Sports

Andover Struggles to Snag Wins in Early Season Matches

Seeded first for doubles with Captain Anupreeth Coramutla ’17, second seed Chase Denholm ’18 slammed an overhead volley to clinch a 6-7, 4-7, 6-3, and 10-4 victory in Andover Boys Tennis’s scrimmage match against Andover High School on Tuesday. Last Saturday, Andover lost to Taft 4-2. The team’s season record now stands at 0-2.

In its match against Taft, Andover struggled to adjust to its opponents’ fast-pace style of playing and the match did not get off to a strong start, according to its captains.

Coramutla said, “We traveled two and a half hours to Taft in Watertown, Connecticut. The team took a while to adjust because of the windy weather and the long car ride down.”

Tyler Shen ’17 added, “In our match against Taft, we played well as a team in tough windy conditions. We came up short, losing 4-2, but we learned a lot from the match, and with the rest of the season to look forward to, we learned a lot of our strengths as a team.”

Andover lost four of its six singles matches and forfeited the doubles, as Taft had already clinched the victory. However, according to its teammates, the team fought hard and showed great perseverance in three set victories by newcomer and fifth seed Nash Johnson ’20 and first seed Coramutla.

Coramutla said, “The team fought hard against a deep line-up in Taft… Nash Johnson stood out during the match against Taft. Nash used his great slice and net game to outlast his opponent in three sets, 3-6, 6-3, 10-7. Playing at the varsity level as a [Junior] is an impressive feat, and Nash really rose to the challenge. Along with Nash, I won my singles match 6-3, 5-7, 10-8.”

In the future, Andover will practice adapting to various weather related elements and use these matches as valuable learning experiences, according to Coramutla.

“Now that the team is finally playing outdoors, I think the team is getting used to the different weather conditions. Although we lost, I know we definitely have a strong shot at winning New England’s this year,” said Coramutla.

Because of the limited number of home courts and tentative weather patterns, the team scheduled to play doubles on Tuesday and singles on Wednesday against Andover High. However, the matches on Wednesday got rained out.

Coramutla said, “The team came out playing great doubles, attacking the nets and closing out points… Chase and I came back from a set down, to beat Andover High’s one doubles. At the end of [Tuesday, Andover] was leading 1-0, securing the doubles point.”

In addition to Coramutla and Denholm’s victory, third seed doubles, Shen and Sean Kralik ’19 won 6-1, 6-1 and second seed doubles, Will Way ’17 and Johnson split sets 6-0, 6-7.

Andover looks to gain its first victory of the season against Deerfield on Saturday.

Shen said, “We started similarly last year and has a great season, so we are still optimistic about our growth as a team, and expect to find our form as we put in more work on the court… The team looks very promising moving forward, and I’ve already noticed a lot of progress. The pre-season and start of the season are always tough, and I think we have done a great job so far learning from these matches.”