Ten months ago, Bedford and Wayland High Schools faced off for the MIAA Division 3 state tennis championship. Wayland emerged with the title, 3-2.
On Wednesday, the two Dual County League rivals meet for the first time since that showdown. The match is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. in Wayland.
Bedford Coach John Geilfuss’s 24th season features some fresh talent and good energy after graduating seven seniors.
The Bucs enter the showdown with a 3-0 record. On Monday, they overpowered North Andover, 5-0. Singles wins by Capt. Adam Capobianco (6-2, 6-2), Dillon Denny-Brown (6-0, 6-0), and Spencer Goss (6-0, 6-0) were teamed with doubles victories by Akira Ung and Logan Cox (6-0, 6-0) and Liam Henning and Jeremy Gu (6-0, 6-2) to complete the sweep.
In their first match, the Bucs battled Shrewsbury and came out on top, 3-2. The deciding point was second singles. After losing the first set, BHS sophomore Denny-Brown took command with precision groundstrokes and never looked back. His ultimate victory (3-6, 6-4, 6-3) gave Bedford the match.
Victories by senior Capobianco (first singles, 6-2, 6-4) and sophomore Goss (third singles, 6-1, 6-3) set the tone for the match. Both doubles teams lost hard-fought battles: junior Ung and sophomore Cox (6-2, 1-6, 3-6) and senior Henning and junior Gu (3-6, 1-6).
Bedford’s second match also was a 3-2 victory, this time against Burlington. This time the outcome hinged on first singles. Capobianco won the first set and lost the second. In the tie-breaker, cheers erupted after every point as the lead was traded back and forth. Ultimately Capobianco’s serving and aggressive net play took the tiebreaker (9-7), the match (6-3, 7-6), and gave Bedford the team win.
Goss made quick work of his opponent (6-4, 6-3) and first doubles Ung and Cox played a tenacious match for the win (7-5, 3-6, 6-3). Both Denny-Brown (3-6, 3-6) and Henning and Gu (3-6, 6-4, 3-6) fell to tough opponents.
