Role Reversal in 2013! Hopkins 6, Loomis-Chaffee 1

    In the spring of 2012, the Loomis-Chaffee junior varsity boys
tennis team had handily hammered the Hopkins Hilltoppers 6--1, with
the lone Hopkins point being #3 singles.  In the spring of 2013, the
Hopkins team went on a mission to seek to return the favor, especially
since Hopkins came into this match sporting a 4--1 dual meet record.
But the task would prove far from easy.

    Play began with three official doubles matches and one exhibition
match.  Rob Schaefer and Jared Rosamilia, in the exhibition match,
started positively for Hopkins by outpositioning their opponents and
coming through with a strong 8--0 triumph.  Co-captains Nate Dowd and
Tyler Moore at #3 doubles continued this strong start by combining
good cross court baseline play with quickness and aggressiveness at
net, winning 8--1.  So Hopkins now needed just one more doubles
victory out of the two remaining matches to get the important doubles
point.  Though  Hopkins got ahead in each of these two matches, the
Loomis-Chaffee teams fought back with well struck forehand ground
strokes and hard hit volleys, taking away the early Hopkins lead.  At
#1 doubles, the height and the power of the Loomis-Chaffee team proved
to be too much for ninth graders Spencer Lovejoy and Zach Blitzer, and
suddenly it was even steven for the doubles point.  With the doubles
point on the line, the young combination of Phillip Schmitt and Will
McLean at #2 doubles for Hopkins came through (with many deuce games)
successfully against the Loomis-Chaffee team of Andrey Boycko and
James Chung.

    The six singles matches still remained, though.  And much like
what took place in the doubles matches, Hopkins seemed to get out to
an early lead in each of the six singles matches.  But then the
Loomis-Chaffee players began to dig in and find more of their needed
consistency and range.  Hopkins wound up winning the first set in five
out of the six singles matches, the closest of which was Will
Collier's 7--6 tiebreaker win (7--4 in the tiebreaker) at #5 singles
over Sam Cox of Loomis-Chaffee.  But just as soon as that took place,
Loomis-Chaffee took the second set lead in four out of the six singles
contests.  Both teams knew they were in a tight battle, and the points
and the momentum seemed to go back and forth.  Fortunately for
Hopkins, Nate Dowd at #6 singles got Hopkins team point number 2 with
an impressive and dominating 6--1, 6--0 victory.  No other match would
prove to be that one-sided, however.  At  #1 singles, Spencer Lovejoy,
who had won the first set 6--0 by outmaneuvering his opponent from
side to side with spin, suddenly found himself on the defensive as his
L--C opponent, Christian Petty, found his range on his forehand and
hit blistering drives from one corner to the other, winning set #2
6--4 and then getting off to a 3--1 lead in the third and final set.
And Hopkins' Zach Blitzer at #2 found himself down by a score of 4--1
in the second set as his Russian opponent became more consistent and
composed in his play.  Loomis-Chaffee's #3 player began to bother and
to tire out Hopkins' Will McLean with hard hit cross court drives and
took set #2 from Will to even that match at one set apiece.  At  #4
singles, Loomis-Chaffee's James Chung neutralized Phillip Schmitt's
good ground strokes with excellent retrieving and shot placements and
slowly but surely gained an advantage over Phillip, eventually winning
that match 6--4, 7--5.  So the momentum for a time seemed to be
turning in Loomis-Chaffee's favor.  But just then, Zach Blitzer dug
deep, and with excellent instruction and encouragement from assistant
coach Doug Sime, began to turn this match around and force more errors
from his flashy but sometimes inconsistent opponent, coming from
behind to seize his match 6--1, 7--5, thus giving Hopkins a crucial
third team point.  In the meantime, coach Ewen positioned himself at
the #5 singles match involving Hopkins' Will Collier against
Loomis-Chaffee's Sam Cox.  After Will's first set tiebreaker victory,
Will had gained an early second set lead only to fall prey to the
danger of overhitting his opponent's short shots.  With encouragement,
Will recovered his momentum by waiting more patiently for openings and
then hitting more effective cross court shots.  So Will went from 3--3
in the second set to (despite long deuce games) winning the clinching
point for Hopkins with a hard earned 7--6, 6--3 victory!

    This left two singles matches, #1 and #3, with both matches going
long into the third set.  Spencer Lovejoy used his squash retrieval
techniques and getting the ball more effectively to the side of the
court finally to overcome Loomis-Chaffee's Christian Petty and his
blazing forehand at #1, 6--0, 4--6, 7--5!  And Will McLean at #3
changed his game to try to neutralize his opponent's harder hit
strokes.  Points were long and draining for both players, but
eventually Will coaxed just enough errors from Loomis-Chaffee's Alex
Chang to attain a very hard earned 6--4, 4--6, 6--3 victory, giving
the Hopkins team an amazing 6--1 team victory, thus reversing the 1--6
defeat given them by the same Loomis-Chaffee team in 2012.

    The next match for the now 5--1 Hopkins junior varsity boys tennis
team will take place at Rye Country Day Schoool's 4 indoor courts next
Wednesday (May 8).  Hopkins did not compete against Rye at the junior
varsity level a year ago, but Coach Ewen knows from experience that
Rye consistently produces strong and competitive racquet sports teams,
and that they are particularly tough on their home indoor rubberized
courts.

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