The Vineyard boys’ tennis team this week earned a number three seed and a bye in the first round of the MIAA tournament, and will play at home on Monday; meanwhile the boys’ lacrosse team lost to Sandwich in the first round of the state tournament on Tuesday.
The boys’ tennis team finished the season with a 14-4 record, and unofficially won the Eastern Athletic Conference with a league record of 7-1 — unofficial because the Vineyard does not become a full member of the conference until next year.
Coach Ned Fennessy said this is an especially talented team, paced by number one singles player Andrew McHugh and number two singles player Reid Yennie. McHugh, a senior, was 14-4 this year in his matches. Yennie, a sophomore, was 16-2.
“It’s a mature and dedicated team that has overcome a lot of adversity. I have only had four matches all season where I’ve had all of my starting seven playing together, but we still consistently won. Last week, for example, we played six matches in seven days and won all six,” he said.
The team plays in the state tournament on Monday at 4 p.m. against either Norwell or Sacred Heart.
In their concluding match against Somerset on Sunday, McHugh and Yennie dominated Somerset’s top two players. But Somerset won the number three singles and number two doubles to square the contest at 2-2, setting the stage for the championship to be decided by the number one doubles match.
In that match, the Vineyard team broke Somerset’s serve early to take a 3-2 lead and was serving to make it 4-2. But Somserset rallied, and ran the next two games for a seemingly insurmountable 5-3 lead. Undaunted, the Vineyard duo of Win Grimm and Zach Rabin captured the next two games to tie the score at 5-5. Both teams held serve for 6-6 sending it to a tie-breaker. The two teams went back and forth until Rabin blistered two sharp cross-court shots the Somerset team couldn’t reach. Game, set, match and (unofficial) championship.
Meanwhile the number 20 seed Vineyard boys’ lacrosse team lost 10-4 to number 13 seed Sandwich. The Vineyarders fell behind early and did not get on the board until three minutes left in the half to make it 3-2 in favor of the Blue Knights. The Sandwich team then erupted for four goals early in the third quarter to make it 7-1. Erik Dolliver, Mike McCarthy and Forrest Harcourt all had goals for the Vineyarders, who finished the season with a 11-8 record.
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