EASTHAM — It must have been the wind.
The boys varsity tennis team from Monomoy High School defeated Nauset 4-1 on Friday, April 18, triumphing over the home team during a cold and exceptionally breezy afternoon. Nauset’s players struggled to control their swings as strong gusts whipped balls to the east; Monomoy, meanwhile, used the weather to its advantage, maintaining control in four of five matches.
Nauset’s only victory Friday was in the second doubles match, where junior Wyatt Caroll and freshman Ronan O’Brien prevailed 6-2, 6-3 over Monomoy’s junior Ethan Seufert and sophomore Tom Hereford.
O’Brien has been a pleasant surprise this season, said Nauset Coach Andy Lisle. His older sister, senior Anjlai O’Brien, is number one on the girls team, but Ronan “just started playing,” Lisle said. “He was OK at the start, and all of a sudden he’s there. He could be playing first doubles at some point this year; he could even be playing third singles.”
O’Brien once hit a 55-ball rally against Nauset’s third singles player, junior Lucas Patton, Lisle said.
“Caroll has really come up, too,” Lisle added. “He really listens. He makes the effort, makes the adjustments, and it’s good to see. His serve used to be not that strong, but now it’s one of the strongest on the team.”
Boys tennis has experienced something of a roller-coaster ride this season, clocking their fourth consecutive loss on Friday after a pair of 5-0 sweeps against St. John Paul II and Barnstable in their first two matches of the season.
Two key players left the team early in the season this year: junior Owen O’Reilly, a doubles player who wanted to focus on wrestling after finishing fifth in the state during the 2025 D3 state tournament, and junior Jason White, last year’s number two singles player, who dropped tennis to focus on schoolwork and his role on the student council.
“It happens,” Lisle said. “Luckily, we have a deep team. It’ll take a little bit longer, but I’m confident that they’re going to improve.”
The matches Nauset didn’t win on Friday were still hard fought. Senior Lucas Wilson-Bevington, Nauset’s first singles player, never seemed to grow discouraged during his match against Monomoy freshman Roman Pavluchenko, even when the red-haired prodigy followed up their 6-4 opening set with a 6-0 victory in the second.
Senior Will Murphy was tenacious during a pair of 6-2 sets against Monomoy senior Ryan Casey, and Nauset’s first doubles team — seniors Soren Jones-Carlson and Asher Woods — gave Monomoy senior Blake Noonan and his eighth-grade partner Nick Hadden a much tougher match than the scores of 6-4 and 6-2 might suggest. Ultimately, it was Noonan’s careful bunts that gave Monomoy the victory, with Jones-Carlson and Woods often scrambling to hit balls that were just out of reach.
The longest match of the day was between third singles player Lucas Patton and Monomoy sophomore Zach Shields, a grueling three-set marathon that broke 7-6 Monomoy, then 7-5 Nauset, and finally 6-3 Monomoy. All five of Nauset’s matches were slated for a 4 p.m. start, and by the time Patton and Shields finished their first set around 5 p.m., the other matches were over.
“He can stay there forever,” Lisle said of Patton. “That’s the way he plays — long points.”
Even as their hands turned gray from the cold, the Warriors lined up at the fence to cheer Patton on. The match finally ended at 6 p.m.
Lisle said some of the most difficult matchups of this year’s schedule — including Cape Cod Academy, Falmouth, Martha’s Vineyard, and Monomoy — are now behind them. The boys will next face Dennis-Yarmouth in an away contest on Wednesday, April 30.
“It won’t be a cakewalk,” Lisle said — but he’s confident his team will get it done.
