THE NRHS boys’ tennis team traveled to Barnstable for a first round matchup against Cape Cod Academy on June 1 and came up just short, 3-2 in a great match. (NRHS Tennis Photo)
By STEPHEN MARTELLUCCI
BARNSTABLE — On June 1, the North Reading High boys’ tennis team made the long trip to Barnstable to take on Cape Cod Academy in the first round of the Division 3 state tournament.
The trip home was even longer as the Hornets were edged, 3-2, on a hot, humid day.
With that defeat, the 25th-seeded Hornets ended the year at 10-9. The 8th-seeded Osprey, meanwhile, beat Old Rochester, 3-2, in the Round of 16 on Monday to improve to 14-2. They visited Wayland in the Round of 8 on June 7 (results not available at press time).
“This was as close as a match that you would see,” said Hornets head coach Mark Bisognano. “Four of the five matches went three sets.”
The most exciting match took place at first singles as Roman Ton took on Luke Spinner. In a match that lasted three hours and 20 minutes, Ton lost in three sets. He lost the first one, 6-4. He then won the second one, 7-6 (9-7 in the tiebreaker) but lost the third one, 7-6 (8-6 in the tiebreaker).
“Roman played great in the second and third sets,” stated Bisognano. “That was an epic match.”
At second singles, Parker Lee beat Ben Cataiano in three sets, 6-2, 2-6, 6-2.
Third-singles player, Sameer Murthy, lost in straight sets, 6-1, 6-3, to Ayden Naydenov.
In doubles action, the first team of Jonathan Park and Alex DeWolfe lost in three sets to Connor Hall and James Brunicardi, 4-6, 6-2, 6-0.
The second team of Aiden Patell and Raffi Toby defeated Tom Murray and Kane Traywick, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.
“I think that if they had to travel two hours to come to North Reading, we would have had the advantage,” said Bisognano. “We are two evenly-matched teams.”
