NORTH MANCHESTER - The Manchester boys tennis team struggled on Thursday, dropping its home opener with a tough Carroll team 3-2.

For Squires head coach Eric Christiansen, though, it is a continual building process for his veteran squad in the second event of the year.

"This is a learning experience," Christiansen said. "Just learning from mistakes. What we do well, we have to keep that and improve on that as well. It's coming along. We're working with the singles on consistency and playing their game and not trying to do too much."

The singles competitors are 1-5 on the year, but the doubles teams continued to impress. They are a combined 3-1 in Manchester's first two matches. Mitch Eads and Michael Good improved to 2-0 on the year with a 6-4, 6-2 win.

"The double teams have been coached really well by Don Snell last year," Christian said. "It's the same doubles teams (as last year). I really haven't had to do much with them, just guide them along. They've learned the game and I've been impressed with them. I don't have to really worry about them too much."

The other doubles team, Derek Ring and Mark Gathany, struggled with Brad Logar and Brent Becker, losing 6-4, 6-3. However, Ring and Gathany had to battle through racket problems the entire match.

"It was a broken string," Christiansen said. "They didn't blame it on that, but it's hard when you're not playing with your own racket."

Their were positives from the loss. Mark Cullane, Carroll's No. 1 singles player, defeated Nate Little 6-1, 6-1. However, Little felt that he played his best tennis of the year. Chris Hemmig fought back after losing the first set to Jon Brody 6-2. He won the second set 6-2 and the third set 6-1.

"Our singles players just came up against some players that were better than them," Christiansen said. "They are very good players. Their No. 1 player is phenomenal. The guys that did lose, they weren't down on themselves. Afterwards they talked about how they can improve on their game. So they weren't just saying, 'I lost, that's too bad.' They're looking at the next match, so that's good."

In the only other varsity match, No. 3 singles player Matt Purdy lost to Carroll's Steve Fleming 6-0, 6-1. Purdy is the only starter who did not compete on last year's squad.

"We've lost the first two, but that's not really what I'm looking at," Christiansen said. "We have a real strong schedule, especially to start out with, so just getting the kids experience and learning the game is important."

The junior varsity squad lost 5-0 to Carroll. The closest match was an 8-5 victory for Andy Overmeyer over the Squires' Brad Keffaber at No. 2 singles.

Manchester (0-2) will host Bluffton on Tuesday at 5 p.m.

CARROLL 3, MANCHESTER 2

Singles

No. 1 - Mark Cullnane (C) def. Nate Little 6-1, 6-1

No. 2 - Chris Hemmig (M) def. Jon Brody 2-6, 6-2, 6-1

No. 3 - Steve Fleming (C) def. Matt Purdy 6-0, 6-1

Doubles

No. 1 - Brad Logar and Brent Becker (C) def. Derek Ring and Mark Gathany 6-4, 6-3

No. 2 - Mitch Eads and Michael Good (M) def. Brad Hathoway and Ozzie Mitson 6-4, 6-2

JV: CARROLL 5, MANCHESTER 0

Singles

No. 1 - Shaun Fisher (C) def. Todd Shumaker 8-3

No. 2 - Andy Overmeyer (C) def. Brad Keffaber 8-5

No. 3 - Ryan Grant (C) def. Bart King 8-3

Doubles

No. 1 - Matt Getz and Bill Swan (C) def. Josh White and Peter Naragon 8-2

No. 2 - Kyle Brown and Mark Berry (C) def. Mitch Purdy and Mike Howard 8-3 [[In-content Ad]]