We went up against a juggernaut in the first round of the New England tournament – Hotchkiss had beaten us solidly two weeks before, so we knew this would be an uphill battle. Unfortunately for us, they were at the top of their game from the first point, quickly taking the doubles point with wins at 2 and 3. Although Carl and Matthew were fighting hard, they were down 2-5 when we abbreviated.
We were never really in it in singles; Matthew could barely move as a consequence of back pain and managed only a single game. Although Gideon did much better against Ong than last time, he was still overmatched, and DeSouza was just too steady for Alfi to get any momentum. The one bright spot is that Darren was spared the indignity of losing the final match of his career; he hung on just long enough. At the top of the lineup, Carl played quite well to take the first set against Kennedy, and Scott dropped a close first set to LGK.
We ended the season with a record of 7-6. While we were fortunate to have two exciting wins in the last week to even qualify for New Englands, losing in the first round yet again definitely hurts. There’s no doubt that we were beaten by a better team today, and so all we can do is look to next year. With the bottom of our lineup having another year to improve and mature, and with three talented freshmen in the incoming class, we hope to make a better run in 2017.
The season isn’t entirely over, as we’ll send a few guys to the individual tournament at Choate next weekend, but this will be my final writeup. Thanks to all who followed along this year, and thanks to the Danforths and Mr. Wuyan for their support at the match. See you all in ten months.
Hotchkiss 4, Deerfield 0
Kennedy/DeSouza (H) led Grant/Wuyan (D) 5-2
Von Emme/Maura (H) d. Danforth/Ho (D) 8-3
Gonzalez Kompalic/Ong (H) d. Auersperg/Yektai (D) 8-2
Grant (D) led Kennedy (H) 7-5
Gonzalez Kompalic (H) led Danforth (D) 7-6
Von Emme (H) led Ho (D) 6-1, 5-0
Maura (H) d. Wuyan (D) 6-1, 6-0
DeSouza (H) d. Auersperg (D) 6-2, 6-1
Ong (H) d. Yektai (D) 6-3, 6-1