Competing on another windy day, the team fought incredibly hard in a four hour battle but ultimately fell 3-4 to Loomis Chaffee in their first home match since 2019. The loss brings the team’s overall record to 3-2 on the season.
Doubles continues to be strong for Deerfield with wins at the #1 and #3 spots. Max Peh and partner Freddy Manning, playing in his first doubles match of the season, played steady from the baseline and attacked volleys when they could to win their match 8-4. At #2, seniors Noah and Oscar Depp served well and volleyed strong but fell to their opponents in a 8-6 battle. That left the deciding point up to #1 Sarachek/Ueland, who were pushed to a tiebreaker but with aggressive play won their match 9-8(5), capturing the winning point for DA and giving the team a 1-0 advantage heading into singles.
Knowing singles would be tough with a deep Loomis team of steady baseliners, Deerfield soon went down 1-2 with losses from Peh at #3 and Noah Depp at #4. #2 Jimmy Ueland tied things up for the Green with an impressive come-from-behind win, though minutes later #6 Freddy Manning fell 10-7 in his exciting third set super-breaker giving Loomis a 3-2 lead. #1 Achille Sarachek tied it back up with a big straight-set win, which left the deciding match up to #5 freshman Blix Salz, once again finding himself playing with all eyes watching. Though losing the first set 6-3, Salz battled back with fearless groundstrokes, and despite going up 6-5 in the second set tiebreaker, he ultimately lost the breaker 8-6 giving Loomis the win.
Although things didn’t go our way this time, the boys competed hard, cheered each other on, and demonstrated the utmost sportsmanship toward their equally respectful opponents. The match truly showed what the spirit of team tennis is all about!
Deerfield will get a chance at revenge when they travel to Windsor, CT on Saturday, 5/15 to play Loomis on their turf.
Order of finish (doubles): 3,2,1 Order of finish (singles): 3,4,2,6,1,5
Results (doubles):
#1. Sarachek/Ueland (DA) def. Woody/Anderson 9-8(5)
#2. Cao/Howley def. N. Depp/O. Depp (DA) 8-6
#3. Peh/Manning (DA) def. Lee/Tan 8-4
Results (singles):
#1. Sarachek (DA) def. Woody 7-6(4), 6-3
#2. Ueland (DA) def. Anderson 4-6, 6-2, 10-4
#3. Cao def. Peh (DA) 6-0, 6-1
#4. Howley def. N. Depp (DA) 6-2, 6-2
#5. Katz def. Salz (DA) 6-3, 7-6(6)
#6. Tan def. Manning (DA) 6-3, 3-6, 10-7