The Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School (MVRHS) boys varsity tennis team kicked off their season on Monday with a hard-fought 3-2 loss to the Cape Cod Academy Seahawks at the Island’s Ned Fennessy Courts.
This was also the debut game for new Vineyard Head Coach Jock Cooperrider, who said he saw promise in the young squad that battled through windy conditions on Monday.
Wind gusts as high as 40 mph tested the players throughout the March 30 home opener. Cooperrider, a 2010 MVRHS graduate, said the elements were just as formidable as Cape Cod Academy.
“I told the guys beforehand, ‘You’re not really playing the team or the opponent as much as you’re going to be playing the elements,’” Cooperrider told The Times.
Both of the Vineyard’s doubles squads claimed dominant victories over Cape Cod. MVRHS juniors Henry Hall and Aeneas Forrester defeated Cape Cod’s Rowan Lewison and Austin Newhall 6-1 and 6-0, and the Island’s junior-freshman combo Jayden Kuller and Carter Masselli took down the Seahawks’s Theo Draper and Nicholas Brown 6-1 and 6-0.
On the singles side, the boys battled hard, but the results were mixed. Sophomore Nate Walsh, on third singles, won his first set 6-1 before falling 4-6 in the second and 4-6 in the tiebreaker. Freshman Moses Thomson in second singles was playing in his very first high school career tennis match. He said the nerves and the wind got the better of him, but he learned. Thomson fell 6-1 and 6-1 to Cape Cod’s Garrett Wilson.
“[I was] a little nervous, and the wind was a huge factor,” said Thomson after his match.
The Vineyarders were tied 2-2 with Cape Cod Academy as everyone gathered at the first singles court to watch Vineyard senior Tommy Flynn battle with the Seahawks’ Ben Catalano in a match that lasted over two-and-a-half hours. Cape Cod’s coaches said that Catalano has not lost a match in three years. Flynn lost the first set 3-6, won the second 6-2, and fell in the tiebreaker 2-6.
Cooperrider said he was proud of Flynn’s resilience throughout the match.
“I was really proud of Tommy’s battling,” said Cooperrider. “I thought that kid [he played] was pretty solid.”
Just days before the boys’ season started, MVRHS Athletic Director Mark McCarthy said they were still looking for a dedicated head coach. When Cooperrider, 33, said he could step into the role, the Island’s tennis community took a collective exhale of relief. Cooperrider was a dominant force in the program from 2007 to 2010 and laid the groundwork for the 2012 and 2013 teams who earned state championships. He brings an exciting pedigree to the program. Cooperrider has taught tennis lessons at Farm Neck Golf Club since he was 14-years-old and continues to work at the club part time while working full-time selling trips to major tennis tournaments.
Cooperrider said as a Islander who grew up within the close-knit tennis community, he felt compelled to step up when he heard the team was scrambling for a coach after Nicole Macy retired after last season.
“The tennis community here has been a big part of my life for a long time,” said Cooperrider.
“I just had to step in, It didn’t look like anybody was able to do it,” he said. “It was just really important to me that I can give back a little and try to give a little expertise. This is a young team and there’s 15 kids hungry to play and have been playing all winter, and they deserved a good opportunity, and I just couldn’t watch that go the wrong way.”
The boys Vineyard tennis team returned this season with only a few starters from last year’s squad who dominated in league play, taking the Cape and Islands League title with a 16-1 record and making a strong post season run before falling in the semi-finals to the Weston High School Wildcats 5-0.
Cooperrider said despite having a young roster, they have depth and are hungry to compete. His primary focus for the team is going to be incremental improvement and mental resilience.
“My goal with them is just to get a little better, each practice, to teach these guys how to play these matches when — whether it’s windy, whether you’re off-Island and you’re tired — and just mentally prepare for all these different little knick-knack things,” said Cooperride. “I think that’s something I can give them with my experience and playing. I know that you lose on days where you should win and you win on days when you should lose. If you can just be consistent mentally every day and, even when you lose some points, you should win.”
Cooperrider said one thing he noticed the team struggling with on Monday, was moving on mentally from a point that doesn’t go your way and looking ahead to the next one.
“That’s one thing I really was talking to them at the end about is being able to move on from points that don’t go your way,” said Cooperrider. “It’s easy to get a little down and let that take over the next handful of points and that can hurt you. If I can just teach them how to have quick memories and just get ready for the next one, that’s super important.”
Despite the early loss, the Vineyard team will use it as a learning experience, and motivation for the season.
“I think we’re going to be a force out there,” he said. “I’m excited to be a part of it.”