In a tightly contested matchup at home on Wednesday, May 8, varsity boys tennis fell to Hotchkiss 4-2.
Doubles proved to be crucial for Hotchkiss in their victory. The #2 team of Tom Molson/Tai Feng fell behind initially and, despite their best efforts, could never gain control of the match. At #3, Tommy McMahon and Blix Salz teamed up for the first time and had chances to take down their opponents but ultimately fell in a tiebreaker. At Hotchkiss clinched the doubles point, #1 Ethan Li/Gunter Weldon had clawed their way back from 4-7 to level the match but, due to the long ride home looming for Hotchkiss, doubles was stopped to allow singles competition to begin.
It was immediately obvious that singles was going to be a battle on every court, with the exception of Gunter Weldon on court #2 who cruised through his straight set victory. At #3, Tom Molson dropped his first set but led 4-1 in the second before ultimately losing his match; at #4, Anthony Sparacio fought his way to a first set tiebreaker but lost his match in straight sets as well. #6 Christian Capella had chances to level his second set but also lost to a very solid opponent. With Hotchkiss having clinched the win, #1 Ethan Li stopped his match leading 7-6(3), 2-2, and Tai Feng was able to close out his win at #4 in straight sets to give the Doors its second point of the day.
Exhibition singles was strong for DA, with senior Blix Salz winning his proset 8-4 and junior Tommy McMahon battling hard in a 7-5, 6-1 vicfory.
The loss brings the team to a 6-4 record overall on the season with only two regular season matches to go. The boys will head to Exeter on Saturday, May 11 for a 1pm matchup.
Results
Doubles order of finish: 2,3,1
#1. Li/Weldon (DA) vs. Tsibikov/Annarameni (H) 7-7, unfinished
#2. Vucetic/Rizvi (H) def. Molson/Feng (DA) 8-3
#3. Matanachai/Acevedo (H) def. McMahon/Salz (DA) 9-8(5)
Exhibition: Farrington/Brown (H) def. Diffley/Capella (DA) 8-6
Singles order of finish: 2,3,6,5,1,4
#1. Ethan Li (DA) lead Yury Tsibikov (H) 7-6(3), 2-2, unfinished
#2. Gunter Weldon (DA) def. Sahil Annarameni (H) 6-1, 6-2
#3. Arvid Vucetic (H) def. Tom Molson (DA) 6-1, 6-4
#4. Tai Feng (DA) def. Matias Acevedo (H) 6-3, 7-5
#5. Jai Rizvi (H) def. Anthony Sparacio (DA) 7-6(3), 6-3
#6. Ken Matanachai (H) def. Christian Capella (DA) 6-1, 6-4
Exhibition: Bliz Salz (DA) def. Xander Farrington (H) 8-4
Exhibition: Tommy McMahon (DA) def. Sebby Brown (H) 7-5, 6-1