The Coach Speer Era came to an end on a rainy Saturday in Groton, MA, as Deerfield fell to Taft 4-3 in the quarterfinals of the Class A New England tournament. DA finishes the season with a record of 9-5.
Deerfield continued its tradition of strong doubles play, winning the second and third doubles positions to take a 1-0 lead for the 11th time this season. After Taft leveled the match at 1-1 with a win at third singles, Deerfield took a 2-1 lead after Deepak Pathapati won his team-leading 22nd match of the season at fourth singles. Taft took the top two singles matches in supertie-breakers before Cosmo Hunt posted a decisive win in the fourth position, leaving the match score at 3-3.
In the final match of the day, Arthur Yao took a 6-3, 5-2 lead at sixth singles before his opponent’s much-improved play turned things around; Taft eventually clinched the victory with a 10-8 superbreaker win.
Speer leaves Deerfield with a 35-19 combined record over four seasons, having qualified for the postseason each year. Highlights of his tenure include a second-place finish in the 2017 Kingswood Invitational, a third-place finish in the 2017 Shafer Doubles Tournament in Pennsylvania, and an undefeated record against Choate.
Taft 4, Deerfield 3
Gabe Rissman/Peter Horne (T) led Alfi Auersperg/Matthew Wuyan 5-2
Gideon Yektai/Cosmo Hunt (D) d. Dylan Powell/Peter Denious 8-3
Deepak Pathapati/Adrian Yao (D) d. Chris McDermott/Isaac Lennon 8-4
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Rissman (T) d. Auersperg 7-5, 4-6, 10-6
Powell (T) d. Wuyan 2-6, 6-3, 11-9
Horne (T) d. Yektai 6-2, 6-2
Pathapati (D) d. McDermott 7-6 (4), 7-6 (1)
Hunt (D) d. Will Wang 6-2, 6-3
Denious (T) d. Arthur Yao 3-6, 7-5, 10-8
Order of finish: Doubles 2,3; Singles 3,4,2,1,5,6