A big loss probably wasn’t what the boys’ tennis team had in mind to open up the 2011 season. But that’s what happened on Wednesday afternoon, as the Tanners fell 5-0 to the defending Middlesex League champion Lexington High School Minutemen.
Lexington dropped just three games out of the 10 sets played between the three singles matches and two doubles pairings.
“I definitely had some experience in the lineup, so I was happy with the lineup I put out today,” said Chris Pugliese, the Lexington head coach. “I mean, we dropped three games in five matches. That’s not what I expected, but I’ll take it. That’s definitely huge. I’ll take that any day.”
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The Minutemen swept the singles matches by only dropping a pair of sets. Freshman David Herrera and senior co-captain Herman Luther won at No. 1 and No. 2 over Woburn’s Artie Nabizadeh and Nish Mehta, respectively. Both those matches finished 6-0, 6-0 in favor of the Minutemen.
Junior Jonah Bader picked up Lexington’s third singles point with a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Keith Golden in the third slot.
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Lexington’s dominance continued into the doubles matches. At No. 1 doubles, Freshman Harry Nichols and sophomore Dan Maffa won 6-0, 6-1 against Woburn’s Jason Longo and Isaack Lucken. In the No. 2 doubles slot, senior co-captain Preston Wu and fellow senior Ben Feifke swept the Tanners’ Hao Mach and Jesse Doyle 6-0, 6-0.
And that damage was done with LHS’ two top players sitting out. Pugliese said he held Mark Pronchick and Ben Tso out of the lineup to get a look at some of the other players on the Minutemen roster.
Woburn is back at it against Belmont High School on Thursday afternoon. The Tanners will then take on Melrose High School on Monday. Both of those matches will be played at home.
