Andover Boys Tennis bested its opponents this past week as the team earned two 7-0 victories over Groton and Tabor. On Friday the team traveled to Groton where it dominated the court, capturing all nine available wins in both in singles and doubles. “Groton typically is one of our less challenging opponents so we did not expect too much resistance coming into the match,” said Quinn Daly ’13 Most of the matches played out to 8-1 or 8-2 in favor of Andover. Chris Kralik ’15, who beat his opponent 8-6, played the most competitive match. However, Kralik was not worried. “I was in control the whole match, so there wasn’t really that much pressure,” said Kralik. The team focused on placing the ball deep, forcing their opponents to make errors and grabbing easy points. “This really helped the confidence of our team after our close loss to Taft last Saturday,” added Daly. This confidence shined when the team played at Tabor on Wednesday. Andover doled out nine more losses to its opponents, despite the absence of Captain Alasdair McClintic ’13. McClintic decided to sit this match out while he made adjustments to his serve. As a result, everybody moved up a spot on the ladder. “We felt very strong coming in and delivered with all our force,” said James Heaney ’14. “Even though it would be a little tougher without Alasdair, I think we were all pretty comfortable moving up one spot.” Heaney, who typically plays at the three spot, played as the team’s number two but still dominated his opponent 6-2, 6-0. Kralik took over the role of Andover’s number one and did not miss a beat, winning both sets 6-1, 6-1. “It felt pretty good playing one; I don’t think it made too much of a difference though,” said Kralik. Playing number three was Malachi Price ’13. “I played three a lot last year until I got hurt, so I was pretty comfortable with playing up on the ladder,” he said. He won 6-1, 6-3. Daly won 6-3, 6-0, and Michael Huang ’15 won 6-1, 6-3. Alec Buck ’13 played singles competitively for the first time this season at the number six spot. He showed no signs of inexperience as he grabbed a 6-1, 6-2 win. Andover’s doubles matches boasted a similar result. Kralik and Heaney won 8-0, as did the team of Buck and Huang. Price and Daly won their match 8-1. The team will travel to Nobles on Friday, April 19. Last year, Nobles snapped the team’s 18 game winning streak. This time around, Andover looks for revenge, though it will be no easy task. “If we continue this high level of play and retain our confidence, I am sure we will put up a good fight,” said Daly.
