League play underway this week
By JENNIFER GENTILE
MELROSE—The Melrose High boys’ tennis team is looking to turn things up as they approach the mid point to their season. Coming off April break and a loss to league rival Burlington, Melrose is hoping Mother Nature will cooperate so they can pick up more wins when they continue their league play against Wilmington and Stoneham this week.
A match against the Wildcats was twice postponed this week, and Stoneham was slated for Wednesday (post deadline.) Prior to this, Melrose fell in a 5-0 loss to a talented Burlington team on April 14. Despite the defeat, this is a Melrose team that is coming into their own. Currently, Melrose is enjoying work from junior Sean Donovan in 1st singles; sophomore co-captain Patrick Stratford in second singles and sophomore co-captain Caleb Miller in 3rd singles. Pairs work comes from the efforts of juniors Dan O’Donnell and Ian Kamosa in first doubles and sophomores Ben Rossi and Nathan Chow in second doubles.
There has been an element of consistency to their lineup, notes Melrose head coach Sam Stallings. “It doesn’t vary much per match, beyond first and second singles. Sean and Pat are very similar players in terms of levels, though they have different play-styles. Whoever is playing best in a given week or in a certain stretch of the season will play 1st singles and the other plays 2nd. Because they’re both solid players, having the two of them allows us to be evenly-competitive at both 1st and 2nd singles.”
He is pleased with his doubles teams as well. “Our doubles teams have been playing very competitive matches and they’re closing in on breaking-through in getting better at winning big points – which leads to winning more matches,” says Stallings. “They’ve been building their confidence with how they’ve competed against solid opponents.”
As Melrose approaches the halfway mark to the season, they’re focusing on becoming better situational players. “Situational match play takes a lot of match experience in order to improve,” says the coach. “But now, with several matches under our belts, we’ll need to focus on improving and learning from our wins/losses.”
This week, their matches against Stoneham and Wilmington might indicate where they will fall in league standings this spring. Notes Stallings, “They’re teams that we should be able to compete with and win. Our overall goal with will be to have fun and to take advantage of in-match opportunities that could lead to us winning sets and matches.”
Check out Melrose at home this Friday afternoon at 4:15 p.m. at the Lyons Courts when they take on a talented Winchester team.
