Boys varsity tennis fell to Exeter 5-2 at home on Saturday, May 10. It was a competitive match from the start and filled with support from family and friends as five seniors- Luka Kokosadze, Ethan Li, Tommy McMahon, Walker Naughton, and Anthony Sparacio- played their final home matches.
Deerfield earned the first point on the day, clinching doubles prosets on courts #1 and #3. The long battles across all three courts- about 90 minutes to complete- showcased both teams’ fighting spirit and doubles knowledge. At #1, Li/Weldon played one of their best, most aggressive matches to win 8-5; though #2 Naughton/Feng fell 8-6, there was great rallying and movement on their court; taking it all home for DA was #3 Sparacio/McMahon, who held their nerve and climbed back from 6-7 to close it out 9-7 with everyone in the pavilion watching. In exhibition, Kokosadze/Kasumov battled evenly until their opponents pulled away at 4-4 and won the remaining games.
With singles underway, DA found themselves down on courts 3, 4, and 5; #1 Gunter Weldon and #2 Ethan Li were dominant at the start, and while Weldon went on to win his first set, Li lost his 4-1 lead and dropped the set 6-4. As #4 Tai Feng and #5 Walker Naughton looked as though a comeback was underway, #6 Tommy McMahon was battling back and forth until ultimately dropping his first set 7-5. Meanwhile, Exeter rallied and won the first sets on courts 4 and 5 and ran with that momentum in their second sets. Weldon stayed tough and took his second set 6-2, earning the second point for DA. On court 2, after fighting back from 0-3 in the second set, Li evened things up and saved multiple match points at 4-5, eventually breaking serve to level the set at 5-5 but falling 7-5 in the end. With just #6 McMahon’s match remaining, the senior led 5-3 in his second set tiebreaker before being bested 8-6, giving Exeter their fifth point.
Singles exhibition was a mixed bag for the Doors, with #7 Luka Kokosadze falling 8-5 but #8 Spencer Trees winning 8-0.
The loss puts DA at 8-3 overall on the season. With one day to rest, DA will next face Suffield Academy away in Suffield, CT on Monday, May 12 at 4:45pm.
Results
Doubles order of finish: 1,2,3
#1. Li/Weldon (DA) def. Dai/Mullen (E) 8-5
#2. Sanders/Shinn (E) def. Feng/Naughton (DA) 8-6
#3. Sparacio/McMahon (DA) def. Chinsupakul/Zhang (E) 9-7
#4. (Exhibition) Chen/Veeranna (E) def. Kokosadze/Kasumov 8-4
Singles order of finish: 3,1,5,4,2,6
#1. Gunter Weldon (DA) def. David Dai (E) 6-1, 6-2
#2. Josh Mullen (E) def. Ethan Li (DA) 6-4, 7-5
#3. Art Chinsupakul (E) def. Anthony Sparacio (DA) 6-1, 6-1
#4. Luke Sanders (E) def. Tai Feng (DA) 6-3, 6-0
#5. Hugo Shinn (E) def. Walker Naughton (DA) 6-3, 6-0
#6. Steven Chen (E) def. Tommy McMahon (DA) 7-5, 7-6(6)
#7. (Exhibition) Neal Veeranna (E) def. Luka Kokosadze (DA) 8-5
#8. (Exhibition) Spencer Trees (DA) def. Leo Zhang (E) 8-0