Boys varsity tennis had an exciting win on the road, beating Taft 4-2 in a long, tough battle in Watertown, CT on Saturday, April 15.
The match was riveting from the start. In doubles, #2 Ethan Li/Tai Feng fell 8-4 to Levi/Abbott, but quickly #3 Anthony Sparacio/Walker Naughton leveled the field by winning their match 8-6 (after being down 1-4) against Casserly/Ledbetter. All eyes were on #1 Brick Johnson/Tom Molson as they battled to bring their match to a tiebreaker after letting go of their 7-2 lead. They broke serve to force a deciding breaker; just as they won the first point of the breaker, thunder roared through the sky and the match had to be moved indoors.
After a quick warmup to get used to the fast courts, Johnson and Molson dominated their tiebreaker 7-3 to clinch the doubles point for the Doors!
As their doubles match was finishing, #3, #4, and #5 singles began their matches to speed the match along as Taft only has four indoor courts. #5 Tai Feng’s big forehands made quick work of his opponent 6-0, 6-4 to give the Doors a 2-0 lead; however Taft soon scored their first point of the day at position #4 as Anthony Sparacio fell in a hard-fought, deuce-filled battle 6-1, 6-4.
During this time, #1 Brick Johnson and #3 Ethan Li were both embroiled in close battles of their own. After struggling to adapt to the indoor conditions, Johnson rallied back to force his match into a deciding 10-point tiebreaker against the hard-hitting player Keyon’Dre Clark. Johnson prevailed 10-5 to extend the team’s lead 3-1. As he was finishing, Li was entering his own deciding 10-point tiebreaker! With big groundstrokes and fearless tennis, Li clinched the match for DA by winning his breaker 10-5 with both teams (minus #6 Naughton, who was playing his first set) watching. It was a momentous day for the Doors and Johnson and Li both showed why they are captains of the team in those final moments.
The win brings the team to an overall record of 2-1 on the season. Our next match is at home on Wednesday, 4/19 against Loomis Chaffee at 3pm.
RESULTS
Order of finish (doubles): 2,3,1
#1. Johnson/Molson (DA) def. Clark/Louie 9-8(3)
#2. Levi/Abbott def. Li/Feng (DA) 8-4
#3. Sparacio/Naughton (DA) def. Casserly/Ledbetter 8-6
Order of finish (singles): 5,4,1,3,2,6
#1. Johnson (DA) def. Clark 3-6, 6-2, 10-5
#2. Levi def. Molson (DA) 6-0, 6-0
#3. Li (DA) def. Abbott 7-5, 4-6, 10-5
#4. Casserly def. Sparacio (DA) 6-1, 6-4
#5. Feng (DA) def. Ledbetter 6-0, 6-4
#6. Naughton (DA) vs. Louie 6-2, match called