On The Point Cougars Win Lakes Region Tennis Team Championship Title A Cougar Athletics Highlight from our To the Point Archives Cardigan faced a very competitive New Hampton School team (at New Hampton) last spring for a Lakes Region showdown between two top squads—on a perfect day for tennis. (To provide some context to readers who may not be aware: Our Varsity Tennis team plays varsity secondary prep school teams, which means our players often find themselves up against juniors and seniors in high school!) The School gave the team, coached at the time by Mr. D’Entremont ’94 and Mr. Rocha, a great send-off, and the team arrived at New Hampton early and warmed up well; there was no question that they were ready to play. Quickly, the Cougars took a commanding lead in singles. Later, after fighting through some tough, close singles matches, Cardigan sealed the victory after singles, five matches to one. The team also did well playing doubles, earning two out of three wins. The overall result was 7–2 in favor of Cardigan. Looking back, the match was just unbelievable! The play of eighth grader Billy Boyle was simply awesome, Pablo Diaz ’12 commanded his match from the start, and Jordan Abisch ’13 demonstrated, with strong groundstrokes and control, that he was by far a superior player than his opponent. Jorge Velasco ’13 dominated the first set, was a bit shaky in the second set, but finished 30 / Cardigan Chronicle
The Champion Cougars (from left): James Park ’12, Leo Tejavibulya ’13, August VonUngern-Sternberg ’12, Pablo Diaz ’12, Kota Ohashi ’12, Morgan Himmer ’13, Jordan Abisch ’13, Billy Boyle ’13, Jorge Velasco ’13, and Alex Hong ’12. Not pictured: Coaches D’Entremont ’94 and Rocha.
off his opponent nonetheless. Once the team reached a quick 4–1 lead in singles matches, a crowd soon gathered around the #4 singles match being played by Morgan Himmer ’13. Morgan won the first set in a tie-break and then lost the second, 3-6. Going to a third set tie-break, Morgan went back and forth with his opponent. Down 5-6 in the tie-break and fighting off a match point, Morgan showed resolve. He fought back and won the tie-break, sealing the team win overall, 5–1, before doubles even started. Needless to say, the team stormed the court, and Morgan ended up on someone’s shoulders. Although Leo Tejavibulya ’13 and August Von
Ungern-Sternberg ’12 came up short in their singles matches, they fought hard and represented the School well. Strong doubles play by Billy and Leo, as well as by Kota Ohashi ’12 and James Park ’12, was icing on the cake, as both the #1 and #3 doubles teams demonstrated Cardigan was the better team that day. Though they were missing their teammate Alex Hong ’12, who was off at a Music Ensemble competition, overall it was a great team win, and it made for a terrific finish to an undefeated (10–0) Lakes Region season, thus sealing the Varsity Boys Lakes Region Championship Title for Cardigan!