Search
Hopkins Handily & Convincingly Conquers Kingswood--Oxford, 5--1
On a beautiful Wednesday afternoon (4/17), the Hopkins junior
varsity tennis team traveled up I--91, Route 9, and I--84 to take on
their Kingswood-Oxford junior varsity boys counterparts. The coaches
had agreed beforehand not to repeat singles players in the doubles
matches, and as a result, 14 players from each team were able to
participate in this match, which was a real plus for both teams.
The matches started with #1 and #3 singles, and #1 and #2 doubles
on the 4 courts at Buena Vista public park in West Hartford. Newly
elected tri-captain Tyler Moore at #3 singles wound up outsmarting and
outsteadying his Kingswood opponent, getting Hopkins on the scoreboard
first with an 8--1 triumph. But then Kingswood's #1 player, Manuel de
Barando, did just the same thing, running down many of Phillip
Schmitt's shots until Phillip eventually made an error, and Kingswood
evened the match score at 1--1.
Attention then turned to the doubles contests. At #1 doubles, the
Kingswood tandem of Thomas Wilson and Jon Wu used strong,
opportunistic net play to keep the Hopkins team of tri-captain Sanjay
Dureseti and Rob Schaefer off balance, defeating Hopkins 8--4. But
then at #2 doubles Akhil Choudhary and Jared Rosamilia teamed up well
to outplay their Kingswood opponents, winning 8--2. This meant that
the #3 doubles match would decide which team would win the doubles
point for their school. Michael Bass and Eric Kong for Hopkins took
to the court and kept to their game plan of steady and sound ground
strokes and occasional volleys to dominate the #3 match by an 8--2
margin. Gabe Goodspeed and Micah Wolfsohn then added icing on the
doubles cake by mowing down Kingswood's #4 team without the loss of a
single game!
We now watched the remaining singles matches, knowing that Hopkins
had a 2--1 match lead. As it turned out, that doubles victory proved
to be crucial in turning the tide against Kingswood, as Hopkins did
not lose another singles match in the course of the afternoon play.
Zach Blitzer, playing #2 singles, used his topspin forehand and
overall sense of the game, using the side of the court to get his
opponent out of position, winning 8--1. Then tri-captain Nate Dowd
took to the court at #4 singles and completely controlled his singles
match with a combination of accurate shots and steady determination,
clinching the match for Hopkins with an 8--0 triumph. Will Collier at
#5 singles also won handily with deep ground strokes, a strong will to
win, and his overall court sense, coming through 8--3. The final
match of the day, featuring eleventh grader Avi Mahajan at #6 singles,
was stopped with the match even at 4--4 & deuce, since the team winner
had already been determined.
Next on Hopkins' schedule is the always strong team from Brunswick
this coming Saturday morning, weather permitting.
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
-
-
Voted #1
Best Day School
in CT, 2024
-
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.
