Sports

Undefeated Avon Girls' Tennis Heads to the State Finals Friday

The team defeated Berlin 5-2 on Thursday.

It has been a record-breaking season for the Avon High School girls tennis team.

The Falcons hover in anticipation of Friday's Class M state championship match against Daniel Hand with a 23-0 season under their wings.

"Twenty-three wins in a season has never been done before in girls tennis anywhere in Connecticut dating back as far as the records go," Joel Ziff, head coach of Avon girls varsity tennis. 

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That includes 20 season matches and three tournament competitions. Avon beat Berlin High School, seeded fifth in the state for Class M, on Thursday, 5-2. Ziff said that "almost every match went down to the wire."

On top of a perfect season, record-wise, eight Avon players earned all-conference titles this year -- Hannah Dahlem, Catherine Go, Shivani Sinha, Alexandra Gorski, Christine Parsons, Mary Pearce, Pam Fetzer, Rachel Gladstone.

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"That has never been done by one team to my knowledge," Ziff said.

He has seen tremendous growth in the team since he started coaching at the high school five years ago. During that range, the team has gone 94-3 in the regular season, yet having more difficulty at the state level.

"We used to be known as the team that was an easy win if they played us in states," Ziff said. "Winning these three in a row against top quality teams has been great and changed everything that everyone thought about us."

He said that Avon has only made it to the state semifinals three times in the past 15 years.

After losing several talented seniors following last year's season, Avon parent Susan Norman -- whose daughter, Nicky is a junior on the team -- said that she and many others "thought it would be a rebuilding year."

That was not the case, however, and Ziff chalks it all up to teamwork and depth.

"Everyone's performances made a huge difference. It is the ultimate team," he said.

Dahlem, who plays in the number one slot, "has not lost a set all season," Ziff said, and she is undefeated in the state tournament.

On the boys' side, Alex Dahlem defeated Peter Jutras, of Canton, 6-2 and 6-4, one of seven players that swept the North Central Connecticut Conference championships for the title on May 26. Sam Flaxman, Sam Aronson and Michael Van Dusen won their singles matches, and all of the Avon doubles teams -- Jason Sittambalam and John Burdick, Jeremy Bloom and Riley Van Dusen, and Evan Selzer and Alex Saslow -- took first, as well.

Singles star Sinha is also undefeated in the tournament, Ziff said. He also noted that Gorski, Parsons, Pearce and Fetzer also won their matches against Berlin Thursday and have had victories in other major matches. 

The Falcons are flying high and hoping to continue their winning streak at 3 p.m. on Friday at Yale. However, they may not have the championship handed to them, as Hand goes into the finals 18-1. 


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