Boys Tennis Advances To Round Of 16 In State Tournament

The #7 seeded Nantucket Whalers opened up their new tennis courts at Backus Lane and state tournament play with a 4-1 victory over #26 Seekonk Thursday afternoon to advance to the Round of 16 in the MIAA Div. 4 state tournament.

The results were as followed:

Quinn Keating put up a valiant effort but as expected, matched up with Seekonk’s most talented player as the Whalers top single. It was a back and forth match, but Keating eventually lost in straight sets 3-6, 3-6.

Keating said he was disappointed with the outcome of his match personally, but sounding like a true captain acknowledged that the team getting the win and living to fight another day was all that mattered.

Boyan Kalpazanov won his match in straight sets. He won the first set 6-1 and while he got some push back on the second set from Seekonk’s second single, Kalpazanov took it 6-3 to clinch the match.

Nik Krastev, the star freshman, was once again Nantucket’s third single. He won his match with ease in straight sets 6-1, 6-0. He’s been one of the most consistent performers for this Nantucket team.

The doubles pairings for the Whalers were phenomenal on Thursday and as head coach David Cheever said after the match - these tournament games moving forward will ultimately come down to the performance of the two doubles pairings.

Henry Kathawala and Hunter Gross have formed a very viable duo in this back half of the season and they continued that success on Thursday as Nantucket’s top doubles pairing and beating their opponents in straight sets while not allowing a point (6-0, 6-0).

Aidan Sullivan and Hawkin Edwardes have been with one another all season long and the chemistry was on full display in this one. They won their match in straight sets 6-0, 6-0.

Nantucket will now wait for the finalized date and time of their next match, which will be against #10 Hopedale at the Backus Lane courts.

Hopedale beat #23 Lee 4-1 in their Round of 32 matchup.

Photography below is by Chris Tran.