Yesterday, on a May afternoon built for tennis, the boys’ varsity squad clipped Portledge, 3-2, to improve their league record to 4-1.

Liam Swords and Clement Leung opened the scoring by making quick work of their 1st doubles match, 6-2, 6-3. The 2nd doubles tandem of Forest Kaplan-Walbrecht and Nick Knaupp won their first set 6-4, but the Bears dropped the first set in each of the three singles matches to fall behind early in the match. The Bears would go on to drop 1st and 2nd singles, making the two remaining matches must-wins for the Bears to take the overall victory.

Jaden Lee fought back at no. 3 singles to win the second set, 6-3, while Kaplan-Walbrecht and Knaupp dropped their second set, 4-6, sending both matches to first-to-10 super-tiebreakers in the waning daylight. Lee showed his mettle by revving up a ferocious serve that led to 3 aces as he powered his way to a 10-3 win. 2nd doubles was even more dominant in their tiebreaker, as Kaplan-Walbrecht and Knaupp used a variety of shots to win points and force Panther errors on the way to a 10-2 tiebreaker win and the match victory. This is the Bears’ third straight win over the Panthers dating back to last year’s PSAA Championship.

The Bears were slated for a Saturday doubleheader with Staten Island Academy, but a washout is in the forecast. They will return to the court next week.

_____________________________________________________________