Quinn Daly ’13 fought back two match points to win his match in three sets, but Andover Boys Tennis still suffered a tough 4-3 loss at Taft on Saturday. The match came down to the wire, but the team could not capture another point that would have guaranteed victory. “Really every match is key,” said Daly. “We can’t take a match off or assume somebody else is going to step up.” “Literally, winning one more individual match would have won it for us,” he continued. Andover lost two of its three doubles matches. Price and McClintic lost 4-8 while the pairing of Alex Buck ’13 and Henry Kalb ’14 lost 6-8. As the team moved on to its singles play, the players knew that winning four of the six matches would give them enough points to earn the win. The team, however, could not capitalize, only winning three out of its six singles matches. Captain Alasdair McClintic ’13 lost in three close sets 7-6, 4-6, 4-6. “Well, I know I did not play my best. All we needed was one more point, and I should have provided that win,” said McClintic. Chris Kralik ’16 also brought his opponent to three sets but lost 6-3, 3-6, 2-6. Kralik said, “I tried hard to be aggressive in the first half, but due to a cold that I had, tiredness from the ride and some back pain, I just couldn’t hold on to the match.” “We knew that they were going to be stronger than our previous opponent, but I did not expect it to be this close and so nerve-racking,” he added. Malachi Price ’13 lost his match 6-1, 6-1. James Heaney ’13 and Michael Huang ’15 dominated their opponents, both winning their matches 6-0, 6-1. By keeping his serves deep, Heaney forced his opponent to make errors. “Towards the end of the match I started to play more aggressively,” he added. “This was our first tough team to play against, and it gave us a taste of what we can expect for the rest of the season,” said McClintic, “Our games as a whole are going to get more refined as the season progresses, and it is by playing tough teams like Taft that we will get better.” Building off of a 1-2 doubles record against Taft, the team has been working on doubles all week in practice. “Continuously playing with our partners during practice will help us to get to know each other’s games well,” said McClintic. “Moving forward we know we need to improve our doubles game to be successful in the season,” added Daly. “Also, I think fitness is important for us especially since three of our singles matches went to three sets,” said Heaney. On Friday, Andover Boys Tennis will look to get its season back on track as it continues its stretch of away matches at Groton.
