Rain is more likely to disrupt tennis matches than other spring sports contests, so it was lucky that the April 29 match at Germantown Academy wrapped up about 20 minutes before a round of evening showers set in.

Earlier in the afternoon, the host Patriots were on the verge of securing a victory over visiting George School, winning three matches and needing just one more successful outcome to carry the day. The Cougars proved tenacious, though, eventually leveling the team score at 3-3.

First singles was the last match out on the court, and here George School sophomore Raj Nagra outlasted GA senior Vincent Zhou, rounding out the 4-3 come-from-behind victory for the Bucks County team.

The outcome of this non-league match gave the Patriots an overall record of 4-6, while they remained 2-2 within the Inter-Ac League. GA defeated Malvern Prep and Springside Chestnut Hill (4-3), while losing to the teams currently tied for first in the league, Episcopal Academy and Haverford School. The two Main Line powers were to clash on May 5.

GA’s 1-6 loss to Haverford happened on April 28, when only a win at third singles by Patriots sophomore Jake Barenbaum prevented a clean sweep by the Fords.

The GA racquetmen are now in their 10th season under head coach Lupe Prince. Returning as assistant coach is Jonathan Freeman, a 1994 graduate of the old Chestnut Hill Academy who is head coach of the Patriots’ girls’ tennis team in the fall.

On April 29, GA got out to its 3-0 lead by winning the second, third, and fourth doubles flights.

In the second spot, sophomore Jason Ma and freshman Damian Chang won a pair of 6-2 sets from George School junior Vishnu Anand and freshman Asher Schmidt. In the fourth flight, Patriots junior Ravi Bhatt and senior Jayden Gattuso also made relatively short work of their Cougar counterparts. The GA tandem won, 6-3, 6-2 over the George School combo of junior Daniel Shen and senior Vincenzo Restituto.

In the third flight, sophomore Jayden Czapla and senior Taalin Rajagopal of the Cougars put up more resistance. In the end, though, Patriots freshman Tristan Dey and junior Jacob Malenbaum prevailed, 6-4, 7-5.

Now, the hosts needed just one more “W’ to clinch a team victory, but they never got it. In a hard-fought first doubles battle, GA senior Connor Bradley and junior Gabe Freeman (no relation to Coach Freeman) succumbed, 5-7, 3-6, to sophomore Prem Dhillon and junior George Bugayev of the visiting side.

In a bout between two juniors at second singles, Justin Huang of the Patriots lost 2-6, 3-6 to Bruno Menckel, a George School exchange student from Sweden. In the third singles flight, a 6-3, 6-1 win was earned by the Cougars’ Jason Ma, who played against a fellow sophomore, GA’s Barenbaum.

Everyone then gathered around the court where the first singles match was still underway. Here, George School’s Nagra had won the first set, 6-4, over Germantown senior Zhou. In the second set, each player held serve until the score reached 4-3, in favor of the Cougars’ number one.

Finally, Nagra secured a service break in the eighth game. He then held serve in the ninth, finishing out his 6-4, 6-3 victory with an ace.