Martlets Battle Salisbury

On what turned out to be a beautiful but cold day in Simsbury, the Martlets took on Salisbury. What was always looking to be a competitive match with a likely 4-3 result either way, the Martlets sadly came out on the losing end of the match despite some good tennis all around. The Martlets came out strong and took the doubles point behind wins by #1 doubles (Liam Hibbard ‘27 and Finn Hocking ‘26) and #3 doubles (Jack Pickett ‘26 and Noah Maltby ‘28). Jack and Noah continued their strong play together and dominated their match from start to finish for an 8-3 win. Liam and Finn followed, with some good tennis getting them up 4-1 and 6-3, which they closed out for the impressive 8-5 win. Alex Brown ‘27 and Will Henry ‘26 battled hard at #2 doubles in a very long match, which Salisbury ultimately won 8-5. The points were long and Alex and Will battled hard throughout the match but just didnt have enough this time. Meanwhile, we played two exhibition matches during this round which saw Daniel Frid ‘27 lose a tight singles match 8-6, while Crosby Cutler ‘27 and Xavier Kahn ‘27 won a tight doubles match at #4 doubles. After a 1-0 lead heading into singles, the Martlets dropped the first set in ⅚ singles matches. Jack Pickett ‘26 was unfortunately forced to retire from his match after hurting himself after getting hit with his racket. Noah Maltby ‘28 continued his run of strong tennis #5 singles, winning his match fairly comfortably with a 6-3;6-2 result. Finn Hocking ‘26 led 4-2 in the second set of his match at #3, but his opponent got more consistent to turn it around for the 6-2;6-4 win. Meanwhile, after quickly dropping the first, Will henry ‘26 turned his match around and dominated the second set 6-1. As usually happens after 2 lopsided sets, they played a very close tiebreak that was back and forth, with Will eventually winning it 10-7. Will played will strong energy to outlast the big serving player from Salisbury. At 3-2 up, the Martlets needed one of either Liam Hibbard ‘27 or Alex Brown ‘27 to fight from a set down to win their match. Liam led by a break for much of the first set(including a 20 minute game), which his opponent took in a breaker. They continued to trade breaks in the second set before the Salisbury player was able to hold his serve at 5-4 to close out a 7-6(5); 6-4 win at #1. Finally, Alex played an absolute battle where many rallies were more than 40 shots. The two continued to battle back and forth, both having game points in several of the games. The set naturally went to a breaker, which Salisbury won 7-4 to seal the victory for the visitors. After two heartbreaking 4-3 losses, the Martlets look to turn the tide on Saturday when Pomfret travels to the hill for a 3pm match start.