Maharishi wins battle of Fairfield

FAIRFIELD — It was all Maharishi on Thursday, as the Pioneer tennis teams upended Fairfield in a pair of contests in Fairfield. The Maharishi girls won 8-1 at Punj Tennis Center, and the boys won 6-3 at Fairfield Middle School.

The games at Punj saw an epic showdown between Fairfield’s Tess Paton and Maharishi’s Lily Fenton, a rematch of last year’s regional championship. In a showdown of 2021 state singles qualifiers, Paton had the Trojans’ lone win, edging Fenton 8-6.

For the rest of the singles round, however, Maharishi dominated.

Ishita Mukadam beat Sydney Wells 8-1 in the No. 2 match. Vaisnavil Mohanraj swept Madison Greiner 8-0 in the No. 3 match. Isabella Castle swept Giteeka Adhikari 8-0 in the No. 4 match.

Maharishi kept rolling in the lower two games. Saraswati Quevedo-Valls took down Emma Wendland 8-1 in the No. 5 match, and Daira Valls Blazquez knocked off Emily Simpson 7-1 in the No. 6 match.

Pioneers’ No. 1 doubles team of Fenton and Mukadam outlasted Paton and Greiner 8-5. Maharishi’s No. 2 team of Mohanraj and Castle defeated Wells and Wendland 8-4, and the No. 3 squad of Quevedo-Valls and Valls Blazquez knocked off Adhikari and Simpson 8-4.

Much like in the girls’ game, the Trojan boys did win the No. 1 singles match, as Garrett Flanagan outlasted Ruimin Luo 6-4, 6-4. Fairfield’s Jack Under beat Mekhi Kahiu 6-1, 4-6, 10-3 in the No. 6 match, but the Pioneers won the other four.

Maharishi’s Zak Askar grinded out a thrilling 3-6, 6-1, 13-11 win over Jace Hannes in the No. 2 match. Polo Altynski-Ross ousted Brendan Marcellus 6-4, 6-2 in the No. 3 match. No. 4 Jayanta Wegman swept Dil Hurlin 6-1, 6-1, and No. 5 Dominic Duboux cruised past Aiden Flanagan 6-0, 6-1.

Fairfield needed to sweep the doubles matches to win the boys’ meet. The No. 1 team of Garrett Flanagan and Hannes did their job, knocking off Askar and Luo 7-6, 6-4, but the Pioneers won the other two.

The No. 2 Maharishi squad of Altynski-Ross and Wegman defeated Hurlina nd Marcellus 7-5, 6-1. In the No. 3 match, Kahiu and Duboux beat Unger and Aidan Flanagan 6-1, 4-6, 12-10.