Choate Bests Hopkins 5-2

Match Summary: Choate Bests Hopkins 5-2

 

Hopkins traveled north to the pristine campus of their long-standing rival in Wallingford to have a rematch against the Choate 3rds team on their home court. It was a tough day for our squad as they faced an opponent they beat five weeks ago 5-2 at Hopkins. Choate’s lineup has solidified since then with some clear improvements from top to bottom.

 

Nearly all matches took to the courts at once and play was even in most of them for quite some time. Our doubles contests were particularly close today. Our dynamic duo Warren Jaffee and Jack Kealey were the only pairing to jump to an early lead, which they held with strong net play, high service percentages, and excellent shot-making. They were the first off the court with an 8-5 victory today. “Butch Cassidy  and the Sundance Kid” strike again!

 

#3 Kian Ahmadi and Matthew Booth played a see-saw of a match in that they recovered from an early deficit to go up 6-3, only to have their significantly older opponents storm back to force a tiebreaker. Kian and Matthew fought hard throughout, and both were hitting excellent passing shots and offensive lobs, but Choate’s Myers and Zhang had longer arms and therefore more reach at net. Choate eked out a win against our guys today. Coaches Burton and Atlee were very pleased at how good of a team Matthew and Kian have become over the season. We’ll get ‘em next time, boys.

 

#1 doubles Andrew Bordea and Ty Eveland also found their hands full with two tall players who appeared to favor the unorthodox “baseline tennis” strategy to counter Ty’s fierce forehand and Andrew’s aggressive volleys. The score flip-flopped several times before winding up at 7-7 when Choate’s team won an advantage point from a unique position on the court. The tiebreaker remained close as well, but Meier and Logradis closed out the tiebreaker 8-6. This was a tough loss for Andrew and Ty, who showed great competitive spirit throughout the match. They also showed great grace in defeat.

 

David Verdu brought some sunshine to the contest shortly afterward as he came off the court to report an 8-4 win in the #4 singles position. David moved his opponent around the court very well and did a great job varying his spin, alternating between slice and topspin shots to keep his opponent in the back-court and scrambling. Excellent work, David!

 

Connor Davis was not as fortunate as David. Playing at #6, Connor found a strong competitor in Kevin Gu. Down 4-2, Connor shifted strategy to attack Gu’s backhand as well as to keep him  near the baseline, which earned him two more games on serve. Unfortunately, Gu’s own serve remained effective and he claimed the match over Connor 8-4.

 

Meanwhile, Antonio Romeo ran into a tricky opponent in Paul Montrone. Montrone was the more consistent of the two today, despite having a tough time returning Antonio’s powerful serves. Choate earned a rare point against our seventh-grader for the #5 singles spot.

 

#1 Cole Markham also lost a close one today, falling 7-8 (5-7) in the tiebreaker to Choate’s Harry Chen. Cole showed great poise and played smart tennis but was unable to get the two more points needed to chalk up another “W” for Hopkins.

 

#3 Savan Parikh got off to a slow start against Tyler McLemore. Down 2-5, Savan began to hit out more on his ground strokes, which helped to force McLemore to make errors. Savan brought the match back to even at 6-6, but was unable to get the last service break. Serving at 6-7, Savan fought off a few match points but was unable to force the tiebreaker. Coaches are happy that Savan put up a such strong fight against Choate’s former number-one player.

 

#2 Justin Saffan was once again the last match to finish. He quietly went about his business against Diego Maldonado Álvarez, hitting solid first serves and following them in to the net. Justin also played patient tennis on Maldonado’s serve, when he hit several lobs and angled slice shots to force errors from Maldonado. Our captain’s record at keeping a lead and closing out matches has improved significantly with this 8-2 win. Good on you, Capt. Justin!

 

We’ve got time to shake off our loss today before we get back on the bus for Saturday’s match vs. Gunnery.

 

GO HOP!