Boys Tennis Takes 2nd Place at the Kingswood Invitational
A motivated boys’ tennis team hit the road this weekend to compete in the annual Kingswood Invitational Tennis Tournament. As a snowstorm had canceled our first dual match of the season, this would be the first competition of the season for the 2017 squad. The boys came out ready to play, amassing a 7-1 record on Saturday and a 6-4 record on Sunday. We finished with 22 points, tied with Choate for second place (NB we won the head-to-head battle against them), and just behind host Kingswood’s 25. Hotchkiss, Lawrenceville, Groton, Westminster, and Hall rounded out the field.
Individual highlights included Scott Danforth winning the #2 singles flight (via a 6-0, 6-1 win over Westminster, a 2-6, 7-5, 10-5 win over Kingswood, and a 6-2, 6-3 win over Choate in the final), third place finishes for Matthew Wuyan and Alfi Auersperg in the #3 and #4 draws, respectively, and a consolation final win for Carl Grant in the #1 position. Additionally, the doubles teams of Grant/Danforth and Wuyan/Deepak Pathapati both reached the finals of the their doubles flights – Matthew and Deepak coming back from 1-5 down to win 7-5, 7-5 against Hotchkiss in the semifinal.
Our second-place finish is a dramatic improvement over our 16-point fourth place finish last year and 14-point fourth-place finish the year before. As always, we have much to improve on, but we seem to be miles ahead of where we’ve been in previous Aprils. Thanks to the Auerspergs and to Mr. Danforth for their support this weekend.
There’s no rest for the weary, as we face dual matches away at Kingswood and at Taft this week. Please follow us on Twitter @deerfieldtennis for live match updates!