March 13, 2025 – Hargrave Military Academy (HMA) and Eastern Mennonite School (EMS) played at Hargrave on a beautiful Spring afternoon buzzing with energy on the eve of Spring Break. There were many parents, faculty, and students in the crowd ready to cheer and enjoy great tennis. The final team score was 2-7 in favor of EMS.
The match summary follows. Matches are arranged by “ladders” with the players ranked by strength. The matches are structured as 8-game pro-sets with ad scoring. While the game scores don’t always tell the story of a close match, a score of 8-6 or 6-8 means that the players were evenly matched. The deciding factor is often a service break or hold which might reflect a fortunate (or unfortunate) run of 3 points!
Singles Matches
- Brady Ball (Senior, Raleigh, NC) vs. Pranav Menon (EMS) W 8-6
- Jack Pittman (Senior, Zionsville, IN) vs. Alex Cline (EMS) L 6-8
- Isaac Wadsworth (Junior, San Antonio, FL) vs. Nathan Pineo (EMS) W 8-4
- David Mathurin (Freshman, Staten Island, NY) vs. Oliver Early (EMS) L 3-8
- Jackson Pino (Senior, Fayetteville, WV) vs. Tyler Mast (EMS) L 0-8
- Patrick Souza (Senior, Chatham, VA) vs. Dylan Blosser (EMS) L 2-8
Doubles Matches
- Ball & Pittman vs. Menon & Cline L 2-8
- Wadsworth & Mathurin vs. Pineo & Early L 2-8
- Pino & Souza vs. Mast & Blosser L 6-8
Additional Exhibition Singles Match
- Jerry Li (Junior, Sammamish, WA) vs. Justin Yoder (EMS)
Highlights of the Match
The overall team match score was 2-7 in favor of EMS. Some notable highlights:
Brady Ball competed at a very high level to defeat the very talented Pranav Menov. Brady constantly changed the tempo of the game, preventing his opponent from feeling comfortable. Brady relied on his strong serves to keep Pranav off to the side of the court and hit winners to the open side. He also took advantage of his opponents’ weaker second serve to pounce and take charge.
