Despite the fact that it snagged shutouts in the first three singles matches, defeating its rival from Pinkerton Academy in Derry last Friday afternoon proved to be anything but easy for the Londonderry High boys’ tennis team.
First-year coach Janice Tracey’s Lancers did up their season record to 3-1 by handing the 1-3 Astros a 5-4 defeat in the match. But the visitors had to work hard to get the job done.
Londonderry’s top three singles players – Ryan Broderick, Tim Court, and Matt McKinney – all thumped their way to 8-0 victories to place the Lancers in a great spot.
But Pinkerton showed heart, character, and talent by claiming wins in the fourth through sixth singles matches. Astro Josh Moser won 8-1 at four singles, his teammate Tyler Busby bagged an 8-3 victory at fifth singles, and Will McCarty followed up for PA by knotting the match score by winning 8-2 at number six.
However, the Lancers snared wins in the first two doubles match-ups, thanks to the work of the tandems of Court and McKinney (8-0 shutout) and Broderick and Cam Letalien (8-5). The third doubles team of Dan Pleva and Vinnie Annu fell just short of a win (8-5), but it didn’t matter in the overall scheme of things on this afternoon.
“It was another nail-biter, but we prevailed today,” said Tracey. “My captains handled their opponents by 8-0 scores, and Tim’s match barely lasted 20 minutes. But it came down to my doubles two team of Ryan and Cam, and they started with a commanding lead of 3-0. With some fast feet from Pinkerton, they came back to 5-5. But we weathered the attack to take the last three games and close it out, 8-5.”
After enjoying the weekend, the Lancers then returned to action this past Monday by taking on the Manchester Central racketeers in the Queen City.
The Lancers moved their season record to a glittering 4-1 with an 8-1 trouncing of the hosts.
Singles wins were bagged by Ryan Broderick (8-0), Tim Court (8-1), Matt McKinney (8-1), Dan Pleva (8-1), and Vinnie Annu (8-4) before the locals made a clean sweep of doubles as well.
“It’s so nice to see these boys come around and play some really good tennis.
“These boys from Central were good, and it wasn’t a match of who was worse but a match of who played better,” said Tracey.