THE WMHS boys’ tennis team shut out Melrose, 5-0 on May 6 and Watertown, 5-0 yesterday with both matches taking place on the road. The 6-6 Warriors are currently ranked No. 10 in the Div. 3 power rankings. (Courtesy Photo)
WATERTOWN — The Wakefield High boys’ team improved to 6-6 with a 5-0 sweep of Watertown on the road yesterday. It was the start of three matches in three days for the Warriors, who are working hard to improve their ranking for the state tournament with five matches left in the regular season.
Wakefield was ranked 10th in the latest MIAA Div. 3 power rankings released yesterday before their win over the Raiders.
The Warriors will host Stoneham today at 5:30 p.m. and Wilmington tomorrow at 4:15 p.m.
It was a good mix of close matchups and easy victories for the visitors yesterday.
Luke Greif cruised 6-0, 6-0 over Cyrus Kiani at first singles.
The same was the case for Sam Ryder and Owen Kelley at second doubles with an identical 6-0, 6-0 shutout over Ryan Pacis and Niko Karalis.
Trevor Veilleux rolled without much resistance at second singles, 6-1, 6-2 over Sid Hackett.
The hard-earned victories in this one resided at third singles and first doubles.
Kevin DeGray fought off Nash Goldstein 6-3 in the first set and had to dig deep for a 6-4 win in set two for the win.
The same was true for Chase McCarthy and Ben Ryder at first doubles against Watertown’s Randy Delgado and Ed Daily. The Warriors won a tight, 7-5 first set but it had only just begun as an epic second set unfolded. In the end, tied at 6-6, the set went to tiebreak which Ryder and McCarthy won 7-3 for the 7-6 set two victory and 5-0 Warrior match score.
That win came after a very close, 3-2 loss to Burlington on Thursday at the Dobbins Courts.
Greif won at first singles, 6-1, 6-3. Ryder and Kelley’s second doubles match went to a third set which they won 6-4.
The Warriors had some great battles throughout – especially Veilleux at second singles who came up just short, 6-3, 6-4 – but they couldn’t break through as the Red Devils earned the season sweep.
The Warriors earned a season sweep of their own on May 6 in Melrose, topping their rivals 5-0 for their 5th win of the season.
Not to be confused as a rout, this 5-0 win featured three matches that required a third set.
Making quick work again was Greif who beat Daniel Teittinen 6-0, 6-2.
That would be it for quick matches in this one.
The only other contest that ended in two was at first single where Ben Ryder and McCarthy needed to level up in the second set after winning the first 6-2. They were pushed to a tiebreaker by Nathan Chow and Gautik Singh in the second but the Warriors won it, 7-4 to close up the victory.
Third singles and second doubles both came back from first set losses to win.
DeGray fell 6-1 to Caleb Miller in the first set but made some terrific adjustments as he rolled from there, beating Miller 6-2 in the second and finishing it off with a 6-1 victory in set three.
In the longest match of the day, Sam Ryder and Kip King lost a marathon first set to Joseph Brady and Joseph Smith at second doubles. It went to a tiebreak and eventually ended with the Melrose Joseph’s on top, 8-6. Quickly putting it behind them, King and Ryder earned a hard-fought, 6-4 win in set two. That resulted in a point-style tiebreak to decide the winner, which the Warriors took 10-4 for an incredible three-set thriller.
Three-set thriller also happened to describe Veilleux’s win at second singles. He beat Patrick Stratford 6-2 in the first set but Stratford bounced back to win a tense, second, 7-6 after a 7-4 win in the tiebreaker. Veilleux did a nice job of resetting for the third, which he won, 6-3.
In the end, it was an exciting win for Wakefield as they completed the season sweep, also defeating Melrose 4-1 on April 8.
After their matches against the Spartans and Wildcats this week, Wakefield will conclude the regular season next week against Gloucester followed by Wilmington and Watertown rematches.
