On Tuesday, March 12, the Phoenix boys tennis team faced the Broad Run Spartans in an exhilarating contest. While both the singles and doubles matches were intense, with each player giving their best performance, the Phoenix took the overall win 7-2.

Going into the matchup, the Phoenix were ready for a comeback after losing to the Spartans three times last year. “Their lineup changed a lot, it’s really different from last year,” sophomore Harsha Antham said. “At least like five or six of their players graduated, so they have a bunch of new players who aren’t as good as last year. We went into the match thinking we’d get cooked, but we surprisingly won.”

The Phoenix started the battle strong, winning the majority of the singles matches and taking an early lead with a score of 5-1. After gaining that substantial lead, the Phoenix then moved on to doubles with confidence. “It felt pretty good to beat them after losing to them last year,” senior Aryan Dhiman said. “One thing I would like to improve is double matches because we don’t have that much chemistry right now, but we are working on it.”  

They won two out of the three doubles matches, resulting in a final score of 7-2. “It wasn’t like last year, it was pretty easy because they lost most of their competition,” sophomore Sathvik Mathi said. “We won most of the matches we expected to win, and lost the ones we expected to lose.” The final score was a testament to the team’s hard work. Although the Spartans put up a good fight, they ultimately succumbed to the Phoenix.

Gallery • 6 Photos

Arnav Mahajan

Sophomore Akash Vangala prepares for his next shot during his singles match. With his eyes focused on the court he waits for the return hit from his opponent.