell in his opening-round match. Andrade, Ray Hess and Fernando Moreno all exited from the first-round in straight sets, while Naugy’s other doubles squads — Jonathon Vincent-Daniel Fine and Andres Maldonado-Brandon Sampaio — also lost in the first round.

GIRLS TENNIS

Despite qualifying for the Class M girls team tournament as the No. 2 seed, Naugatuck suffered a 5-2 upset loss to No. 15 Waterford in first-round action May 25.

The Woodland girls would have qualified for the Class S tournament as the No. 17 seed, but due to opening-round matches being scheduled for the same day as the school’s senior prom, the Hawks elected to decline their spot in the draw.

The only local players to qualify for the State Open were Woodland’s Alanna Carasone and Mia Piccolo. They earned the No. 16 seed in the doubles draw, which is scheduled to begin Saturday at Hall High in West Hartford.