In the season opener against BB&N, first seed Captain Anupreeth Coramutla ’17 ripped a forehand winner down the line to come back from a one-set deficit and won with 5-7, 6-3, 6-4. Despite Coramutla’s win and Andover’s efforts, the team fell short and lost 6-9, resulting in a 0-1 overall season record.
“It was our first match of the regular season, and we played a pretty tough team in BB&N. The team fought hard throughout each match,” said Coramulta.
Because BB&N is in the Independent School League (ISL), the format of the match is different than what the team is accustomed to.
“Since BB&N is in the ISL, they play three doubles and six singles where each doubles match counts as one point, and each set in singles counts as one point. The team took a while to adjust to the new format. But, we did have success. Although we lost, each player played great tennis and fought hard in their match.” said Coramutla.
Despite the competitive team lineup of BB&N, Andover battled and fought with great spirit and endurance, according to its teammates.
“The team did really well against a tough BB&N team that we lost to last year. I think Preeth played a good match at one, coming back to win in three sets,” said sixth seed Tyler Shen ’17.
Coramutla added, “[Third seed] Will Way [’17] played some dominant tennis and won in straight sets at third singles (6-4, 6-4). Chase and I used our power and placement on our serves and our net game to beat out our opponents at first doubles (8-4).”
“I think that we were able to start off relatively quickly and competed well. Will Way played a solid match at three. He was aggressive and finished points quickly and dominated his match,” said second seed Chase Denholm ’18.
This week, Andover was plagued by previous injuries as many players were struggling to heal. Due to this, the team was not at its full strength, according to its teammates.
“Some players were nursing back injuries, but still fought through their matches and kept the score close,” said Shen.
Looking forward to future matches, the team hopes to improve its doubles game and convert on opportunities to close out big points.
“I think the team has to play more aggressive in doubles play. We play doubles before singles, and the doubles point is key for the momentum into singles. Today, we lost two of our three doubles matches. So we need to work on closing our matches in doubles,” said Coramutla.
“Overall, our team had a great match and it really helped us realize that conditioning and health are our priorities going forward,” said Shen.
Andover hopes to rebound from its loss against Taft on Saturday.