NEW HAVEN, May 30 – The Avon High boys tennis team put three singles players and a doubles team in the quarterfinals of the Class M tournament but that is as far as the Falcons could progress.
Weston ran away with the tournament, winning their third straight Class M championship with Avon finishing a distant second with 19 points and East Lyme taking third with 14 points. Berlin was fourth with 13 points.
In singles, Dylan Melnick, No. 5 seed Arjun Chandra-Mohanty and No. 10 seed Chris Arciero each advanced to the quarterfinals with three victories. All three were eliminated at this point. Melnick fell in straight sets to eventual Class M champion Andrew Ilie of St. Joseph, 6-0, 6-0 while Chandra-Mohanty fell to No. 4 Matthews Sydney of Weston, 6-3, 7-5.
Melnick upset No. 9 seed Bradley Stutzman of Branford in the second round, 6-2, 4-6, 10-3. Arciero beat No. 7 Tyler Huhtanen of Woodstock Academy, 6-3, 4-6, 10-7 in the third round before being eliminated by No. 2 Sebastian Casellas of Weston, 6-2, 6-1.
In doubles, No. 5 seed Austin Chen and Evan Purcell of Avon won their first two matches before being eliminated by No. 4 Devaon Chen and Eric Yu of East Lyme, 6-2, 7-5.
Avon’s Yefim Gorodnitsky won a match along with No. 10 seed Daniel Fischler/John Hogan in doubles before they were both eliminated.
Weston had two players in the semifinals in singles, led by Illie, who won the championship. In doubles, Weston had two teams in the finals with top-seeded Reid Brostoff and Jesse Kallins outlasting their No. 7 teammate Drew Berkin and Steven Dampf, 6-2, 7-5.
It was Avon’s seventh straight top three finish in the Class M tournament. Avon won three consecutive Class M championships from 2011-13. It’s the biggest win the Class M tournament this century and the largest margin of victory since Joel Barlow beat New Canaan by 12 points in 2002.
It was a fine season for the Falcons, who went 13-1 overall and 8-1 in the CCC Central White to capture the division championship under first-year coach Vinnie Costello. Farmington finished second in the CCC Central White with a 6-3 record. Avon clinched the title with a 5-2 win over the Indians on May 19 with four of the seven bouts being decided by tiebreakers.
It’s the first division title for the Falcons since they joined the Central Connecticut Conference.
GIRLS TENNIS
Falcons win two matches
AVON – The Avon High girls tennis team went 2-10 this spring and 2-7 in the CCC Central White with victories over Windsor, 4-3, and Bulkeley/HMTCA co-op team, 5-2. Farmington won the CCC Central White title with a 7-2 record with Northwest Catholic taking second at 6-3. Avon finished third in the division (2-7) followed by Windsor (1-8) and Bulkeley/HMTCA (0-9).
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