Gloucester boys tennis digs deep to take down Melrose

Jun. 19—Gloucester boys tennis coach Derek Geary praised his team's mental and physical toughness in a 4-1 win over Melrose in Friday's Division 2 North Preliminary Round match.

On paper, a 4-1 win may seem like a comfortable win, but the Fishermen were locked in a tight match at every spot in the lineup. The Gloucester players got better as the match went on as two wins came after dropping the first set.

The Fishermen (5-8) will now hit the road for the Division 2 North First Round where No. 1 seed Medford (6-0) awaits (time TBA).

"This is a young team, we had all freshmen playing singles so it was great to see them dig deep to come away with this win," Geary said. "This was real, tournament tennis. Melrose was a scrappy team but we showed a lot of mental toughness to pull out those wins."

No. 2 singles ended up being the deciding point on the afternoon as Gloucester's Anders Littman outlasted Patrick Strafford of Melrose (6-4, 6-4). Both players turned in a feisty match, fighting back after the opponent snatched momentum. In fact, the No. 2 singles match took longer to complete than the No. 3 doubles match, which went to three sets. That's because Littman and Strafford would not give in on any point.

Eventually, Littman, who is referred to as the "Nordic Wall" by his teammates and coaches for his ability to return everything, finished both the first and second set strong to earn the straight set win.

"That was just great tennis," Geary said. "Anders just hangs in there all match and his opponent didn't make many mistakes, Anders had to go out and win that one."

Gloucester also swept the doubles matches as both tandems dropped the first set and won the final two sets.

Cam Widtfeldt and Noah Willett dropped a competitive first set, 4-6, but then came back to win the second set, 6-4 and the third, 6-3 in the longest match of the day.

At the No. 2 spot the tandem of Drew White and Nate Oaks bounced back after tough first set to win the final two in dominant fashion (3-6, 6-3, 6-2).

"I thought the No. 1 doubles team played a really smart and patient match," Geary said. "And it was great to see Nate and Drew turn up the intensity after getting beat pretty handily in the first set. They were awesome in the final two sets."

Gloucester also got a win from Luke McElhenny at No. 3 singles as he made quick work of his match, winning 6-0, 6-1. Melrose's win came at No. 1 singles with Griffin Castergine topping Gloucester's Andry Payano-Sousa (6-4, 6-2) in a competitive match.