The 2019 season came to a close with a 4-1 loss to Brunswick in post-season play on Saturday, May 18 at Choate. Only the top 8 teams were invited to compete in the 2019 NEITA Championships.
The team started slow at doubles and the point went to Brunswick with Achille/Yao losing 8-0 at #2 against Powis/Lee and then #1 Auersperg/Pathapati falling 8-4 to Glanville/Reilly. #3 Ji/Bronckers were up 6-2 against Gunningham/Nagler before play was stopped.
Brunswick jumped ahead to a 3-0 lead with wins at #4 (Aidan Reilly def. Eli Ji 6-2, 6-1) and #3 (Evan Lee def. Achille Sarachek 6-1, 6-1). In the last high school match of his career, #1 Alfi Auersperg kept Deerfield alive by coming back from 6-9 in the final set superbreaker to win 6-3, 1-6, 11-9 over Ben Powis.
With the match score now at 1-3, #2 Deepak Pathapati entered his third set superbreaker and despite having the lead for most of the breaker, eventually lost 7-5, 3-6, 10-8 to Ryan Glanville clinching the win for Brunswick. At the time that play was stopped, #5 Adrian Yao was leading Lorenzo Gunningham 6-2, 3-5, and #6 Cosmo Hunt was coming back in the second set against Edward Nagler with a score of 5-7, 4-1.
Though it was disappointing to lose, Deerfield had a great season overall and will come back stronger in 2020.
View tournament bracket here: http://preptennis.org/netc19.htm