This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Sports

Xaverian Boys Tennis Takes Two From Norton

Hawks move to .500 with pair of wins over Lancers on Friday in Norton.

The first time the boys’ tennis teams from the Xaverian and  met earlier in the season, the non-league match at the  was suspended because of snow, rain, wind and cold.

But on a day that featured temperatures some 30 degrees warmer than their first encounter, the Hawks first captured the suspended match, 4-1, and then won the originally scheduled match, 4-1, on Friday afternoon at the middle school.

The victories improved Xaverian’s overall record to 4-4. Norton dropped to 2-6 overall with the two losses. However, since the Hawks are a Division 1 team, the defeats don’t count against the Lancers’ record as far as tournament qualification goes.

Find out what's happening in Westwoodwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“The kids did a good job dealing with the heat,” said Xaverian head coach Michael Mowatt. “They had not had to do that before. Our lineup is also more stable now and we are really starting to reach our peak at this point. We are where I thought we would be right now. We have had some tough matches and I thought we would probably be .500.”

In a match that originally began on March 31, Xaverian captured all three singles matches and the contest at first doubles. Norton earned its win at second doubles.

Find out what's happening in Westwoodwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

At first singles, Hawk senior Brandon Sepe defeated junior P.J. Levesque, 6-1 and 6-2. Xaverian freshman Jamie Chisholm beat sophomore Matt Sugar at second singles 6-0 and 6-0, while Hawk sophomore Nate Cohen defeated senior Paul Southworth 6-1 and 6-2.

At first doubles, the Hawk pair of senior John Loville and junior Talis Reks beat senior captain Drew Burke and classmate Brian Ahern 7-6 with a 12-10 tiebreaker on March 31. On Friday, Loville and Reks won the match with a 6-3 victory in the second set.

Senior captain Rob Southworth and junior Kolin Campbell earned the Norton point with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over the team of Derek Lim and Colin Gilpatrick at second doubles.

“Our singles are there,” said Mowatt. “The strength of our team is our singles players. The doubles teams are coming around, but they are a work in progress. We are always working on doubles because a lot of matches come down to the doubles.”

In the originally scheduled match on Friday, Xaverian took a 1-0 lead when Sepe defeated Levesque at first singles, 6-3 and 6-3. Chisholm made it 2-0 with a 6-0, 6-4 victory over Paul Southworth at second singles.

Norton closed within one at 2-1 when Campbell and junior Chris Ricca won their match at second doubles, beating the Hawk duo of junior Connor Joyce and senior Phil Stone 7-6 (11-9) and 6-0. For Campbell, who is in his first varsity season with the Lancers, the two victories on Friday improved his season record at second doubles to 7-1.

Xaverian then clinched the match when Cohen defeated Sugar at third singles, 6-1 and 6-4. The Hawks earned their fourth win when Loville and Reks held off Burke and Rob Southworth at first doubles 6-3, 5-7 and 6-2.

“I thought we played really well,” said Norton head coach Cortney Greene. “Some of the kids played the best they have all season during this match.”

Xaverian will have to play another doubleheader on Tuesday when the team travels to Dartmouth for two non-league matches with Bishop Stang, the first contest beginning at 4 p.m. The Hawks will then host St. John’s Prep in a Catholic Conference match next Thursday afternoon at 4 p.m.

Norton will play four matches next week. The Lancers will host Medway in a TVL match at the middle school on Monday at 3:45 p.m. They will then entertain Seekonk in a non-league contest at the middle school on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m.

Norton will play its third consecutive home match when it hosts TVL foe Medfield on Wednesday at 3:45 p.m. The Lancers will round out the week with a TVL match at Dover-Sherborn next Friday afternoon at 3:45 p.m.

“We have had a steady incline of improvement,” said Greene. “If we can keep our upward trend going, I think we can hold our own in the rest of our matches. I feel we are where we need to be right now.”

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?