CHA racquetmen edged by Fords

by TOM UTESCHER

Chestnut Hill Academy wasn’t able to prevail in its tennis rematch with Haverford School last Tuesday, but at least the host Blue Devils made the team score a lot closer the second time around.

Back in April the Fords had beaten the locals 6-1, but last week Chestnut Hill wins at first and third singles and at second doubles made it a 4-3 match. Nevertheless, CHA saw its Inter-Ac record decline to 2-7, while Haverford’s league mark rose to 6-3. Episcopal Academy, which swept home-and-away series against both the Devils and Fords, continues to lead the league.

A winner for Chestnut Hill in both Haverford matches, and indeed every bout he’s played this year, is sophomore number one Reid Carleton. On Tuesday he blanked the Fords’ first singles player, Mark Partridge, 6-0, 6-0. His closest match this year came against Episcopal’s Peter Vale, and even that was a lopsided affair, with Carleton winning, 6-1, 6-2.

The other singles victory for the Blue Devils in the recent Haverford match came at third singles, where Mike Biggans gutted out a 7-6, 7-5 victory over Adam Besvinick. The CHA sophomore won a 7-4 tiebreaker to capture the first set, and it soon became apparent that the second go-round would be hard-fought, as well. Holding serve in game 11 for a 6-5 edge, Biggans broke Besvinick in the 12th for the victory, hitting an overhand shot for match point.

Haverford took the other two singles contests, with number two Alex Gushner winning 6-4, 6-2, over Chestnut Hill’s Cameron Silbert, while David Hawkins took the measure of Blue Devil number four Derek Winter, 6-0, 6-1.

At first doubles Todd Ruth, Haverford’s top squash player, teamed with Marc Taggert to fashion a 6-3, 6-4 win over Ian DeSantis and Bob Goldman of the host team. In a three-setter at third doubles, visitors Jerry Shields and Gunner Miller outlasted CHA’s Ryan Duffy and Will Griffin, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, helping Haverford clinch the team victory while the second doubles match was still underway.

Here, the Fords’ Jason Morganroth and Marty Lustgarten won the first set, 7-5, then lost the second at 6-3 to Mike Beautyman and Joe Rosen of Chestnut Hill. There was many a deuce score in the third set as the count seesawed up to 4-4, then the Blue Devil duo captured a service break in the ninth game and held in the tenth to win it, 6-4.