By Michael Flanagan
Hometown Weekly Sports Editor
The Dover-Sherborn boys varsity tennis team extended their undefeated season to 12-0 on Thursday afternoon with a 4-1 victory over Westwood, but it did not come easily for the Raiders, thanks to a hard-fought effort by Aaron Janfaza and the Wolverines.
DS’s Max Schuermann earned a 6-0, 6-0 sweep over Dahra Azar in their singles match while Lucas Minas also won in consecutive sets (6-2, 6-0) against Afraz Padamsee.
The most exciting match on Thursday, however, was between Westwood’s Aaron Janfaza and DS’s Charlie Allen. Allen took set one by a final of 6-4 before Janfaza battled back to take set two (6-3), meaning the fate of the match would come down to a do-or-die third set. It was a back-and-forth battle between Janfaza and Allen in set three, as after the set ended tied at six, the match was forced to come down to a tiebreak (win by two). Allen was able to take an 8-7 lead in the tiebreaker, but was unable to shut the door, as Janfaza battled back once again to knot things back up at eight. After both sides traded blows, Janfaza jumped back ahead at 11-10, and finally broke through with the match-clinching point to win set three by a final of 12-10.
DS’s Jake Budd and Seth Novitch were able to defeat Westwood’s Billy Wallace and Brian Foley in their doubles match, all while Scott Hackney and Chris Geremia took down Caleb Axworthy and Jack Papetti (6-2, 6-2) to help DS to the 4-1 overall victory over the Wolverines, extending their unbeaten streak to 12 to start the year.
