Andover Boys Tennis fell to two time ISL champions Roxbury Latin on May 3 but rebounded with a four match winning streak this past week. The loss to Roxbury Latin ended the team’s five game winning streak, marking the second team loss this season. “We knew going into this one that beating RL [Roxbury Latin], who returned the same basic squad from last year, wouldn’t be easy,” wrote Coach Greg Wilkin in an e-mail The Phillipian. After losing the doubles points, the team moved to singles play, knowing that it needed two in only four out six matches guarantee victory. The team, however, fell short, with the only wins coming from James Heaney ’14, Quinn Daly ’13 and Michael Huang ’15. Andover got back on track this week, though, with four straight wins at home over St.Paul’s, Dexter, Choate and Andover High. On May 6, the team hosted St. Paul’s, to whom it dealt a sweeping 6-0 loss, even with the absence of Chris Kralik ’16 who usually plays at the number two spot. Andover took on Dexter on Wednesday, May 8 for the second time this season. In the first meeting, Andover came home with a 5-2 win at Dexter, with the only two losses coming at the number one and two singles spots. This time, Andover dominated the singles play, winning all six of the matches and putting the team up 7-0 over Dexter. Captain Alasdair McClintic ’13 won his match 8-6, while Kralik won his match 8-5. Both players originally lost in two straight sets back in April. “I served better against him and that definitely helped, also playing outdoors made the match a little more even,” said McClintic. On Grandparent’s day this past Saturday, Andover played in front of a large crowd and came away with a dominating 5-2 win over Choate. At the number one doubles spot, Malachi Price ’13 served strongly, demonstrated by multiple aces. McClintic’s hustle and effort also helped the team to grab a 6-1 6-4 win. Daly, at number five, gave up his first loss of the season. After losing the first set and going down 5-2 in the second, Daly quickened the tempo of the game and rallied back to tie 5-5. Although he fought multiple match points valiantly, he ultimately lost 6-4, 7-5. Andover played its last home match of the season against Andover High on Tuesday, May 14. The team grabbed its fifth sweep of the season with another 7-0 win. At the third doubles spot, Henry Kalb ’14 and Alec Buck ’13 continued their winning streak with a swift 8-2 victory. “We have all improved tremendously since the beginning of the season in singles, but especially in doubles,” said McClintic. “We’ve had a great run of matches after Roxbury and we are enjoying the challenges that come up.” With the season nearly over, James Heaney ’14 and Michael Huang ’15 at the third and sixth spots respectively, remain undefeated. “[I credit my streak to] mostly consistency, just waiting for my opponents to make mistakes, but if they give me something short I’ll capitalize on that,” said Heaney. Coach Wilkin said, “Doubles has… helped us start our matches well and keep the spirits up, they support each other well on this team and Alasdair has been a great captain.” “We are riding high with lots of positive energy,” he continued. Andover looks to ride its four game winning streak into the team tournament this weekend.
