Tiger Tennis welcomed a new team to our schedule this year. The squad from New Covenant School is in their second year and brought a bunch of energetic new players to the mix. While the weather report indicated a 50% chance of rain, the skies held onto their moisture and the clouds made for almost perfect conditions on the court. With the Tigers still shaking off their last match and the usual weekend fun, the squad got to work against their new opponents. While the New Covenant program is new, it certainly has plenty of potential. Great work was done by the top half of the singles ladder while solid work was seen in both the lower half and the double side.
At #1 singles, Tiger Tyler Morris (Sophomore, New Bern, NC) took on the smooth baseline play of Christian Kumar, emerging 10-3 behind a solid service game and pounding all-court attack. At #2, senior Youssef Abouzied (Giza, Egypt) also emerged 10-3, but Gryphon Logan Duncan worked at developing points, making Abouzied both build his own points and forced him to finish. Rounding out the top 3, David Kiesnowski (Sophomore, Appleton, WI) and Sim Callaway were in a tight match, with each game going to multiple deuce points. The tipping point came at 3-3. Kiesnowski took the game to put up a score of 4-3 and from there ground out an unrelenting attack to finally reach 7-3 before another exchange of service breaks and holds left the cards showing 10-4. Evan Troast (Lighthouse Point, FL, 8th grader), Sebastian Richardson (Charlotte, NC, Sophomore), and Aiden Steinbach (Durham, NC, Junior) all had quiet matches in which they worked to hold serve and made the adjustments to break their opponents’ service games. They each emerged with match scores of 10-0.
With the score 6-0 after singles, the Tigers doubles ladder stayed engaged to continue to build partnerships in the forge of competition. Morris and Richardson took on a re-energized Kumar and Duncan. After jumping out to a 3-1 lead through the first cycle of serves, the Gryphon duo closed to 4-3 before the Tigers closed the door to finish out 8-4. At #2 doubles, the untried duo of Troast and Sam Wilkerson (NYC, NY, 8th grader, making his Varsity debut) took on Callaway and David Keenan. It was a close match with missteps and misfires all around to reach a 4-4 stalemate. Troast and Wilkerson settled down to then pound out a 8-4 finish. At #3 doubles, Andrew Guarino (Malvern, PA, Sophomore) and Walter Thompson (Chatham, VA, Freshman) put in a workmanlike performance after waiting patiently for the single ladder to finish. Titus Brenning and Nick Toone tried to hold back the tide, but were unable to come back after a 1-1 start, with the Tigers taking the final match 8-1.
On the exhibition side of things, David Chen (Shanghai, China), Maddox McCluer (Hickory, NC), Hosny Maklouf (Cairo, Egypt), and Aidan Steinbach took the opportunity to get in exhibition matches with New Covenant’s extra players.
The Man of the Match was David Kiesnowski. Recovering from a back injury, he has worked to re-establish his tennis game, striving to balance his aggressive mindset against the intellectual understanding to be more conservative as his stroke mechanics catch up. This inner tension between attack and defense is a cornerstone of the game of Tennis.
As usual, the players appreciated the support of the faculty, staff, and cadets that dropped by our unannounced match. The win takes the Hargrave Tennis record to 1-1.
Our next match will be at home against Carlisle School on Thursday, March 22.
Individual Match Scores:
Singles
#1 – Tyler Morris v Christian Kumar 10-3
#2 – Youssef Abouzied v Logan Duncan 10-3
#3 – David Kiesnowski v Sim Callaway 10-4
#4 – Evan Troast v David Keenan 10-0
#5 – Sebastian Richardson v Titus Brenning 10-0
#6 – Aidan Steinbach v Nick Toone 10-0
Doubles
#1 – Morris and Richardson v Kumar and Duncan 8-4
#2 – Troast and Sam Wilkerson v Callaway and Keenan 8-3
#3 – Andrew Guarino and Walter Thompson v Brenning and Toone 8-1
