Martlets Defeat Lions

After battling through two very cold and windy days of practice, the clouds parted and the Martlets won their home opener in a tight match against a very consistent squad from Kent.  We opened strong, with Khang Ngo ‘27 and Sam Herdeg ‘27 playing a tough net game to win 8-3 at #1 doubles.  Sonny Darnowski ‘28 and Rohan Satpathy ‘27 followed suit, sailing to an 8-1 with at #2 doubles with some excellent communication and teamwork. Although we lost at the #3 spot, these two wins clinched the doubles point.  On to singles, Kent won handily at the #2 and #5 spots, and clinched their 3rd point after a lengthy battle against Calvin Bixby ‘28, who kept his focus and fought hard, ultimately falling 7-9.  That left Will Jones ‘28 at #1, Sonny at #4, and Issac Kwon ‘27 at #6.  (And Luke Champoux ‘28 also played a strong exhibition singles match, winning 8-4.)  Will played against a very consistent and patient opponent, choosing his attacks well and avoiding unforced errors, prevailing 8-4.  After Issac overcame an early deficit to take a 7-4 lead, his opponent closed that gap to 7-6 before Issac won his next service game to grab an 8-6 victory.  That left the team to cheer on Sonny, who had a bigger lead than we realized, quickly closing things out 8-3, for a tight 4-3 team victory.

The GRIT & Grace Award for the match goes to Calvin Bixby ‘28.  Although he ended up falling 7-9, he played with patience and focus against a challenging opponent, fighting off several leads to keep the match truly a toss-up until those final games.