Chase Burke ’25 hits a backhand to his opponent.
Despite the April showers, Boys Tennis won their first match against Buckingham Browne & Nichols School (BB&N) on Wednesday. Andover had a great showing, ultimately winning even while playing in the indoor Snyder Center courts due to the rainy conditions.
In the team’s opening match, Chase Burke ’25 highlighted the electric start to the season. He spoke on the well-rounded performance of the whole team, and how the momentum of the early wins helped Andover pick up the pace later in the match.
“Our game was perfect from start to finish. Everyone was really excited for our first match… We won 8-1 at one doubles, 8-0 at two doubles, and 8-1 at three doubles. In singles, Jeff [Shen ’26], [playing second singles], was the first person to win. He went 6-0, 6-0, that really helped set the tone. Within an hour and a half, everyone was blowing their opponent off the court. It was pitch perfect, you could say,” said Burke.
With the first win of the season in hand, the team is looking forward to continuing their victorious streak. They will be playing a match against Brunswick this Friday and another one against the Taft School this Saturday. Avery Zheng ’25 commented on the various ways the team is preparing for their tough match against Brunswick, one of their most competitive opponents.
Zheng said, “We have one day of practice before our hardest match of the year. Overall, we just did a bunch of ground strokes. We wanted to use this practice to keep us competitive and warm up. Since it’s our hardest game, we are trying to bring some energy to the team to keep us motivated.”
Ben Shin ’26 emphasized the importance of staying focused during matches, especially looking forward to the rest of the season. He also mentioned his excitement to see the team grow in the coming weeks.
”I think we really want to focus on coming together as a team, pumping each other up, and having a good team spirit and just winning. I think we just need to play solid doubles and be aggressive while playing smart tennis. We have some young players and I want to see them do well and get used to playing at the high level we play at.”
Burke also highlighted Shen for his outstanding performance as a new member of the team. He mentioned his spectacular play on Wednesday and how he brought an unstoppable combination of skill and talent into his singles and doubles matches.
“Jeff Shen is this week’s MVP, he is the clear favorite for MVP, he is the frontrunner for the season. Jeff Shen came on as a new recruit from Vancouver, Canada… he won 8-0 in doubles and 6-0 6-0 in singles. Jeff Shen is the standout player of the week and I look forward to see what he will accomplish this season,” said Burke.
Andover Boys Tennis has set a high bar for themselves with their sweep against BB&N. Looking forward to the rest of the season, they hope to continue pushing themselves to their limits on the court, keeping their dreams of becoming the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council (NEPSAC) champions in mind. Zheng spoke on the team’s new players, which he believes will help propel Andover to victory this year.
“I think our main goal is to win NEPSAC because the past couple of years we’ve had good chances and then we were unfortunately not able to capitalize in the actual tournament. This year we maintained a lot of the team and then we gained two recruits, Jeff and Jacob [Pletka ’27]. Most of the other good schools lost their best players which puts us in a great position,” said Zheng.
Andover Boys Tennis faces off against Brunswick on Friday and Taft on Saturday.
