Tristan Viale won the first singles match for Westfield, defeating West Springfield’s Jacob Johnson 6-2, 6-1. (Photo by Robby Veronesi)
WESTFIELD – The Westfield High School boy’s tennis team clinched a share of the Pioneer League on Senior Day Thursday afternoon as the Bombers defeated West Springfield, 4-1, to tie Chicopee Comprehensive with identical 6-2 league records.
Lyle Libanen clinched the match for Westfield (11-3, 6-2 Pioneer) on court two, the third of four matches to end in straight-set sweeps for the hosts. The freshman’s 6-3, 6-3 victory over Alec Kidman gave the Bombers a victory over every league opponent, avenging a 3-2 defeat to WSHS (9-7, 5-3 Pioneer) on April 21.
“The future looks very bright with 11 juniors, sophomores and anyone else who comes in,” said Westfield co-head coach John Morizio. “If we didn’t win, we’d be in third place and West Springfield would’ve jumped up and tie Chicopee Comp. I see a lot of improvement on our paet and whenever you see the guys improve, that’s what it’s all about.”
The Bombers jumped ahead early in the match on the doubles courts, with the tandem of Timothy Hurley and Matthew Rogers defeating Joshua Alstede and Randy Simoneau by a 6-0, 6-3 score. The two pairs met in West Springfield, with the Terrier duo winning by a similar score (6-3, 6-0).
Tristan Viale opened the singles’ scoring for Westfield, securing the second straight-set sweep of the match. After dropping the first game of his match, Viale responded with a 6-2, 6-1 win.
After Libanen won his match to put the Bombers up 3-0, Westfield’s second doubles team of James Knapik and Shayne Holloway sealed another win for the red and black, defeating Earl Rice and Michael Reid in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3.
“Now we know that we can beat every team in our division,” said Viale. “I made some unforced errors in the first game, but after that I stopped making those, so that helped out a lot.”
West Springfield earned its lone point at the last singles match of the afternoon. On court three, Andrew Shvetsov defeated lone WHS senior Alec Best, 6-3, 6-7 (4), 10-7, using a super tiebreaker to clinch the match and end the afternoon.
“Tristan and Lyle are both committed guys. They’re real team players and they consistently are showing up for practice, caring for each other and doing a good job. When they consistently show that combination of caring and showing commitment to the team, then I just have to teach the fundamentals and everything else falls into place.”
With conference play completed, Westfield will conclude its season on the road next Thursday when they travel north to face Greenfield at 3:30 p.m.
