Boys varsity tennis attended the annual Kingswood Oxford Invitational Tennis Tournament over the weekend. Hoping to defend our 2025 title, the team made a strong showing but fell just short of a repeat win, coming in third place among the eight schools competing.
The highlight of the weekend was the duo of juniors Gunter Weldon and Dima Kasumov (filling in for an injured Tai Feng), who won the #1 doubles bracket, defeating teams from Groton, Choate, and Lawrenceville along the way. This is Weldon’s second doubles KITT title in as many years. In the #2 doubles bracket, junior Spencer Trees and freshman Jay Chen fell in the first round to Groton but pulled though their next two matches as champions of the consolation bracket.
DA made a strong showing in singles, with Weldon and Chen both finishing as finalists in the #1 and #4 brackets, respectively. Weldon lost his final in a tight three setter, and Chen battled back in his second set to force a tiebreaker, saving two match points before ultimately falling in his final as well. Kasumov struggled with tough opponents in the #2 draw, while Trees competed in the consolation final but fell short to a steady Westminster opponent.
As always, Kingswood Oxford was a fantastic host for this event, and we can’t thank them enough for putting together such a fun tournament.
The team is excited to compete in their first official dual match of the season at home against Belmont Hill on Wednesday, April 1 at 3:30pm. Go Doors!
RESULTS
#1 Singles Bracket
Weldon def. Hibbard (Westminster) 6-1, 6-4
Weldon def. Lu (Groton) 6-2, 6-3
Tsibikov (Hotchkiss) def. Weldon 4-6, 6-4, 10-5
#2 Singles Bracket
Guo (Choate) def. Kasumov 6-2, 6-1
Rizvi (Hotchkiss) def. Kasumov 8-1
#3 Singles Bracket
Grace (Hotchkiss) def. Trees 6-1, 7-5
Trees def. Tobin (West Hartford) 8-3
Hocking (Westminster) def. Trees 8-4
#4 Singles Bracket
Chen def. Gaddipati (KO) 6-4, 6-2
Chen def. Watcharanan (Choate) 7-6(4), 6-2
Short (Lawrenceville) def. Chen 6-3, 7-6(6)
#1 Doubles Bracket
Weldon/Kasumov def. Lu/Zhang (Groton) 6-3, 6-2
Weldon/Kasumov def. Guo/Watcharanan (Choate) 6-2, 6-4
Weldon/Kasumov def. Castelli/Fu (Lawrenceville) 6-4, 6-4
#2 Doubles Bracket
Li/Stubbs (Groton) def. Trees/Chen 6-2, 7-6(5)
Trees/Chen def. Hocking/Henry (Westminster) 8-2
Trees/Chen def. Gaddipati/Shobola (KO) 8-4