MANCHESTER, NH – Knotted at three, following singles play, against sixth-ranked Londonderry High School the third-seeded Derryfield School boys tennis team needed only to do what it has done best all season: win on the doubles courts.
The Cougars (12-2) did just that, taking all three doubles matchups to win their home quarterfinal matchup, 6-3, against the Lancers (12-5) Thursday, and advance to the semifinals in the Division-I playoff tournament.
“Everybody, across the board, our top-six players, have all improved, and all stepped up, and that’s been the difference, especially in doubles,” said Derryfield head coach Rae MacWilliam.
Derryfield’s top player, junior Johnny Brown, fell to Londonderry No. 1, sophomore Neel Chakravarthy.
On the second singles court, Davey Schroeder shutout Londonderry senior Connor Lord, 8-0.
“He’s been a great leader as a senior,” said MacWilliam of his co-captain (along with Brown).
At No. 3, Lancers senior Logan Hunt defeated junior Miles Rosen, 8-6; and junior Tiege Broadhurst earned a hard-fought 9-7 victory over Derryfield senior Riley Hodges.
The Cougars were able to knot the match at three apiece, however, after Derryfield juniors Sammy Fazelat and Connor Bradley earned 8-5 and 8-2 victories over Jayden Wu and Evan Fortin, respectively.
And much like the last time the two teams competed on May 15, it was Derryfield’s doubles play that separated the two squads.
“Every match is going to be difficult, but our doubles strategy is paying off,” said MacWilliam. “I feel like we have an edge with doubles.”
Brown and Schroeder won, 8-4, over Chakravarthy and Lord on court one; Rosen and Hodges earned a 9-2 triumph over Hunt and Wu and Fazelat and Bradley emerged victorious, 8-4, over Broadhurst and Fortin.
“We knew, with their history, Derryfield is comfortable with the postseason, and we know, in terms of expectations, they’re going to compete, so to split singles and then win two out of three doubles is really the goal,” said Londonderry head coach Alex Burbine. “We executed the first half and just couldn’t quite execute the second half, and that’s sports.”
Despite the loss, Burbine lauded his players for their efforts.
“I’m proud of the way the guys competed and proud of the way this season has come together,” he said. “If you think that three years ago, we were 1-13, then 2-12, and then we were 3-11, so to turn that around, that’s just a function of these guys’ hard work and the time they’ve put in, not only in the season but in the offseason as well.”
Burbine said most of his senior class picked up a tennis racket for the first time as freshmen.
“When you look at it from that frame,
Next up for Derryfield is semifinal date with Bedford High School, winner of nine of the last 11 Division-I championships, Monday at 4 p.m. in Bedford.
The Bulldogs won, 9-0, the last time the squads faced off on May 12, but many of those individual and doubles matchups were close, said MacWilliam.
“We’re happy to be in the hunt,” he said. “We feel we have a strategy that might be able to give us a 5-4 decision if things go well.”