Despite loss to Kennebunk, Windham boys’ tennis continues to improve

By Matt Pascarella

As the season is about to end, the Windham boys’ tennis team recently broke a five-game losing streak with back-to-back wins against Marshwood and then Biddeford. As they prepared for a home match against Kennebunk on Tuesday, May 16, their attitude was positive and Windham players were looking to make individual improvements and went hard against the Rams. Windham put in a solid effort but fell, 5-0.

Windham High senior Pedro Nascimento sends the ball over
the net with force during a match against Kennebunk on
Tuesday, May 16 at Windham.
PHOTO BY MATT PASCARELLA 

Windham boys’ tennis coach Garry Stone said he’s thrilled with the team getting better. Before the match with Kennebunk, he told the team to go out, have fun and compete. Stone said that he liked that the doubles and individuals all battled against a tough team. He was encouraged that the team was right in the thick of it. Windham has continued to improve, and the season isn’t finished yet.

Regardless of the score, Stone said a positive takeaway from this match was no one hung their head, and everyone gave their all. Windham racked up points in third singles and second doubles matches. Stone said although the score tells one story, from his vantage point he knows the team did their best. They are a positive group that loves the game.

In the singles sets, Windham sophomore Diego Lopez lost 0-6 and 0-6.

“I knew that they were really, really good players,” said Lopez. “I tried to do my best and try to take some games, but I had fun. I got a chance to [play] against someone that is better than me ... playing with people that are better than you, you get better.”

Lopez said playing against his Kennebunk opponent highlighted areas where he needs to improve. Lopez will work on these areas to strengthen his game.

In the singles sets, Windham senior Pedro Nascimento lost 0-6 and 0-6. Windham senior Nolan Dries lost 0-6 and 1-6.

In the doubles sets, Windham sophomore Zachary Noonan and freshman Nolan McPhail lost 0-6 and 0-6. Windham sophomore Asher Knott and freshman Carter Mathieu lost 1-6 and 2-6.

Noonan wanted to work on teamwork going into his doubles sets. Their main focus was to concentrate on serves and Noonan said they had some good ones. They’ve improved a lot in serving from the start of the season. As a team, they’ve improved with teamwork and communication.

“It was all about personal improvement,” said Knott. “We got some points on them in the second set so we did the best that we could.”

Knott said he was more aware on the court and that any balls that went overhead, Knott was able to have spikes be more accurate in placement. He said some of his and Mathieu’s serves were good and they were able to hold Kennebunk to a game that wasn’t a blowout. <