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Hopkins Defeats King in Season Opener
Singles:
1) Bryan Li (HOP) def. Eddie Danzinger 3-6, 6-2, 10-5
2) Harry Dimou (King) def. Jake Fejos 6-2, 6-3
3) Harlan Ratner (King) def. Gray Hinkle 4-6, 6-4, 10-6
4) Eric Shi (HOP) def. Nate Barry 6-3, 7-5
Doubles;
1) Aarya Appaleneni/Advay Garg (HOP) def. Cameron Shen/Richin Gunthell 6-7 (10-12), 6-1, 10-8
2) Aiden Chan/Aidan Ke (HOP) def. Harrison Kittel/Ian Ruchander 6-2, 6-0
3) Jack Randazzo/Lokesh Rajan (HOP) def. Jake Paterno/Charlie Mehta 6-0, 6-4
1) Bryan Li (HOP) def. Eddie Danzinger 3-6, 6-2, 10-5
2) Harry Dimou (King) def. Jake Fejos 6-2, 6-3
3) Harlan Ratner (King) def. Gray Hinkle 4-6, 6-4, 10-6
4) Eric Shi (HOP) def. Nate Barry 6-3, 7-5
Doubles;
1) Aarya Appaleneni/Advay Garg (HOP) def. Cameron Shen/Richin Gunthell 6-7 (10-12), 6-1, 10-8
2) Aiden Chan/Aidan Ke (HOP) def. Harrison Kittel/Ian Ruchander 6-2, 6-0
3) Jack Randazzo/Lokesh Rajan (HOP) def. Jake Paterno/Charlie Mehta 6-0, 6-4
Fans and Coaches present were treated to a very exciting first FAA match of the season for Hopkins, which happened at the Sterling Farms Country Club on King's home courts. Spring temperatures made watching enjoyable and almost made me forget (almost!) just how COLD it was when we played King last year at home, and we managed to complete our contest in between two separate rain showers.
We've got a lot of new faces on the roster this year, and they displayed confidence and good court sense this afternoon. First to get a point for Hopkins was our new team "The Aida/ens" who moved around the court like a veteran doubles team. We had to wait a bit for the next matches to be completed as all of the rest of the competitions were very close. Despite remaining even with his opponent this afternoon, Jake fell to his rival Viking this afternoon, and with the match even we were pleased to see Singles Rookie Eric prevent his opponent from taking him to the super tiebreaker. Aarya and Advay's opponents kept our new pairing from dominating the net in their first set and the boys came up just two points short in that tiebreaker. They regrouped, however, and claimed the second set handily. Momentum can shift quickly in doubles, however, and in the deciding in the ten-point tiebreaker King took a big lead that our boys were able to overcome and ultimately win by getting their serves and volleys to hit their targets.
Nothing was guaranteed for Hopkins at this point of the match despite the 3-1 lead, as the score in each remaining bout was close. Gray's strong first set win seemed only to spur on his opponent to fight and alas defeat Gray in the tiebreaker. Jack and Lokesh also seemed to face a similar rally from their opponents in the second set and it looked like it could go to another tiebreaker as they were down 1-4 in the second set. And Bryan had lost the first set vs. King veteran Eddie Danzinger. Then it all turned in our favor with Jack and Lokesh hitting solid returns to set up point as well as sturdy service games. And Bryan threw everything, including the kitchen sink at Danzinger in order to force a tiebreaker, where Bryan played brilliantly.
And that was just the first match of the season! I can't wait to see how the boys do in our next match, which is next Wednesday at home versus the Kent School. We will play New Englands format (6 singles, 3 doubles with "repeats" or a total of 6 players from the roster. Then we travel down to SUNY Purchase on Thursday to play Rye Country Day in the FAA format.
YEAH HOP!
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We've got a lot of new faces on the roster this year, and they displayed confidence and good court sense this afternoon. First to get a point for Hopkins was our new team "The Aida/ens" who moved around the court like a veteran doubles team. We had to wait a bit for the next matches to be completed as all of the rest of the competitions were very close. Despite remaining even with his opponent this afternoon, Jake fell to his rival Viking this afternoon, and with the match even we were pleased to see Singles Rookie Eric prevent his opponent from taking him to the super tiebreaker. Aarya and Advay's opponents kept our new pairing from dominating the net in their first set and the boys came up just two points short in that tiebreaker. They regrouped, however, and claimed the second set handily. Momentum can shift quickly in doubles, however, and in the deciding in the ten-point tiebreaker King took a big lead that our boys were able to overcome and ultimately win by getting their serves and volleys to hit their targets.
Nothing was guaranteed for Hopkins at this point of the match despite the 3-1 lead, as the score in each remaining bout was close. Gray's strong first set win seemed only to spur on his opponent to fight and alas defeat Gray in the tiebreaker. Jack and Lokesh also seemed to face a similar rally from their opponents in the second set and it looked like it could go to another tiebreaker as they were down 1-4 in the second set. And Bryan had lost the first set vs. King veteran Eddie Danzinger. Then it all turned in our favor with Jack and Lokesh hitting solid returns to set up point as well as sturdy service games. And Bryan threw everything, including the kitchen sink at Danzinger in order to force a tiebreaker, where Bryan played brilliantly.
And that was just the first match of the season! I can't wait to see how the boys do in our next match, which is next Wednesday at home versus the Kent School. We will play New Englands format (6 singles, 3 doubles with "repeats" or a total of 6 players from the roster. Then we travel down to SUNY Purchase on Thursday to play Rye Country Day in the FAA format.
YEAH HOP!
Hopkins is a private middle school and high school for grades 7-12. Located on a campus overlooking New Haven, CT, the School takes pride in its intellectually curious students as well as its dedicated faculty and staff.
Hopkins School admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs.