Fairfield’s boys tennis team opened their season in style Thursday, April 9th, defeating Burlington 6-3 at the Punj Tennis Center in what proved to be a hard-fought home opener, after weather delays pushed back the start of Fairfield’s season.
The team, which features a blend of Fairfield High School and Maharishi School players, has been given the nickname “The Pioneering Trojans” — a nod to the Maharishi School Pioneers and the Fairfield Trojans joining forces to create the program.
Singles
Fairfield won four of six singles matches. Bowen Zhang started things off at the top of the lineup, defeating Patrick Morgan of Burlington 8-6 in what head coach Lawrence Eyre called the marquee match of the day. Pranit Ruia fell to Burlington’s Avery Cameron 8-5 at number two, but Max Craver picked up a convincing 8-4 win at number three over Cole Livingston. Aaron Carlson matched that result at number four, defeating Ian Hanks 8-4. Caelan Chang won a tight battle at number five, edging Tavy Pierson 9-7, while Yang Zhong fell to Burlington’s Cam Anderson 8-6 at number six.
Doubles
Fairfield went 2-1 in doubles. Zhang and Craver won the top doubles match 8-6 over Morgan and Cameron. Ruia and Chang won convincingly at number two, defeating Livingston and Hanks 8-1. The third doubles match went to Burlington’s Pierson and Anderson, who edged Carlson and Zhong 8-6.
Coach Lawrence Eyre reflected on the hard-fought victory. “We narrowly escaped both rain and Burlington today,” Eyre said. “Fairfield won three of four very close matches to pull out the victory. The marquee match was at the number one singles where Bowen Zhang raced to a 6-1 lead. Patrick Morgan of Burlington roared back to tie at 6-6. Then Bowen gathered himself to close out the match 8-6.”
Fairfield moves to 1-0 on the season, both overall and in the conference. Burlington falls to 2-1 overall and in conference play, having previously defeated Keokuk 5-2 on March 31st and Fort Madison 7-2 earlier in the week on Monday, April 6th.
Fairfield will be back in action next Monday, April 13th at Mount Pleasant to begin a busy week of competition.
