The Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School boys tennis team breezed through round two of states with another sweep, 5-0, taking down the Groton-Dunstable Regional High School Crusaders on Monday afternoon.
They now advance to the quarter finals.
The win follows up from another sweep in round one of the playoffs on Friday, when the boys took down Gloucester.
On the singles court on Monday, senior Kert Kleeman — often the Vineyards marathon player — surprised everyone, finishing early and taking a quick victory over the Crusaders Brandon Richand 6-2, 6-0, setting the tone of the match.
“He played incredible. Kert is amazing,” said head coach Nicole Macy after the match. “He often has the longest matches. Third singles are generally that way but he was able to look at the opponent’s weaknesses and strengths and analyze the game and he just took care of business.”
Senior captain Zak Potter, who was just named all league MVP, was next to close out on the singles court, taking commanding victory over Groton-Dunstables Aadi Ravindran, with a final tally of 6-0, 6-0. Senior captain Caleb Dubin finalized the singles sweep, defeating Ayush Chaudhay 6-2, 6-0.
“That was my personal goal for the season,” said Potter of his MVP title. “But the team goal is winning the championship and that comes first so that’s more on our minds.”
On the doubles court, junior-senior duo, Tommy Flynn and Kyle Levy set the precedent, defeating Groton-Dunstables Daniel McNally and Alexa Bobkov 6-2, 6-2.
The last match of the day was second doubles, where freshman Nate Walsh and senior Henry Wansiewicz battled it out with Crusaders Yash Vallecha and Will Lippman. After taking victory in set one 6-0, the Crusader duo responded with a win of their own 4-6 over the Island duo.
In the tie-breaker however, Walsh and Wansiewicz ran away with it, finishing the full sweep with a 10-2 final in the last set of the match.
While Macy said she thought the team played well, she said they are also feeling the pressure.
“Every round is bigger and more important and harder but they are still holding their heads high and coming out and playing the way they know they need to so it’s going to be about finding a nice balance of staying confident but humble as we move forward,” said Macy.
As for how the team will maintain a humble attitude in the face of overwhelming momentum, coach Macy says it’ll take one tough game.
“One tough match and it’s going to reset that humility for them,” said Macy. “Second doubles struggled a little bit today; they pulled it out and did great but it wasn’t as easy as they were expecting it to be. I know next time they walk on the court they are going to come out with a renewed sense of digging in and playing hard.”
Next up on the Vineyard tennis team’s quest for a state title, the Medway High School Mustangs will travel to the Islands Fennessy Court Thursday for a 12:30 pm match start time.
The Mustangs defeated the Cape Cod Academy Seahawks on Monday evening to advance to the quarterfinals against the Vineyard.
“Its exciting, I’m glad to have another round under us or behind us but the pressure keeps mounting. One step at a time, one point at a time, just trying to keep their focus where it should be,” said Macy.
