Saints share girls’ tennis title with Killingly ... and that’s fine with them

Redgals earn a share of ECC Division II crown by earning a season split

Killingly — St. Bernard senior Michaela Abate is totally cool with the Saints sharing the Eastern Connecticut Conference Division III girls' tennis title title with Killingly.

No, really. Honest.

“I'm not a crazy competitive person. It's way better to have a bunch of people happy than just one team,” Abate said with a laugh after Killingly beat St. Bernard 4-3 on Wednesday to split the season series, resulting in co-champions.

“There doesn't always have to be a winner and a loser. What's wrong with a tie? I don't see anything wrong with that.”

It needs to be mentioned that Abate has that kind of altruistic attitude even though she's the Saints' number one singles player, the 2015 ECC singles champion and last season's runner-up. It also begs the question how she ever got into competitive sports.

“I get that a lot,” she said, “and that's probably why I'm not going very far with it (to college). I like playing tennis. I don't like the whole ... ”

Abate then clenched both fists and began punching down with both hands as if she were doing groundand-pound in a mixed martial arts fight. Translation: The competitive nature of tennis ... and sports in general ... isn't part of her mindset.

Abate and classmates Wendy Bessette and Anna McKinley won the top three singles matches, respectively, in straight sets for St. Bernard (9-4, 7-1). The Saints have won three division titles over the past four seasons.

The Saints beat Killingly 4-3 on April 28 and would have earned the title outright with a win.

St. Bernard finished 7-8 last season and didn't make the state tournament after being moved up to the ECC Large Division during a one-year conference realignment.

“Last year was a building (year),” Saints head coach Heather Bessette said. “We had so many new players on the team. We had lost a lot of se-

niors.

“We didn't really know what we were up against at the beginning of this season.

“We had no idea we would come out of it tying for the Division III title. This is great. We didn't know what was going to happen.”

Bessette used Sarah Engel and Lauren O'Donnell as examples of the pleasant surprises St. Bernard has enjoyed this spring.

“Lauren comes in as a freshman, she was the number four singles player, and she was a novice,” Bessette said. “She played when she was little, but she never played competitive tennis.

“This is her first year, and we threw her right in the boat. A lot of times when someone doesn't have that much experience, we have them play JV, but we needed her . ... Her ball, the power behind her shots, she's going to be the future of the school.

“Sarah Engel, she's a sophomore, she's a swimmer, and she joined the tennis team this year (and played No. 1 doubles). She is so athletic. She won a few doubles matches. We have a great group of athletic kids.”

Wednesday's match came down to the No. 3 doubles encounter between Saints seniors Jordan Leroy and Julie Sedensky and sophomores Alyssa Blade and Cecilia LeBlanc of Killingly. Blade and LeBlanc won, 6-4, 6-3.

“(Our) school is small, so it's hard to get (players to play tennis),” Bessette said. “But we did well. I'm happy.” n.griffen@theday.com