Hopkins Hilltoppers Conquer Choate in Opening Outing, 5--2

    On Wednesday, April 10, the Hopkins boys junior varsity tennis
team opened its season against a young, strong, and determined squad
from the Choate School in Wallingford.  The temperature was up in the
mid-70s, making the play more tiring for players from both schools.
Doubles matches were begun first.

    Nate Dowd and Akhil Choudhary got Hopkins on the scoreboard with
crisp volleying and diligent footwork, winning at #3 doubles by a
score of
8--1in a match that featured many deuce games.  Then Rob Schaefer and
Will Collier gutted out a razor thin victory at #4 by winning the
final two games of a 9--7 match.  The Hopkins team of Micah Wolfsohn
and Jared Rosamilia fought hard but fell victim to the steadier play
of Choate's Toby Nelson and Shiva Sachdeva, 6--8.  But then Hopkins
won the top two doubles matches with Phillip Schmitt teaming with Zach
Blitzer at #1 singles to defeat Choate's top team, 8--5.  And Tyler
Moore and Avi Mahajan worked hard together with good teamwork at #2
doubles to emerge triumphant, also 8--5.  These wins gave Hopkins the
doubles point in the match.

    Then the six singles matches, each worth one point, followed.
Nate Dowd at #4 played with determination and resolve to defeat
Choate's Shiva Sachdeva, 10--5.  But Hopkins' Tyler Moore at #3
succumbed to Toby Nelson's strong forehand and steady backhand play by
a 4--10 margin.  It fell to freshman Zach Blitzer at #2 to get Hopkins
back on a winning track by using his strong topspin forehand to force
left handed Stephen Antico deep in the court, coming through with a
10--2 victory, putting Hopkins up 3--1 in the team score with 3
matches left to play.  Junior Avi Mahajan for Hopkins supplied the
clinching point with a hard earned 10--5 victory against Choate's
Robby Smith.

    The closest match of the day pitted Hopkins' Will Collier against
a steady and determined Gabe Valle at the #5 singles position.  Points
and rallies went back and forth, with the match going to a deciding
tiebreaker when the game score reached 9--9.  Things looked grim for
Will when he fell behind 2--6 in the seven point tiebreaker.  But Will
dug in and ground out four straight points to knot the score at 6--6.
Eventually Will's patience won out with Will winning the tiebreaker
9--7 and the match   10--9.  The final match of the day, #1 singles,
found Choate's strong #1 player, Winston Minor, hitting the ball a bit
harder and steadier than Hopkins' top player, Phillip Schmitt, and
coming through to secure Choate's second point by winning 10--5 in a
match that featured many excellent ground stroke duels.

    Hopkins' second match of the season will take place against
Kingswood--Oxford next Wednesday in West Hartford.  Congratulations to
our Hopkins team on a hard earned and well deserved first victory this
spring!

With best regards,

William L. Ewen
Teacher of mathematics, 1968--2008
Varsity boys tennis coach, 1968--2012
Junior varsity boys tennis coach, 2013
Varsity boys squash coach, 2008--2012