It was a busy weekend for the boys varsity tennis team as four singles players and two doubles teams competed in the annual KITT Tournament hosted by Kingswood Oxford. Rain on Saturday kept most matches indoors as the team spent 10 hours fighting through two rounds of doubles and one singles match! On Sunday we played 2 singles matches followed by the final round of doubles.
In the #1 singles draw, junior captain Brick Johnson drew a tough first round opponent from Westminster. Despite a hard fought battle, Johnson ultimately fell 4-6, 6-2, 10-8 to Nelson. He quickly bounced back on Sunday to defeat Leong from Hotchkiss in a tight 8-6 pro-set where he played gutsy tennis to close out the match, and followed that up with an easy win over Farrington (Lawrenceville) 8-1 on a cold, blustery outdoor court to clinch the backdraw.
Junior Max Peh competed in the #2 singles bracket. Peh had a tough first set against his KO opponent in the first round but easily took the second to defeat Blair 7-5, 6-1. On Sunday, Peh battled hard but lost to Wight from Groton, a stead, hard-hitting opponent, 6-1, 6-3. In his playoff match for third and fourth place, Peh outrallied Suit from Westminster and won 8-4 to clinch third place for the Doors.
Sophomore captain Ethan Li also won the backdraw of his #3 singles draw. After losing to Gura from Groton 6-2, 6-3 in the first round, Li went on to defeat Henderson (Choat) 8-5 and Whiting (Westminster) 8-5. Despite cold, windy conditions for both of his consolation matches, Li was mentally tough and competed well to rack up the wins.
In the #4 singles bracket, sophomore Anthony Sparacio lost a close 6-4, 6-3 battle to Acevedo (Hotchkiss), but rallied back to defeat Ji (Choat) 8-4 and Zhang (Hall) 9-7 to clinch another backdraw title for the Doors. Sparacio too had to battle intense outdoor conditions to get his wins; he showed grit and focus to get the job done when the stakes were high!
In one of the most exciting matches of the weekend, #1 doubles team Johnson/Peh lost their first round match to Li/Wight (Groton) 6-7(4), 6-3, 13-11. They saved at least 4 match points in the superbreaker and were 2 volleys away from winning that match! Shaking off that tough loss they rallied to win the backdraw by beating Concepcion/Blair (KO) 8-3 and Hermes/Hermes (Hall) 8-3.
Li and freshman Tai Feng competed in the #2 doubles bracket and had three close matches to win third place in their draw. In the first round, brave tennis allowed them to defeat Henderson/Ji from Choat 6-4, 4-6, 10-5; in the semi-finals, Li and Feng lost to former teammate Joe Morsman and his partner Mitsch from Lawrenceville 6-2, 4-6, 10-4. Undeterred, they came back to play the other most exciting match to beat Tsibikov/Acevedo (Hotchkiss) 9-8(4).
KITT is an individual tournament but also a team event; each main draw win earns 2 points for your team, and a consolation win earns 1 point. With all of our backdraw and third place victories, DA tied for third place with a total of 12 points in the event. The competition was fierce and the team competed hard each and every match. It was a great start to the season and we look forward to playing dual matches soon! Next up is Groton at home on Saturday, April 8 at 3pm.