Boys varsity tennis defeated Hotchkiss at home 4-3 on Wednesday in what can only be described as an electric dual match. There were battles on every court, the energy was high from both teams, and it all came down to two super tiebreakers.
Hotchkiss secured the doubles point with wins on courts 2 and 3; juniors Weldon and Kasumov remain undefeated at #1. Both #2 Feng/Chen and #3 Berg/Juhas found themselves down 3-6, but all four Doors continued to battle to even their matches at 6-6. From there, Hotchkiss’ #3 pulled away with an 8-6 victory, leaving the doubles point in the hands of court #2 who had just entered a tiebreaker. Hotchkiss showed steadier nerves and pulled out the breaker, but the day was far from over.
Deerfield came out strong in singles, securing first sets wins on four out of the 6 courts. Despite his best efforts, #3 Dima Kasumov was the first to fall, putting Hotchkiss up 2-0. Shortly after, Tai Feng used his movement and clean ball-striking to secure a win at #2; on the adjacent court, #4 Mac Barry was next to earn a victory for DA, leveling the match at 2-2. Though he started slowly, #5 Jay Chen found his range and gave his opponent a run for his money, but fell in a second set tiebreaker to give Hotchkiss a 3-2 lead.
Only two matches remained, and both were entering deciding third set superbreakers. On the #1 court, Gunter Weldon was avenging his KITT final loss to a talented player; despite going down an early break, Weldon showed nerves of steel and used the perfect mix of offense and defense in his 10-7 win. The match was now leveled at 3-3 with one match to go. Everyone ran over to watch #6 Charlie Juhas try to turn the momentum around after losing a tight second set to his aggressive opponent. Juhas went down 4-7, but some epic defense kept him in the match. Juhas remained calm in the face of adversity; with supreme determination, and saving match point along the way, the freshman closed out his superbreaker 12-10 as the Pavilion erupted with cheers and barking (don’t ask).
The match was an incredible display of grit, teamwork, and heart, and all of those will be needed as the team prepares to play Exeter on Saturday in New Hampshire. The win against Hotchkiss puts the team’s overall record at 8-2 with just two matches remaining on the season.
RESULTS
Doubles order of finish: 1,3,2
#1. Weldon/Kasumov (DA) def. Tsibikov/Grace (H) 8-5
#2. Rizvi/Chen (H) def. Feng/Chen (DA) 9-8(5)
#3. Maura/Reif (H) def. Juhas/Berg (DA) 8-6
Singles order of finish: 3,2,4,5,1,6
#1. Weldon (DA) def. Tsibikov (H) 6-4, 3-6, 10-7
#2. Feng (DA) def. Rizvi (H) 6-4, 6-1
#3. Grace (H) def. Kasumov (DA) 6-1, 6-3
#4. Barry (DA) def. Chen (H) 6-2, 6-2
#5. Reif (H) def. Chen (DA) 6-3, 7-6(4)
#6. Juhas (DA) def. Wang (H) 6-2, 5-7, 12-10