Thomas Jefferson boys tennis team rallies against Carthage for win
Apr. 3—The Thomas Jefferson boys tennis team had to rally against Carthage and win its final two singles matches to take the 5-4 win and protect its perfect 3-0 record.
The Cavaliers' Chengle Qian beat Carthage's Silas Laytham 8-4, and TJ's Jack Goodhue beat the Tigers' Danilo Lopez-Gramajo 8-1 in the final two singles matches to give the Cavaliers the win.
"It was a good pressure match for us because we had to win those last two games," said Thomas Jefferson Boys Tennis Coach Tom Brumfield. "We couldn't lose either one of them and the last two were the two who struggled in doubles, so they had to mentally get it together. You hate for them to experience that sometimes, but it's good for them."
The Tigers took a 2-1 lead after doubles play.
TJ's team of Prithvi Nagarajan and Tyler Brouhard beat Carthage's Charles Snow and Silas Latham 8-1; Carthage's Josh Rivera and Danilo Lopez-Gramajo beat TJ's Chengle Qian and Jack Goodhue 8-5, and Carthage's William Wallace and Eli Scott beat TJ's Sam Li and Nathaniel Curtis 8-1.
In singles play, Thomas Jefferson's Nagarajan beat Carthage's Snow, 8-4; TJ's Brouhard beat the Tigers' Rivera 8-3; Carthage's Wallace beat TJ's Li 8-1 and Carthage's Scott beat TJ's Curtis 8-3.
Monday's match was Carthage's season opener, and Tigers Coach Robert Whyte said it was a good way to open the season despite the loss.
"For our first match it was a good competitive match against a team with state experience," Whyte said. "They're always in the mix of things and for us it's just a good way to start the year."
Whyte said the he hopes the Tigers are an improving team after going 6-6 in 2022.
"We're climbing the ladder," Whyte said. "COVID wiped a year out when we were thinking we would be decent because we were a senior-heavy team and those poor seniors got their legs chopped out from underneath them. In our first year back, we were 5-7, and we were 6-6 last year and I'm hoping to improve on that."
Brumfield said Carthage seemed to handle the stiff south wind better than his team did.
"It was pretty challenging," Brumfield said. "They did a great job understanding conditions, it was fairly windy and it caused some problems, but it seemed like it caused more problems for us than it did them. They handled the situation in great fashion and kept the ball in play and made us have to hit a lot more shots than some of our guys probably wanted to do."
The Cavaliers hit the road next for a match with 2-0 Monett at Monett, while the Tigers travel to Carl Junction to take on the 0-1 Bulldogs.
