Martlets Fall to Bearcats

The Martlets traveled to Lakeville, CT on a hot Wednesday to take on the always challenging Bearcats from Hotchkiss. Despite the overall score, the Martlets competed hard in every position and played some solid tennis. The doubles began with Hotchkiss taking all 4 of the doubles matches played, despite a good challenge from some of the Martlets. Alex Brown ‘27 and Jack Pickett ‘26 played some nice points against a strong team in their 8-2 loss. Will Henry ‘26 and Noah Maltby ‘28 also put together some good points in many close games throughout their 8-3 loss at #2. Liam Hibbard ‘27 and Finn Hocking ‘26 played many deuce games in their doubles #1 match, which felt much closer than the final score of 8-3. Crosby Cutler ‘27 and Xavier Kahn ‘27 played a tough team and lost 8-1 in exhibition. Moving to singles, the extra court space allowed us to play 8 matches, all ⅔ sets! Daniel Frid ‘27 and Archie Downing ‘29 both played some solid points in their exhibition matches, but fell to strong opponents at #7 and #8 respectively. Liam Hibbard ‘27 faced one of the league's toughest opponents at #1 singles, fighting hard in his 6-2;6-0 loss. Jack Pickett ‘26 made some nice adjustments in the second set of his match, falling 6-0;6-3 at #6. Will Henry ‘26 nearly took his first set at #4 singles and his opponent stepped it up a gear in the second set for the 6-4;6-1 result. Noah Maltby ‘28 saw practically every game go to deuce, but could not get the final point of many of his games in a 6-1;6-0 loss at #5. Finally, the final two matches of the day go to the grit and grace award winners of the match: Alex Brown ‘27 and Finn Hocking ‘26. Alex battled against the same opponent who beat him handily at the KO tournament. Alex stuck with him toe to toe today, battling hard but dropping the first set 6-3. Alex came out firing in the second set with his tenacious play style, getting a 5-2 lead which he ultimately served out 6-4. His opponent turned it up a notch in the breaker, but Alex fought hard for the 6-3;4-6;10-3 result. Finn was able to earn the Martlets our sole point of the day to avoid the sweep. He battled hard against his hard hitting opponent, changing the pace and running every ball down. He frustrated his opponent with slices, lobs, and his usual grit to take the first set 6-4. In the second, both players began with some breaks of serve. Finn was able to get the crucial break at 5-5, and serve the match out for the 6-4;7-5 win. Finn and Alex stood out, but all the Martlets competed hard against a strong team in brutal playing conditions. The martlets look to get back on track Friday as we travel to Frederick Gunn School.