The WA Boys’ Varsity Tennis Team suffered a stinging defeat Monday afternoon, effectively ending their season.

The game began with a hard fight for the initiative, consisting of five matches on five different courts. Playing singles were senior captain Saudip Manna on court #5, sophomore Oliver Davey on court #6, and junior Eric Han on court #2. Playing doubles were senior captain Shray Gurtata with sophomore Thomas Welham on court #3, and junior Kartik Prakash and senior captain Vishal Raghunath on court #4.

The first half hour seemed like the game was a toss-up, and courts #3 and #4 looked like they could go either way. Davey and Manna were holding their own on courts #5 and #6. However, the game soon began to come apart. Lexington began to win set after set on courts #5 and #6, court #3 also began to lose ground to Lexington.

“Me and Oliver both played very strong, textbook tennis…but they’re on another level,” Manna said.

An hour and a half into the game, the possibility of a WA victory had vanished, as Lexington already had the majority of wins necessary to end the game. However, Lexington’s good sportsmanship saw the game continue to determine the outcome of courts #2 and #3.

Within another half hour, court #3 had lost without gaining a single set. However, court #2 was a different story. The fighting on court #2 lasted for over another hour and a half, with Han holding fast and fighting hard the whole time. He won one set before the slip to Lexington began, and finally after a grueling three hours, the game was over, a complete shutout for WA.

“We competed really well,” Coach Peter Paltsios said. “Overall it was a great season, it was just a tough matchup today.”

Gallery • 18 Photos

John Vassiliou

The WA boys' tennis team.