By Shane Ball
Alvirne Varsity Broncos Boys Tennis capped off their season with a perfect 9-0 victory against Coe-Brown Northwood Academy. Sean Mendes, Owen Surprenant, Cole Fitzpatrick, Christian Figueiredo, and Alejandro Valenzuela all suited up for their last regular season game as Broncos.
Sam Hergenhahn (#1), the only non-senior in the starting lineup, set the tone for the afternoon with an 8-1 singles win over Coe-Brown’s Ciaran Kenyan. Sean Mendes (#2) shut out Chase Lachapille 8-0. Owen Surprenant (#3) and Cole Fitzpatrick (#4) each won 8-3. Christian Figueiredo (#5) and Alejandro Valenzuela (#6) wrapped up singles each with an 8-0 win.
With a clean sweep of singles and a win already secured, Alvirne continued to put the heat on in doubles. Hergenhahn and Surprenant beat Kenyan and Lachapille 8-2. Mendes and Fitzpatrick took down Coe-Brown’s Ethan Monahan and Brady Lusile 8-0. Sam Kudikala made his first appearance of the day alongside Figueiredo, taking down Caden Melanson and Nathan Plowmann 8-0.
The Broncos swept five of nine matches in this game with three singles and two doubles. Nobody gave up more than three points. It was an impressive showing in a must-win game for Alvirne. This game closed off a three-game win streak for the Broncos.
The win over Coe-Brown put the Broncos at 6-8 as their final regular season record, tying them for the 10th seed with Merrimack. Alvirne had lost to Merrimack 3-6 in their head-to-head matchup back in April. This put the Broncos officially at the 11th seed. The NHIAA rule is that 70% of teams make the playoffs. With 16 teams in the division, the Broncos just barely made the cut.
The Broncos were scheduled to take on Lebanon on Tuesday, May 27, for the first round of playoffs.