Andover Boys Tennis faced off against Taft this past Saturday in the team’s second match of the season to improve its record to 2-0 and continue its pursuit of a championship season. The match against Taft was the first meeting of the two teams in over a year, as last year the game was canceled due to rain. “We did not really know what their skill level was going into the match,” said Captain Trey Meyer ’09. This forced Andover to be on their toes from the start. Andover traveled to cold, windy Watertown, Connecticut. The first doubles match played indoors while the top three matches were played outside. The indoor courts were lightning fast but that didn’t alter the Andover approach. The doubles team of Meyer and Tony Zou ’09 cooperated well to finish with win 8-4. But, in an upset, the Andover team consisting of Michael Kontaxis ’11 and Mark Adamsson ’11 lost 7-9. In the other doubles game of the day, Hunter Schlacks ’11 and Myles O’Neil ’12 used their powerful forehands to pull off a great win to give Andover the edge against Taft. Meyer and Kontaxis both won their singles matches to add to the Andover team total. Meyer played a stunning match and won 6-1, 6-1 in two straight sets. Kontaxis showed off his skill winning in a similarly dominating fashion at 6-2, 6-2. Zou, however, lost a tough match to a formidable Taft opponent, 2-6, 2-6. The bottom three players were also crucial to Andover’s success at Taft. Adamasson used the fast indoor courts to his advantage and defeated his opponent. Schlacks also prevailed with a score of 6-1, 6-4, and O’Neil won 6-2, 6-4. All of the team members up and down the latter contributed for Andover to pull off a convincing 6-1 team win. Looking back on the victory, Meyer said he believes that the team still needs to work on consistency and dependable serves. This Friday, Andover will grab its gear and head off to Groton in what is sure to be a challenging foe in the way of Andover’s championship quest this season. Groton only lost one player from the last season, so it will definitely be an experienced and talented squad.
