Boys' Varsity Tennis

Traveling to Dublin after a tough match against New Hampton on Wednesday, VA rebounded quickly and emerged a victor in a 9-0 score. Trevor won at #1; Miki won at #2; Max won at #3; Russ won at #4; Colin won at #5; and Mufan won at #6. Our doubles teams played well, too. We don't play next until Wednesday when we take on Tilton at VA.

It just wasn't our day against league for and #1 team New Hampton. We did manage to take A LOT of games to deuce, but we rarely emerged victorious in any of those games. New Hampton defeated us handily on Wednesday. Up next is Dublin on Friday at Dublin.

On Saturday, on a day that was probably the best we've played as a team, the BV Tennis team lost to Cushing 6-3. The hero of the day was Miki who, losing 5-0, decided that he wasn't going to give this one away. He came back in full force, exploiting his opponent's weakness for the rest of the match. Likewise, Max and Nate, at #3 doubles, fought with grit and heart to pull out a tie breaker. Trevor and Russ played well at two doubles; despite losing, I really liked them as a pair. They'll probably get another chance together against New Hampton on Wednesday. Mufan and Bradley played strong opponents. They were in every point and every game, but their opponents were just too good. Lastly, Colin Picard pulled out his first win of the season at #6 singles. He's got a groove going that I hope will roll into Wednesday's match against the league's undefeated powerhouse, New Hampton.

It was an absolutely beautiful day in Wolfeboro as the boys' varsity tennis team took on Brewster Academy. At #3 singles, Max Besescu met his match, as he played a kid from Brewster who, for 3 matches this season, has played #1 singles. Max played well, but his opponent was much stronger. Chuck Anderson, who has only played doubles this year for VA, played valiantly at #5 singles but he, too, met a much stronger opponent. Our other matches -- Miki, Trevor, Mufan, and Colin -- all went deep into the sets or even into tie breakers. And after losing 6-0 in the singles round, our attitudes were a bit down and we therefore struggled in doubles. Bradley and David, at #2 doubles, played a number of games at deuce but struggled to win that final point of the game. The mantra of the season is going to be that in overall matches we lose handily; however, within each match, we compete well. It's back to practice to work on what is perhaps the most important thing in high school tennis: consistency. Up next is Cushing on Saturday at VA's home courts.

Despite losing 7-2 to Proctor Academy in Andover on Saturday, the VA boys' tennis team was close in every single match. Inconsistency was the word of the day. Too many double faults and way too many unforced errors meant that Proctor would run away with 7 matches. The bright side is that we competed well. We have two days of practice before traveling to Brewster Academy on Wednesday where, I hope, we will focus on our consistency. Kudos to Miki and Mufan for their doubles victory and to Max Besescu for coming back from one set down to winning in a third set tie breaker.

Yesterday, on what was most certainly the most beautiful day we've had in the Northeast since fall, the VA boys' varsity tennis team traveled to cross-town rival Brattleboro to take on their varsity squad. A 65-degree day, with the sun shining and not a cloud to be seen, was absolutely a welcome change of pace from the wind and cold of late. It afforded us the ability to play in ideal conditions, something we haven't had since last spring. While we came home with a 5-3 loss, our scrimmage against BUHS gave us the opportunity not only to practice match play but also to work out a lot of kinks -- and there are certainly a lot of them to work out. From putting shots away to being consistent, our team will return to practice today to build on what we learned at yesterday's match. Up next is Proctor at Proctor on Saturday.

We're almost a brand-new team after having lost four of our top six players from last year. We're young, and we're inexperienced on the court, but we're ready to roll. I'm excited to see what this new crop of players brings to the season. We've had a few days of beautiful weather and have gotten some good practicing in. Our season truly kicks off on Friday, April 5th, against Brattleboro High School at our newly-refinished home courts at VA.