Last Friday, Andover hosted St. Paul’s in one of their closest matches of the season. Coming into the match, St. Paul’s had a season record of 2-2. “We were not running on all cylinders against St. Paul’s,” said Coach Greg Wilkin, “It was a very close call against a surprisingly tough team.” To start the singles action for the day, Captain Trey Meyer ’09 was able to defeat his opponent quite easily with a score of 6-0, 6-0. Next up on the ladder was Mark Adamsson ’11 who stuck it through a close match, winning 7-5, 6-4. He had one of the most dramatic matches of the day, and was just able to pull it off. Playing at the third seed spot on the ladder, Tony Zou ’09 struggled against an extremely talented player and lost 1-6, 0-6. Hunter Schlacks ’11 played 4th singles and showed off his skill winning 6-4, 6-2. Michael Kontaxis ’11 was uncharacteristically off point in his match, as he lost 2-6, 2-6. Despite the loss, Kontaxis is prepared to come back next week and bring on the heat. Max Png ’10 played a very tough match, but he did not go down without a fight. Png had a very hard hitting opponent who rushed to the net often, and that forced Png to play defensively throughout. He ended up losing in straight sets, 6-8, 4-6. Coach Wilkin commented, “If Max had diversified his play the way he usually does, he would have probably managed a win.” With the score tied up after singles play, Andover went into doubles against St. Paul’s. Meyer and Zou were up first for doubles. They handily beat their opponents in a timely fashion with a score of 8-3. Andover continued their domination in doubles play as the team of Schlacks and O’Neil used their amazing technique to pull off another win of 8-6. With a combination of O’Neil’s powerful serves along with Schlack’s great passing shots, they ended the deciding match in style. Andover beat St. Paul’s 4-3. On Friday, Andover will host Roxbury Latin in a highly anticipated matchup. Roxbury Latin has had some great wins so far this season and has given Andover some good competition in the past. Saturday will be when the big challenge comes for Andover: Deerfield. Playing in tournament format, Andover will be on its toes in a very closely contested match. Andover has defeated Deerfield in the past; however, this year Deerfield is even more threatening.
