Strong Line-up Challenged from Very First Game

Boys' varsity tennis played Millfield School from England, and were unfortunately not able to grab the victory, losing 2-5 on Sunday.The Millfield boys have been traveling along the East Coast, playing prep schools for their preseason week. Millfield, known throughout England and now throughout the U.S. prep schools for their dominant tennis program, proved to be a very challenging opponent for Exeter.Big Red has an incredible team for New England, but Millfield's boys' talent was just too much for Exeter; Their number one player is ranked tenth in England in his age group. Moises Escobar, Exeter’s top player, fought hard to beat the nationally ranked player, but he fell short in his singles match against him.For both teams on Sunday, the conditions were not ideal for a tennis match, for the winds were high and the players had to adjust to the windy conditions carrying the ball.Unfortunately, Millfield was able to adapt faster than Big Red could. "There was a reason we won the revolutionary war, but on Sunday, our bathrooms were called watersheds and 'Downton Abbey' was the number one show on TV,” lower Joon Kim joked.Despite their talent and well adjusted players, Exeter still managed to take two singles matches against them. Lower Rex Tercek and prep Cameron Gruss scored the points with their impressive win in their singles matches, preventing a complete blowout of Big Red, giving them two points.Exeter failed to win the doubles matches however, despite their greatest efforts. Big Red's victories came only in singles.Exeter realizes that to be an excellent New England team they need to improve in their doubles game. "We really need to focus in upon our doubles because it can often be the deciding point in a team match and we have yet to win one,” senior captain Charlie Boyd said.The Exeter boys have been working on doubles in practice, but still need to refine more of their technique."Sure, given a rematch and more practice, we could have put up a better fight," Kim said. “But once we improve our doubles game and the weather conditions become more favorable, we can bring home the victories.”Big Red tennis will be playing Choate Rosemary Hall this Saturday. They have been practicing hard and the weather should be better for tennis, so they will hope to pull out a win. Now 1-1 this season, with a win next Saturday the team hopes to be 2-1.