Tempers Flare as Malden Tennis Falls to North Andover

Malden High School’s boy’s tennis team hosted North Andover in the MIAA tournament yesterday. After several highly contested and emotional matches, the Knights of North Andover emerged victorious, 3-2.

“It’s disappointing, being so close to our ultimate goal, but our players played very well and I’m very proud of them,” said Malden Coach Bereuice Diaz.

The competition, which consisted of two doubles matches and three singles matches, had several definitive outcomes early. North Andover took both doubles matches in straight sets, while Malden countered with a decisive win in the first singles pairing, leaving two hard fought singles matches to play out.

The first featured Malden Captain Andrew DeLacey against North Andover’s top singles player Mike Terranova. DeLacey won the first 6-3, but Terranova battled back, taking the second set 6-4. Terranova, however, couldn’t stop the Malden senior, as DeLacey took the final set and match, 6-3.

“I knew we needed my match just as much as everyone else’s,” said DeLacey. “With all the commotion from the other match, my head got out of the game in the second set, but I got focused and came back to win.”

Controversial Call Led to Argument, Altercation

The commotion came from the over two-and-a-half-hour match on the neighboring court between Malden’s Jeff Duong and North Andover’s Sherwin Yamin. After Yamin took the first set, 6-2, an argument erupted between the two when Yamin questioned one of Duong’s boundary calls (as officials are only supplied at later stages in the tournament, all calls are made by players on the court).

With the hometown crowd favoring Duong’s call, Yamin made a lewd gesture towards the crowd, angering Duong. After the argument progressed, Duong removed his shirt and crossed onto Yamin’s end of the court. At this point both coaches intervened, separating the two.

“I’ve never seen a player take off his shirt and threaten another player before. He probably should’ve been ejected,” said North Andover coach Paul Bergesen. “In any other sport you have a referee. I think there needs to be a referee to break up altercations like this.”

Fortunately cooler heads prevailed and play continued with Duong coming from behind to take the second set, 7-5. When the third set began, Yamin’s right leg cramped up lunging after a ball, and he quickly fell behind, 5-0.

“I was going to give up, but then, after I won the next two games, my coach told me there was still some hope, and that helped me come back,” said Yamin.

Yamin counter attacked by drawing Duong around court, making him do most of the running. Using this technique, Yamin came back to win, 7-5.

“My leg still hurts, but I can go home happy now,” said Yamin.

Despite the Malden's loss, DeLacey sees success in their season.

“Two years ago we had a losing season, last year we made states, and this year we were the Greater Boston League champions for the first time in 54 years,” said DeLacey. “Walking around school you see all these pictures of other sports, and there’s one old tennis picture, with guys in short shorts and wooden racquets. Hopefully, now, we can get a new picture up there.”