Sports Roundup: Boys Tennis Advances To Round Of 16
David Creed •
This Whaler sports roundup includes updates on the boys tennis team after they advanced to the Round of 16 in their state tournament, photos of the sailing team competing in the girls league championship, and the softball team after losing their play-in matchup.
Boys Tennis Blows Out Frontier On The Road
The Nantucket boys tennis team entered the Div. 4 state tournament as the #18 seed – meaning for their Round of 32 matchup, they needed to travel to face #15 Frontier Regional High School.
The Whalers became road warriors during Thursday afternoon’s matchup and swiftly beat Frontier 5-0 to earn a trip to the Round of 16 for a third consecutive season.
The Whalers were led by Boyan Kalpazanov and Nik Krastev as their top two singles, which is typically how head coach David Cheever drafts up his lineup. However, Cheever has said repeatedly that he puts an added emphasis on his doubles pairings come tournament time because he believes that is ultimately where the wins are earned.
This led to Cheever making a change to his lineup. He took senior Henry Kathawala, one of his top players, and slotted him on the first double pairing with senior Hawkin Edwardes, who has been on Nantucket’s first doubles pairing all season. Hawkin’s brother, Soren, moved up to the third singles spot.
The move proved to work out well. Soren won his matchup in straight sets 7-5, 6-2 while Kathawala and Hawkin won their matchup with ease – beating their opponents in straight sets 6-1, 6-0.
Sam Iller and Fuller Holland have also had strong seasons for the Whalers as regular doubles players and earned Nantucket the win as the second pairing in straight sets 6-2, 6-2.
Nantucket will now travel and face the #2 seeded Pioneer Chinese Immersion Charter School Dragons of Hadley, Massachusetts. The Dragons have not lost a game all season and have a record of 16-0. That game is currently scheduled to take place on Monday, June 3 at 1:30 p.m. The match will take place at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts according to Nantucket Athletic Director Travis Lombardi.
Photos: Cape & Islands Girls Championship
The Nantucket sailing team’s female sailors competed in the Cape & Island girls championship on Wednesday and assistant head coach Jim Meehan was out on the water taking photos throughout the regatta. Meehan shared some of those photos with the Current, which you can enjoy below.
Softball’s Season Comes To An End
The Nantucket softball team’s season came to an end on Thursday following a 9-4 loss on the road to Hamilton-Wenham. Nantucket was the #35 seed while Hamilton-Wenham was the #30 seed. Had Nantucket won, they would have advanced to the Round of 32 to face #3 Pittsfield, who is 17-3.
The Whalers will graduate four seniors in June: Sydney Ard, Yahely Del Rosario Gomez, Andy Tejada Hercules, and Madison Silva. These four helped Nantucket gradually grow and improve the program. In the 2022 season, the Whalers went 7-9 before ending the 2023 season with a 4-15 record. This year, Nantucket finished with a 10-9 record and made the playoffs for the first time since 2021 when NHS coaching legend and former athletic director Chris Maury was still at the helm leading the Whalers in his 29th season.
SCHEDULE:
The girls tennis team will host Tyngsborough on Sunday, June 2 at 1:30 p.m. at the Backus Lane courts.
The boys tennis team will continue their tournament play on Monday, June 3 at 1:30 p.m. on the road. The match will take place at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts against Pioneer Chinese Immersion Charter School.
For updates on schedules for the remaining teams such as boys and girls lacrosse, as well as boys and girls tennis, follow us on Instagram here or check back in with nantucketcurrent.com as updates become available.