BRATTLEBORO — The No. 1 seed Brattleboro boys tennis team’s incredible season came to an end on Monday with a 5-2 loss to No. 5 Champlain Valley Union High School (CVU).
The Bears had gone undefeated in the regular season, the first time a Brattleboro boys tennis team had accomplished the feat in more than a decade, and defeated Essex 4-3 on Friday in a close match that came down to a hard-fought win by Elias Frazer Olsen to punch their ticket to the semifinals.
“It was definitely a special group having seven seniors that all are capable players, if not outstanding players, to kind of lead the group and then mixing in a couple freshmen, a couple sophomores, a junior into the mixt to kind of compete for spots,” said Brattleboro head coach Ben Brewer. “For Brattleboro, or any other southern Vermont team, to succeed in the States you kind of have to have a collective of good senior leadership with some experience and then some youth players coming in that are solid. So, overall it was a really great group and I’m proud of the season they had.”
In Monday’s semifinal, Nate Kim showed why he was the two-time Individual State Champion, picking up a 6-1, 6-2 win in No. 1 singles in a match that featured a lot of long rallies and some impressive points from both players.
“In terms of this season he did exactly what I think he expected and what I expected him to do, and his teammates as well, and for his career … I give him so much credit for putting in as much work as he did in four years,” Brewer said.
Kim hit his serve with power, moved his opponent around setting up winners and made some returns that seemed would almost assuredly be points for the opponent.
In set one, with Kim up five games to one and looking to close out the set, game seven turned into battle. With CVU up a point, an ace by Kim forced deuce and on the ensuing point Kim was able to return a low shot near the line for both the game and set winning point.
Game one of the second set also went to deuce, but Kim was unable to pick up the win falling behind 1-0. Kim won a close second game to tie it 1-1, but fell in a close game three.
Over the next two games Kim cruised, taking a 3-2 lead before playing to deuce in game six. With Kim holding the serve, he delivered a hard shot for an ace to take the game. The game was the last close one the two players would have as Kim allowed just one point over the next two games to close out the set and the match.
The win gave Kim a perfect record for the season, one in which he lost just nine games. While the match may have marked the end of his high school career, the senior will be competing at the collegiate level next year when he attends Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pa. just outside of Philadelphia.
“That’s really cool that he gets to go on to play for another four years in college, so I’m excited to follow his college career now,” said Brewer. “He found a school that wanted him and he’s going to slot right in as their No. 1 singles player I’m pretty sure.”
The No. 1 doubles team of seniors Ben Berg and Leo Bodett also completed an undefeated season on Monday with a 6-2, 6-3 win.
CVU solidified the match win in a hard fought 6-3, 7-5 win in No. 3 singles over Brattleboro’s Malo Renault.
The No. 2 doubles team of Dorian Paquette and Jackson Pals fell 6-2, 6-2 and were one of the first matches to wrap up for the day along with Kim’s.
Thomas Hyde lost 6-2, 6-2, Eben Wagner fell 6-4, 6-2 and Mark Richards, whose match was the last to start and finish, lost 6-2, 6-2.
By the time Richards had finished his first set, the match had already been decided. Knowing the score, Richards told Brewer it was difficult to remain mentally focused, but that didn’t stop him from turning in a good game.
“He played well,” said Brewer. “He hit the ball hard and (he’s) a player that I’m really excited about his future.”
Although the team will be losing some key components in seniors Kim, Berg, Wagner, Hyde, Bodett, Paquette and Wyatt Cudworth, Brewer said he was looking forward to next season especially with the strong seasons turned in by some of the younger players such as Renault, Richards and Frazer Olsen.
“I’m definitely looking forward to next season,” said Brewer. “It starts with Malo and Mark and Elias. … He’s (Frazer Olsen) a sophomore and one of my doubles players, Jackson Pals, is a junior, so we have a really good core group of five or six guys to build on.”