April 2, 2025 Story and photos by William Wassersug
Last season, Hingham boys tennis coach Eric Gill set a goal for his team to make it past the Round of 8 in the MIAA Division 1 State Tournament.
With a big win at Sharon, a team that checked in with a 21-0 record, in the Round of 8, Hingham accomplished that goal.
This season, Gill said it is too early to set goals, but the team started the season with an impressive 5-0 win over Cohasset at home Monday.
For the Harbormen, Ethan Warhaftig was a winner at first singles, Dylan Vale won at second singles and Teddy Reilly won at third singles.
In doubles action, Evan Lynch and Jack Webb were winners in No. 1 doubles and T.J. Meade and Shlok Patel scored the win at No. 2 doubles.
This year’s team has eight players returning from last year’s squad.
Gill likes what he has on this team, and the performance Monday showed why.
“It was good,” Gill said. “There was some of what I expected and some good positives from a lot of the guys, especially at doubles. I wasn’t sure how that was going to go. It was the first match out there for some of them and definitely the first match playing together. It was nice to see somewhat we worked on in the first few weeks of practice.”
At second doubles Meade and Patel had a battle.
“It was a long two-setter, but I think it was a great learning experience for them,” Gill said of Meade and Patel. “That’s something we can build on from here.”
Gill said the lineup isn’t set in stone, especially doubles.
“We’re still trying to figure that out,” Gill said of the lineup. “The singles are pretty close and we’re working on doubles teams. It can take a while to figure out the best combination of people.”
Monday gave a bit of insight.
“Ethan Warhaftig at one will do really well,” Gill said. “I loved what I saw from Dylan Vale and Teddy Reilly today. All three singles looked great. Ethan will have a great season. I think Teddy will have a great season. He could end up playing some doubles as well. We’ll have to see how everything plays out.”
Gill was glad to get the first match of the season in the books, especially because the weather looked like it might not cooperate, with plenty of clouds and a strong wind cooling things down.
“The kids are excited,” he said about starting the season. “It’d be nice when the weather gets a little bit nicer.”
Hingham is at North Quincy Thursday at 4 p.m., then heads to Whitman-Hanson Friday at 4 and then they host Marshfield Monday, April 7 at 4:30.
