Hopkins Hilltoppers Secure Solid Second Spot at Kingswood Invitational Tennis Tournament

Hopkins Hilltoppers Secure Solid Second Spot at Kingswood Invitational Tennis Tournament

Despite missing three out of our top five players (due to this tournament falling within the Hopkins spring vacation period), the Hopkins boys' tennis team fared quite well in its participation at the Kingswood Invitational Tennis Tournament--an eight team event featuring prominent Northeastern boarding schools such as Choate, Deerfield, Hotchkiss, Lawrenceville, and Westminster.  Coach Ewen was particularly pleased that every single player won at least one match and contributed to the team's overall score.

Tenth grader Brian Astrachan, playing at the #1 singles position, won his event without the loss of a single set, defeating Hotchkiss' George Lightbourn 6--3, 6--2 in the final round.  Then Brian teamed up with tri-captain Bobby Berkowitz to win the #1 doubles title with a 6--2, 6--2 victory in the finals against the Lawrenceville #1 doubles combination of Jack Riker--Sam O'Donnell.  This marked a "three-peat" for Bobby, as Bobby had won the 2008 title with Nick Scholz and in 2009 with sophomore sensation Nolan Paige.

At #2 singles, sophomore Michael Bartimer played a strong match against four year Choate tennis veteran Chip Lebovitz, prevailing in the third set tiebreaker by the razor thin margin of 11--9.  After that, Michael was overcome in the semi-finals by top seeded Hotchkiss player Matthew Shapiro, and then lost in the 3rd--4th place playoff to a talented tenth grade player from Lawrenceville by a tight 8--6 score.

Next, at #3 singles, eighth grader Luke Foreman made his varsity debut against experienced Choate competitor, eleventh grader Zander Rosenbluth and succumbed in two brief sets.  This put him in the consolation bracket.  Determined to succeed, Luke overcame a 0--3 deficit against his Westminster opponent to emerge triumphant by an 8--4 margin.  Then, in the finals of the consolation bracket, Luke overwhelmed his Kingswood--Oxford opponent by an 8--0 final outcome, to earn 5th place in his bracket.

Not to be outdone, sophomore Alec Bartimer won his first match at the #4 singles position against a steady and determined opponent from West Hartford.  Then in the semi-finals, Alec met his match against a strong 11th grade opponent from Deerfield in two decisive sets.  But Alec finished well, coming back from 4--7 down in the 3rd--4th place playoff against edge a hard hitting adversary from Choate by an extremely thin 9--7 final margin.

At the #2 doubles position, tri-captain Alex Blythe teamed with senior Neal Patel, and they came out strong against host team Kingswood--Oxford's #2 doubles team, winning handily by a 6--0, 6--2 score.  This put them up against the top seeded team from Hotchkiss School in the semi-finals, and Hotchkiss prevailed by a 6--1, 6--3 score.  In the 3rd--4th place playoff contest, Hopkins came up against Choate's #2 doubles team, and won a number of crucial and hard fought points to win by a solid 8--0 score.

That doubles win by our Blythe--Patel combination allowed Hopkins to come in second place in the team standings with 22 points, just edging out Deerfield Academy, which ended up in third place with 21 points.  Hotchkiss School from Lakeville, Ct., was declared the team title winner with a total of 24 points.  Lawrenceville School edged out Choate--Rosemary Hall for fourth place, 12 points to 11.

This strong start for our team signifies a promising season in 2010 for varsity boys tennis at Hopkins.  Hopkins next will conduct an informal scrimmage against Choate this coming Wednesday, March 31, and will be bringing (weather permitting) 14 singles players and 7 doubles teams as an early season warm up before the beginning of the regular dual meet season.

With best regards,

William L. Ewen