WORCESTER – The Bromfield tennis team had a magical season, but as the old adage goes — all good things must come to an end. The Trojans met their match in the State Finals, at Clark University, as they fell to last year’s Division 3 champion, Martha’s Vineyard, 4-1. Trojans head coach Ryan Venditti said that his team’s goal was to make it to the finals.
“Our goal at the beginning of the year was to make it to the state finals,” the coach said. “We accomplished that. Today was tough. We ran into a really good team today. I thought our kids battled to the end every match and kept pushing to the end. We played well today. We just lost to a better to team.”
Senior captain Drew Banker said that the run to the state finals was fun and challenging.
“We had a district run that was really fun,” said Banker. “We had two 3-2 matches in a row, so winning districts was huge. We had Mount Greylock in the state semis, and the team was not sure we were going to win that because they (Mt. Greylock) are a great team. Coming into today we knew Martha’s Vineyard was a great team and they pretty much handled everybody.”
Banker picked up the Trojans lone match point of the afternoon with his 6-1, 6-4 victory over Natty Schneider. Banker said that the district run was tough, but fun.
“He is a great player,” said Banker of his opponent. “He hits it pretty flat and hard, with that I came out on top because he was too inconsistent at times. I managed to get it back deep enough. so he couldn’t hit winners .I kept it away from the net, because I knew he was a good volleyer.”
Venditti said he could always count on Banker to secure the tough match point all season long and Saturday afternoon was no different.
“I was confident in Drew’s ability all season long,” the coach said. “He steps it up when he has to. When the matches get close, he always finds a way to win. Part of it is being a senior and part of it is he is just a really good player.”
In number two singles senior Jayme Davis dropped his match to Kent Leonard 6-3,6-3, and showed great poise in the grinding second set. At number three singles, senior co-captain Kevin Sun displayed true grit and heart in his 6-3,7-5 loss to Justice Yellnie. Sun said that the first game was especially tough due to the kick serve Yellnie was using.
“I never played anyone like him,” said Sun. ” He hits it very hard and flat, it took me a couple games to get used to that. I had never seen a kick -serve before. He hits the ground and goes in the opposite direction of where it is going. I had no idea how to react. The last set I kind of figured out how to play it (the kick-serve) and found a little rhythm.
In doubles competition, the usually steady first senior tandem of Nick Hildreth and Lucas Hickok ran into the smooth striking pair of Jackson McBride and Patrick McCarthy. HIldreth and Hickok were swept 6-0 in the first set and fell in a tight 7-5 in the final set.
Charlie Friedrich and Dan Poustoulov dropped their second doubles match to Justin Smith and Ryan Sawyer 6-2, 6-1, as the Vineyardians secured their second consecutive state crown.
Venditti said that the six graduating seniors will leave a large void to fill.
“It is going to be tough,” Venditti said on the graduating seniors. “This is my third year coaching, and they have always been the backbone of the team. Fortunately, we have some sophomores and younger players coming up, but these seniors are going to be missed – it is going to be tough.”
