East Granby grabs a share of first NCCC girls tennis title with Ellington

Canton’s Kate Volanski lost in the semifinals of the No. 3 singles flight at the NCCC Tournament at Suffield Academy. (Photo courtesy Bill Brewster)

SUFFIELD, May 22 – It was a tight race in the North Central Connecticut Conference this spring in girls tennis. There wasn’t much separating the top four teams in the league.

Ellington won a share of their third NCCC championship in the last five years while East Granby, on the strength of six victories by a point, grabbed a share of their first league title in girls tennis.

Both teams finished with a record of 8-1 in the league. Many NCCC teams played each other twice but it was the first scheduled match that counted toward the NCCC championship race.

East Granby (10-3, 8-1) beat Suffield, Bolton by one point with 4-3 decisions but they also beat Canton, Granby, Windsor Locks and Rockville by 4-3 margins as well.

Ellington (13-3, 8-1) was upset by Suffield in early April, 5-2, but the Purple Knights won their final six NCCC matches to grab a share of the league title.

Ellington outlasted East Granby on May 16 with a 4-3 decision to hand the Crusaders their first loss in the league. East Granby had two matches remaining in the league. They beat arch-rival Granby on Monday (May 20), 4-3 with Julia Redfield getting a crucial victory to set up a big match with rival Suffield the next day.

Again, the Crusaders prevailed with a 4-3 decision to claim a share of the championship. The doubles team of senior Alessandra Damato and freshman Mila Miller won in a tiebreaker to secure the final point.

Canton’s Lauren Almeida advanced to the semifinals at No. 2 singles at the NCCC Tournament before losing in a tiebreaker. (Photo courtesy Bill Brewster)

At the NCCC Tournament, Bolton (12-2, 7-2 NCCC) nipped Windsor Locks by a point, 18-17, to win the tournament for the second time in three years. Allison Bradley won at No. 2 singles with a three-set win over Suffield’s Alexa Greco while teammates Erica Dean and Lilli Minicucci won at No. 1 doubles. Two years ago, Dean was the league singles champion when Bolton won their first-ever NCCC Tournament.

Bolton’s LeeAnn Snuffer was second at No. 1 singles with a 6-1, 6-0 loss to Ellington’s Lexi Kubas. With two champions in singles – Kubas and Emma Hall at No. 3 – the Purple Knights were a close third with 16 points.

Canton finished eighth at the NCCC Tournament with two athletes reaching the semifinals of their respective flights. No. 2 seed Lauren Almeida dropped a 9-8 (8) tiebreaker to No. 3 seed Alexa Greco of Suffield at No. 2 singles while top seed Kate Volanski was upset in No. 3 singles by Ellington’s Emma Hall in the semifinals, 9-7.

The Warriors went 5-8 on the year and 5-4 in the NCCC.  Canton, led by head coach Stephen Riley, was one win shy of a berth in the Class S tournament.

2019 NCCC Girls Tennis standings

2019 NCCC Tournament
At Suffield Academy
Team results – 1. Bolton 18, 2. Windsor Locks 17, 3. Ellington 16, 4. Granby 12, 5. East Granby and Suffield 11, 7. Coventry 7, 8. Canton 6, 9. Rockville 5, 10. Hartford Classical 2
Individual results
Singles
No. 1: Lexi Kubas (Ell) def. LeeAnn Snuffer (B) 6-1, 6-0
No. 2: Allison Bradley (B) def. Alexa Greco (S) 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
No. 3: Emma Hall (Ell) def. Bianca Prescott (EG) 6-4, 6-2
No. 4: Alana Picard (WL) def. Aarushi (Ell) 6-1, 7-5
Doubles
No. 1: Erica Dean/Lilli Minicucci (B) def. Rachel Hennessey/Natalie Scanlon (G) 6-3, 6-2
No. 2: Nina DeGagne/Emma Fetridge (G) def. Meg Quinn/Lily Ye (WL) 6-0, 4-6, 6-2
No. 3: Shivani Bhut/Anna Pharattanavong (WL) def. Sophie Austin/Kathryn Scotto (G) 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.