Gunnery wins 4-3 in afternoon showdown vs. Hopkins

Match Summary: “Gunnery wins 4-3 in afternoon showdown vs. Hopkins” Our stagecoach traveled uphill most of the way this afternoon and arrived to Washington, CT, just past high noon. The sun was out in full force, there was a light breeze, but no tumbleweeds were seen blowing down the main drag between the saloon, livery and bank. Instead we had a very beautiful green campus as the site of our showdown, with a grouping of Har-Tru clay and cement courts to be the setting of our duel versus the Gunnery School. Singles matches were to be played first, with the top four to take place on the slippery, gritty and green surface known as Har-Tru. #4 Connor Davis was the first to chalk up a point, with an 8-1 victory against Gunnery’s Mason. Connor did everything well today and was the first sharpshooter to earn a point for Hopkins. #1 Cole Markham had a more difficult time of it today. He faced Gunnery’s captain JP, who possessed accurate passing shots and was otherwise more consistent than our top hand. Tough loss for our lead wrangler. #5 Andrew Bordea also found a consistent opponent in Gunnery’s Erik. “Patience” was the name of the game on court five, where the rallies were quite long. Unfortunately for Andrew, Erik was able to win more of the key points this afternoon to win the match for Gunnery 8-2. In the middle of the lineup, and fighting alongside each other, were two fierce competitors for Hopkins, both working hard to grind out tough matches against Gunnery. At #2, Captain Luca Breahna had to adjust to the slippery nature of the green clay that Gunnery’s Ryan appeared all-too-comfortable on during their contest. Luca got down early but never gave up. Realizing that he had to be more careful about taking the net since it was harder to move to those wide passing shots, Luca began to choose his net charges more carefully. Luca also saw that his topspin lobs were more effective on clay when Ryan was at net. These two strategies helped our Captain to knot the match 6-6. At this point Luca took control, winning both his and his competitor’s serve after several deuce points to earn the victory 8-6. Yee-Haw! The other close match referred to above finished at the exact moment that Luca closed out Gunnery’s Ryan. Our #3 David Verdu had to fight this afternoon against Gunnery’s Jake. At first, David had found that his slice shots and short balls were working well enough to get him an early lead. However, as Jake started to warm up and figure out how to charge David’s softer shots, it was clear that our #3 needed to employ a new strategy. Remembering that topspin is very effective on clay, David began to brush his shots and angle them to the corners, applying a bit of power when he was in position to do so. David also found that his 3/4 –power topspin first serve, which finds its mark more often and is known to jump in to the body of the returner, was quite effective against Gunnery’s Jake. After tying it up 6-6, David claimed the final two games to earn his fifth victory in a row. Good job, David! Our final singles to conclude was at #6. Matthew Booth had climbed up to an early lead but his opponent, Duke, found his consistency in order to tie the match 5-5. The match stayed close to the end, getting to 7-7 and going into a tiebreaker. Matthew had moments of brilliance throughout, with carefully-placed passing shots and tough short-angled winners. Unfortunately, Duke was able to eke out a win against Matthew by three points through some deep shots that found Matthew off balance. A close match that knotted the score for Gunnery. Doubles was also very close today. Our dynamic duo Warren Jaffee and Jack Kealey struggled throughout their #2 contest against Erik and Mason. Despite climbing back into the match after finding a way to hold serve and to attack their opponents’ inferior back-court game, Warren and Jack were unable to win a few games that had gone to deuce multiple times. Our boys showed great effort in their 5-8 loss to Gunnery. Cole and Luca teamed up to play #1 against Gunnery’s JP and Ryan. Although Gunnery’s 1 and 2 players put up a great fight in the singles, they were no match for Cole and Luca, who have quite a long track record of doubles victories in prior seasons. Luca and Cole jumped to an early lead and held it to win 8-2. And so all gathered to watch Matthew and seventh-grader Kian Ahmadi to take on their opponents Tristen and Copley. Our buckaroos got up 3-0 before Tristen and Copley won the next four games. Kian and Matthew regrouped to get back on serve, ultimately reaching tiebreaker time at 7-7 through some better net coverage and through forcing errors from their opponents. Alas the tiebreaker, though close, went to Gunnery 7-5. Tough loss today, guys. We were pleased at the heart that you all showed today. Let’s shake it off at practice Monday. GO HOP!