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East Whiteland >> The youthful Unionville High School boys’ tennis squad, with no seniors on its roster, is off to a 7-1 start this spring following a 7-0 sweep of host Great Valley Friday.
The Longhorns, whose only loss this season was to Downingtown East, won six matches against the Patriots in straight sets.
Unionville’s victory began at first singles, where the defending Ches-Mont American Division singles champion, junior Matt Miller, defeated Great Valley junior Vivek Arvind, 6-0, 6-0. Two years ago, Miller lost to Arvind in the first round of the Ches-Mont American singles tourney.
Unionville head coach Jimmy O’Rourke said, “Matt’s gotten bigger and stronger, and he’s gaining confidence. As long as he believes he belongs with the big boys, he’s right there with them physically.”
With his victory, Miller’s record is now 2-0 at first singles, as he was sidelined for a few weeks earlier this season with a hip flexor strain.
Miller said, “I was just starting to get back into it last week; I was able to hit serves but I couldn’t play or run yet. It’s good to be back. It’s cold and windy today but my forehand was feeling good. I was aggressive, trying to dictate points with my forehand as quick as I could.”
At second singles, Unionville junior Andrew Ou, who lost to Miller in the Ches-Mont American singles tourney championship finals last year, earned a 6-3, 6-1 win Friday. Currently, Ou is undefeated at second singles this season.
“We’re a young team, it’s a little different than last year, when we had the presence of the seniors,” said Ou. “The (underclassmen) bring a different type of energy to our team — it’s a good energy.”
At third singles, Unionville junior Andy Ye won in straight sets to remain undefeated (7-0) in the No. 3 singles spot.
“I felt a little rusty today because our practice days and matches got rained out this week, but we got the job done today so I guess that’s all that matters,” said a smiling Ye.
Unionville’s doubles were paced by the sophomore duo of Luke Tierney and Tucker Carroll, who carved out a 6-1, 6-2 win.
“Luke and Tucker are really playing well together, they didn’t start the season together but they do seem to be gelling well,” said O’Rourke. “They complement each other really well. They’re not necessarily two singles players playing doubles – you can only succeed so much when you do that, you need to have doubles players playing doubles. Tucker is good at both doubles and singles – he won the Kennett Country Club men’s adult championship in the past year.
“Luke is very consistent at the net – I don’t see the unforced errors from him that I see from other people. In doubles, it’s not about your winners and your aces; it’s about your lack of unforced errors. Sometimes he’ll lull you into (thinking) he’s not ready and, slam, the point’s over. He’s very doubles-minded — Luke and Tucker have a very good chemistry together, that’s for sure.”
The Longhorns won the remainder of the doubles matches, with freshman Brendon Yu and sophomore Elijah Yoon at second doubles, sophomore Ryan Hart and junior Shivam Maheshwari at third doubles, and sophomore Jacob Duran and junior Manny Prem at fourth doubles.
O’Rourke noted, “While our singles (in prior years) have always been good, the big boys out there — the Conestogas and the Lower Merions — always have off-the-chart singles, so we’ve lived and died by our doubles. We graduated a lot of our strength in doubles (last spring), so we’re up and coming there — we’re just need experience. Now our singles players are kind of rising up, they’re all juniors. So we’re kind of in a transition, and we hope to get a couple of years in the future where our singles and doubles are both in tip-top shape.”
For Great Valley, the loss brings their overall record to 3-4 (3-3 in Ches-Mont play, plus a loss to Lower Merion).
“I think, on a number of days, I feel like our players are close to putting it together, but we haven’t gotten over the hump,” said Great Valley head coach Gerry McGrath. “We had a good effort today, we just got beaten by a better team.”
McGrath praised his second doubles team of sophomore Ishaan Joshi and senior captain Varun Sentill, who lost in a tiebreak: “They’ve fought well all year; they’ve been a bright spot for us – they’re a good combination, I think they support each other very well.”
McGrath added, “I thought Josh (Verano) put out a really good effort today; Andrew (Ou) is a really tough player.”
Unionville 7, Great Valley 0
Singles: 1. Matt Miller (UN) def. Vivek Arvind (GV), 6-0, 6-0; 2. Andrew Ou (UN) def. Josh Verano (GV), 6-3, 6-1. 3. Andy Ye (UN) def. Jimmy Xiao (GV) 6-3, 6-2.
Doubles: 1. Luke Tierney/Tucker Carroll (UN) def. Daniel Doekes/Anuj Awatramani (GV) 6-1, 6-2; 2. Brendon Yu/Elijah Yoon (UN) def. Ishaan Joshi/Varun Sentill (GV), 7-6 (7-5), 2-6, 10-7 tiebreak; 3. Ryan Hart/Shivam Maheshwari (UN) def. Anish/Bobbili/Armaan Mehta (GV), 6-1, 6-2; 4. Jacob Duran/Manny Prem (UN) def. Anirudh Venkatesh/Gautham Chandar (GV), 6-0, 6-0.
