The Deerfield boys’ junior varsity tennis team (1-0) started the season with a convincing 6-1 victory over the visiting Cardigan Mountain School Cougars. After a cold and windy week, the sun brought warmth and a real feel of spring on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. The boys were excited to get on the courts and enjoy some competition.
Deerfield swept the doubles matches, winning at all three positions plus an exhibition match. At #3, Connor Flannery and Francis Shea staked an early 4-1 lead and held steady to win their pro-set 8-5. At #2, Freddy Manning and Yongjin Park started with a similar 4-1 lead and finished strong, winning 8-4. At #1, brothers Noah and Oscar Depp had a slow start, falling behind 2-3. Frustrated by their performance, they focused in and ran off 6 straight games to win 8-3. In an exhibition match, Crawford Rice and George Darling teamed up to soundly defeat their opponents 8-1.
Deerfield continued their doubles success by earning 5 of 6 points in the singles matches. At #1, Freddy Manning had a close match early on, with a slim 3-2 lead. But the end result of 6-2, 6-3 showed that he took over the match. Yongjin Park, at #3, won handily 6-2, 6-0 while Noah and Oscar Depp, at #2 and #4, each swept their counterparts 6-0, 6-0. At #5, Connor Flannery also saw good success, winning 6-2, 6-0. Francis Shea had a tough match at #6, falling 2-6 in the first set. After making some adjustments to his gameplay, he stormed to a 6-1 second set victory. This setup a winner-take-all 3rd set 7-point super tie-breaker. Francis quickly fell behind 1-5, and although he closed the gap to 4-5, he eventually fell 4-7. In exhibition play, Will Schoelkopf and Alexander Grosse each won their matches in straight sets, 6-0, 6-2 and 6-1, 6-3, while PJ Embree was victorious 8-3 in a pro-set.
The JV boys can enjoy their victory for another week until they travel to Taft next Saturday, April 13, to face the Rhinos. Go Big Green!
Doubles:
1 – Noah Depp/Oscar Depp: 8-3
2 – Freddy Manning/Yongjin Park: 8-4
3 – Connor Flannery/Francis Shea: 8-5
4 – (ex.) Crawford Rice/George Darling: 8-1
Singles:
1 – Freddy Manning: 6-3, 6-3
2 – Noah Depp: 6-0, 6-0
3 – Yongjin Park: 6-1, 6-3
4 – Oscar Depp: 6-0, 6-0
5 – Connor Flannery: 6-2, 6-0
6 – Francis Shea: 2-6, 6-1, (TB: 4-7)
7 – (ex.) Will Schoelkopf: 6-0, 6-2
8 – (ex.) Alexander Grosse: 6-1, 6-3
9 – (ex.) PJ Embree: 8-3