Boy’s Tennis Starts Off Strong at MIAA Tournament

By Emily Brennan

The Mystic Valley boy’s tennis team capped its best first season ever by reaching the MIAA Division Four State Tournament. The No. 11 overall seeded team punched its ticket to the second round of competition with a 5-0 triumph over Westport on Wednesday afternoon. The Eagles will take on #6 Lenox or #27 Mt. Greylock early next week.

On the singles side, Wes Cunningham had a stellar day, winning two matches to help his team advance to the second round of playoffs. In his first match, Cunningham took down Brody Girard by a score of 6-1. He followed that up with another win, beating Girard again by a 6-1 score.

At the #1 singles spot, Jay Raj jumped out to an early 6-0 lead over Sam Van Saun in the first set. Through a combination of powerful serves and crosscourt shots he proceeded to win the second set by the same score, earning himself a commanding victory.

In Ethan Co’s match-up with Jack Keane, Co found himself up 6-2 in the first set. Co emerged victorious for the second, winning his match 6-1 and securing the Eagles victory.

Rakshit Rangaprasad alongside teammate Jonathan Yip picked up the victory in doubles competition. The two faced off against Avery Howell and Ryan Keane. A tense first set saw the pairs trading points until it was knotted up at 6-6 apiece. In the tiebreaker, the Eagles duo racked up the point to take the set 7-6. Rangaprasad and Yip came out slower in the second set, eventually losing 6-7. Midway through set number three, Mystic Valley propelled themselves past another tiebreaker to a 10-5 win.

The final doubles’ match would put the Eagles up 5-0 as Eli Detore and Ryan Co posted a 6-4, 6-2 win over Zach Lopes and Anthony Raposa.