The PVCICS boys tennis team’s season came to a close in the Round of 8 of the MIAA Division 4 tournament, falling 3-2 to Cohasset, at Hampshire College on Friday.
The third-seeded Dragons needed to win the last match of the contest –first doubles– to advance past the sixth-seeded Skippers as the first four matches resulted in a 2-2 split. PVCICS’ Simon Speek and Jack Herman took the first set in the first doubles duel, but Cohasset roared back to claim the next two to send the Dragons home empty-handed.
“It’s disappointing because I thought we probably should have won this match,” PVCICS head coach Mike Locher said. “But [Cohasset] was a little bit better today. Our guys just couldn’t come up with it when they needed it.”
The deciding first doubles match score came in at 7-5, 2-6, 1-6.
The Skippers won both doubles matches and third singles to secure a berth into the Division 4 state semifinals.
“I actually was kind of thinking that we would be able to sweep singles,” Locher said. “But Devan Ye just wasn’t quite on today. He was facing the kind of player that gives him problems.”
Lee Ferguson and Derek Ye stacked up wins in first and second singles for PVCICS’ two points. Ferguson won 6-0, 6-0 while Ye took the win 6-0, 6-1, who finished the season with a perfect record.
“They’re both remarkable players,” Locher said. “Derek has just been remarkable all year. He finished the season undefeated, playing against some pretty high-caliber players. You look at him and he’s kind of long and lanky, kind of goofy looking, doesn’t hit the ball super hard most of the time, but he’s just really, really good at analyzing what the other player can do and making sure that kid can’t do that.”
Devan Ye’s third singles match score finalized at 3-6, 3-6.
The Dragons’ final record for the 2026 season settled at 15-6 and the 2027 season could look similar given the amount of talent they return. All seven players that competed against the Skippers on Friday are expected to return next spring.
“We’ll be back in the same league with Northampton and Longmeadow, so we’ll get that high-level competition straight through and we should be able to make another run, I would think, barring injury,” Locher said.
