The boys’ varsity tennis team suffered its first defeat of the season against a tough Barnstable squad Monday afternoon. The Vineyarders had not lost a match since June of 2011, and last year capped a perfect season with a state championship win.

Head coach Ned Fennessy said at the beginning of this season that he scheduled Division 1 teams such as Barnstable to better prepare the Division 3 Vineyarders for postseason play, and Monday’s matches lived up to that expectation. The Barnstable Red Raiders had just one loss on the season — to the Vineyarders, in an early season match — and sought to avenge that defeat on their home turf Monday.

Barnstable took an early 2-0 lead with sweeps of both doubles matches, but senior co-captain Kent Leonard brought the match within reach for the Vineyard with a 6-4, 6-1 defeat of Tyler Shibler at second singles.

Spencer Schofield moves past Nantucket in the team's third consecutive win.

Spencer Schofield moves past Nantucket in the team's third consecutive win.

Senior co-captain Justice Yennie’s personal win streak also ended Monday during his third singles match against Max Francis. Yennie was undefeated through two and a half seasons, with a total of 54 match wins in a row. Francis took the lead in the first set after a 6-4 win, and although Yennie rebounded in the second set to force the tiebreaking round, his opponent ultimately edged him out with a 6-3 set.

The number one singles match was a battle from the start, stretching more than three hours as senior Natty Schneider faced Barnstable’s Sonny Bisazza. Schneider dropped the first set 6-2, but fought back for a 7-5 victory in the second. As the other matches concluded, the Schneider/Bisazza duel continued, and a 10 point “super tiebreaker,” in Coach Fennessy’s words, began, with Bisazza prevailing 10-8.

The team is now 9-1, and looks to secure a spot in the postseason tournament in a home match today against Eastern Athletic Conference rival Bishop Stang.

In other sports news, boys’ lacrosse picked up its third straight win with a 19-7 victory against Nantucket on Saturday. Senior Nick Costello scored five goals and had three assists, and senior Thomas Wilkins had four goals. Freshman Emily Turney hit a grand slam for the softball team in the Vineyarders’ 20-2 victory against Cambridge Rindge and Latin Saturday. Track and field senior Shavanae Anderson set a new school record in the triple jump during the annual Twilight Meet in New Bedford on Saturday.