Boys Tennis Slams Door on Manchester-Essex, Moves to Semifinals

The stakes were higher, but the outcome was the same on Monday for the boys' tennis team.

Playing a familiar foe in the second round of the state Div. 3 North Sectionals tennis tournament, the Generals defeated Manchester-Essex Regional High School, 4-1, for the third time this season. The win moves the Generals to the semifinals of the tournament.

After earning a first round bye for the team's 12-2 regular season record, the No. 3 seeded Generals faced the No. 5 seeded Hornets at knowing they had to take care of business once again.

Hamilton-Wenham won both matches by a score of 5-0 earlier in the season, so it would have been easy for the Generals to overlook their North Shore rivals.

Heading in to Monday's match, the Generals thought a win would most likely mean they would face a team that had given them their only two losses of the season - second-seeded Pentucket Regional High School.

“We came in here knowing  that we couldn’t take (Manchester-Essex) for granted, as they’d want to do to us what we want to do to Pentucket,” junior Joey Merrill said. “This number two doubles team was just behind us as the best second doubles in the Cape Ann League. We had to play our best.”

And play their best they did, as the Generals quickly won both doubles matches to go up 2-0 within the first 50 minutes of the match.

No. 1 doubles combo of Spencer Collins and Chris Young never gave their opponents a chance at a rally, defeating them in straight sets 6-1, 6-0.

Junior Brian Rodgers returned from a one match hiatus to team up with usual partner Merrill at No. 2 doubles. After pulling out a closely contested 6-3 first set, the tandem shut the door on their opponents in the second set by winning all six games of the set.

With the two doubles matches in the bag, all eyes turned to the three singles matches being played.

No. 1 singles player junior Stuart Rowe went back and forth with his opponent all match, pulling out a gut-checking first set 7-5. Trailing 2-3 in the second, Rowe rattled off three of the final four games clinching the overall match for the Generals.

Amidst the chants of “Stu’s our hero,” No. 2 singles player senior Jack Lebel was laboring in his match. After dropping the first set 5-7, Lebel battled back to tie the two-hour match at five in the second set before falling short by a similar score of 5-7.

A few minutes after Lebel’s match ended, senior Trip McLane emerged victorious at the No. 3 singles spot for the Generals. McLane defeated his opponent 6-3, 6-0 to keep his season winning streak going at 15.

As the team gathered together to celebrate the victory, murmurs arose about the excitement to face their bitter rivals Pentucket, hoping that a third time would be the charm. Little did the team know that another team had enacted their revenge for them a day early, as Bedford High School defeated Pentucket 4-1.  

Pentucket losing to Bedford means that the Generals will again host a North Sectional match against Bedford High School on Tuesday at 3:30 at .

(Update on Tuesday at 9:30 a.m.: The match has been moved to Wednesday, June 8 at 3:30 p.m. at Pingree Park courts.)