After starting 4-0 a few weeks ago, Seabury Academy boys tennis coach Kristy Elliot sensed her team might have gotten a bit too excited about its early success.

“What we need is to get beaten up on,” Elliot said, “and that’s really what we got today.”

Though her team’s 8-1 loss to Shawnee Maranatha on Monday wasn’t pretty, the coach believed it would be beneficial for her young players in the long run.

“The only way we’re going to get better is if we get beaten,” Elliot said, “and we couldn’t have gotten beaten against a better team.”

All season, Elliot had been trying to preach different strategies, techniques and follow-throughs to her players that would benefit their individual games.

The coach received a clinic of them Monday, with Maranatha’s fundamentally sound players proving each of her teaching points.

“They don’t believe this is actually what is going to make them better,” Elliot said of her players, “and now they get to actually to see it being performed in front of them.”

The only victory for Seabury came from Ashley Woolsey, who held on for an 8-5 victory over Philip Hayes in No. 3 singles. She persevered after losing a deuce at 7-3 and momentarily losing the momentum.

“I was exhausted, and I started cramping up,” Woolsey said. “It was a hard match.”

Meanwhile, Simon Thompson found himself on the wrong end of a pair of close calls.

He lost his singles match, 8-6, to Andrew Straub in No. 4 singles, then fell in his No. 1 doubles match with teammate Scotty King by the same score.

Thompson, who moved to the United States from England last year, said he was more disappointed by his doubles defeat.

“I didn’t think we were up to scratch today,” Thompson said. “That was a game we could have won and should have won.”

The match remained competitive, with Thompson providing one winner down the line on a ball that was headed straight for his nose.

“That was just a reflex action,” Thompson said with a smile. “I was just trying to keep my face intact.”

The other near-miss came from Shiv Subramaniam, who fell 9-7 in No. 2 singles to Kyle McCracken.

“Last year they were good,” Woolsey said of Maranatha, “and they progressively keep getting better.”

Elliot believed her team would build from the loss.

“Even though we got trounced, it wasn’t unproductive,” Elliot said. “It was a productive day.”