Ledyard Girls Finally Making a Racquet in ECC

It's no secret that Ledyard High female sports teams have not raised many Eastern Connecticut Conference divisional championship banners on the gymnasium walls recently.

Soccer, softball, basketball and track and field won their share of ECC and state titles in the ‘90s, but the Colonels have lagged behind NFA, East Lyme, Waterford and Fitch in the area girls’ sports arms race since the new millennium.

While girls’ sports have improved with girls’ soccer, basketball, lacrosse and track and field qualifying for state tournaments this season, the ECC championship drought lives on … but maybe not for long.

If you had to handicap the team to hang the first banner, girls’ tennis, coming off of six straight losing seasons, might have been as much of a longshot as 20-1 Animal Kingdom was to win in the Kentucky Derby. Yet, after knocking off Windham , 5-2, Tuesday, and Bacon, 4-3, Wednesday, the Colonels (9-3 overall) stand in first place in the Medium (5-1) heading into the season's late stages.

Ledyard has pleasantly overachieved according to coach Scott Woodruff.

“I was hoping for a .500 season,” Woodruff said.  “We’ve guaranteed a winning season and qualified for the states for the first time in a while (2005). This is a group of girls that enjoys playing and wants to get better. The record is icing on the cake.”

Woodruff is no stranger to Ledyard tennis success. He coached the Colonel boys’ team to two ECC crowns in an eight-year stint from 1985 to 1992. He took a break to concentrate on teaching chemistry at Ledyard and to help raise an infant daughter and two other kids.

Now that baby daughter, Sarah, is a LHS senior and No. 3 singles player.

The Woodruffs, a senior foreign exchange student and a strong junior class have helped rejuvenate the program.

Woodruff was co-coach with Katia Vansuch in 2009 when Sarah was an underclassmen. Vansuch was on her way to moving to New Jersey the next season.

“The timing was right and I eased in that first year with the intention of taking over in 2010,” said Woodruff, an active player and instructor in Groton youth programs. The Colonels didn’t win many matches in 2009, but featured the ECC’s singles champ in Joana Sun, who now plays Division I college tennis at Marist.

“Everyone paid attention to Joana, who was amazing,” Woodruff said. “We had a large group of freshmen on that team who have now come into their own as juniors.”

Some of those juniors include No. 1 singles player Addy Jakuba and Callie Bateman at No. 4. Senior foreign exchange student Caroline Calomme of Belgium rounds out the single lineup at No. 2.

Woodruff lists Ledyard’s doubles as the team’s strength. The top two tandems of juniors KC Wilson and sophomore Madi Blask and juniors Kaitlyn Turner-Danielle Giggi have lost just one match apiece all season. Junior Natalie Schulz has filled in well in singles, and No. 3 doubles Kayla Fowler and Emily Haggett have contributed points.

In the win over Windham , which was previously unbeaten in the ECC Medium, Calomme, Woodruff and Bateman won singles matches. Turner-Giggi and Haggett- Fowler clinched with wins at No. 2 and No. 3 doubles, respectively.

“Windham ’s strength was doubles as well,” Woodruff said. “Two matches came right down to the wire and we took both. Honestly, I’m very pleased. A lot of factors have gone our way. We've improved and usually strong teams like East Lyme are rebuilding, so the ECC is more wide open."

This is evidenced by Ledyard losing 4-3 to NFA and Bacon, beating St. Bernard and East Lyme 4-3 and needing two three-set wins to beat Windham, 5-2.

"If you have a good day, you can win," Woodruff said. "If the opponent is hot, the result can go the other way.”