Boys, Girls Tennis Seasons Come To An End

Both the Nantucket boys and girls tennis seasons came to an end this week in their respective Round of 16 tournament matchups. The boys, ranked #18 in the Div. 4 tournament, lost to #2 seeded Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter school 4-1 on the road while the girls, ranked #12 in the Div. 4 tournament, lost to #5 seeded Ipswich 4-1 on the road.

"The kids had fun. It was a good year,” boys tennis head coach David Cheever said. “My seniors were happy with their four years. They said 'We had a lot of fun Cheever and that's what you told us the goal of high school tennis was… to have fun, and we did that. We achieved that.’ So we achieved the goal and they know that they should have beat that team.

“(Monday) they were damn close,” Cheever continued. “They fought hard. In the second doubles, tiebreakers were 7-5 and 10-8. So they were the only ones left on the court. That second set didn't mean anything. We had already lost the match, and they were still out there scrapping for it. Tip of the hat to Forbes Keating, who got the phone call 9 o'clock the night before the match saying 'You're on tomorrow let's go,’ and he jumped in the van and he was spectacular fighting for the team there. It was a lot of driving for nothing, but the kids had fun so that's good.”

The Whalers were without second singles player Nik Krastev, which forced Cheever to move sophomore Soren Edwardes up to second singles and senior captain Henry Kathawala back up to third singles after placing him in the first doubles pairing with fellow senior Hawkin Edwardes in round one. It stripped the Whalers of one of their biggest advantages.

The final scores were as followed:

First Single: Boyan Kalpazanov lost his match in straight sets 1-6, 0-6.

Second Single: Soren Edwardes lost his match in straight sets 1-6, 0-6.

Third Single: Henry Kathawala won his match in straight sets 6-2, 6-2.

First Doubles Pairing: Hawkin Edwardes and Sam Iller lost their matchup in straight sets 3-6, 5-7.

Second Doubles Pairing: Fuller Holland and Forbes Keating lost their match 6-7, 6-7.

As for the girls, they lost to Ipswich but earned high praise from their head coach, Luke Thornewill, after the match.

“The kids played their hearts out,” Thornewill said. “They all played well. It was great tennis to watch. Ipswich was just all around slightly better (on Tuesday).”

“I reminded the kids that while we didn’t win (on Tuesday), the bigger victory was the entire season and all the records we broke,” Thornewill continued. “Winning record, power ranking #12 for the tourney, two wins against the Vineyard, and many, many personal wins. The overall skill and play level of the team highest it’s ever been. We all had a blast.”

The scores from the girls match were as followed:

First Single: Joan Harris lost her match 3-6, 4-6.

Second Single: Lily Chibnik won her match in a tiebreaker. After winning the first set 6-2, she lost 7-5. Chibnik eventually beat out her opponent in the tiebreaker 10-6.

Third Single: Lauren Cutone lost her match 2-6, 6-7.

First Doubles Pairing: Chloe Marrero and Hannah Gerardi lost their match 1-6, 3-6.

Second Doubles Pairing: Vicky Todorova and Andrea Bunlerssak lost their match 0-6, 2-6.