While thundershowers rumbled through the area, Hargrave Tiger Tennis met up with an equally determined Carlisle Chief squad. On the clay of Chatmoss Country Club, the two teams learned that hardcore tennis players have to contend with not only the elements of heat, humidity, sun, insects, dust, and wind, but, also … rain. Looking up to serve or smash becomes extra complicated in the rain. A few minutes after the ladders were introduced and competitive play was about to start, the skies opened up. With an eye out for lightning and monitoring the footing, the teams agreed to continued their battle it looked like the weather was just going to vary between a drizzle and a steady shower. After an hour, the rain stopped and the courts began to steam before the temperatures finally fell with the coming dusk.
Tight matches were seen at #1, #2, #3 and #5 singles. Cadets Wall and Ikegami traded games until the 6th game. At 3-3, with the rain soaking both players and keeping both off-balance, Ikegami literally found his footing and started to land shots to dictate the pace enough to take the next 5 games. At 3-8, Wall held serve after a protracted deuce point, to break the streak and log in another game, 4-8. But Ikegami was undeterred and finished out the match at 4-10.
Teammate Pavel Stupin’s numbers looked similar, but the nature of his battle was completely different. Battling through a slight wrist injury, Stupin also found himself down 2-8 against John Smith’s strong baseline game. As Stupin prowled the court with his all-court game, the score continued to slide in Smith’s favor, but Stupin was able to put up 4 games before being retired at 6-10.
At #3, Cadet Walter Kasica found himself exploring at 1-4 hole before holding to reach 5-8. A service break and hold left Nigam up 5-10. Patrick Saad’s diligence paid off as he has worked to develop from tennis novice to a spot on the Varsity ladder. Saad and opponent Peter Su worked for every game in a see-saw contest that could have gone either way. The same tenacity would be carried over to Saad’s doubles match. The end of singles match play had the team match already decided in the Chiefs favor.
But with doubles play, it was clear that the Tigers were not done. Hargrave’s #1 Doubles team of Wall and Stupin logged their first victory of the season against Carlisle’s Ikegami and Smith to move to 1-1 as a duo. Although these four players had just finished facing off in singles contest, the nature of doubles team play was evident. The Tigers stayed close and made their move at 4-5. With Stupin’s fast hands at net finding the gaps, the momentum shifted for the first time towards the Tigers. Despite some great play by their Chief opposites, Wall and Stupin finished out the match 8-5.
Kasica and Saad combined in search of some elusive doubles magic. Kasica’s strong serve and big forehand were tempered by Saad’s speed and unpredictable short angled shots. Again, finding themselves in a 1-4 hole, Kasica and Saad knuckled down to stop the breaks. Despite several extremely long deuce games (including a few with over a dozen deuces), the #2 Doubles team crept up to the edge of victory at 7-7 with Kasica serving to take the lead. But those points were elusive with several let serves falling outside the box to force second serves that Kevin Arroyo and Parker Lanom had learned to handle. With another deuce game as a result, a few mishits and miscues and the Tiger serve was broken, 7-8. The Chiefs then held serve to circumvent a tie-breaker, 7-9. At #3 Doubles, Cadet Ben Richter, an 8th grader, made his Varsity match debute with a solid performance in a lopsided 2-8 loss against a steady Chief Duo of Colin Penn and Chase Nichols.
David Kiesnowski and Yanshen Luo were able to get in exhibition singles matches during the doubles segment of the team competition.
The Varsity Tennis squad will host LCA tomorrow (Thursday, April 9th) at Landon Tennis Center in their second match of the season. The LCA match will be the Tigers home opener. Following the weekend, the Tigers again hit the road to the Miller School of Albemarle before a string of home matches.
Individual Match Scores:
Singles
#1 – Turner Wall v Shawn Ikegami: 4-10
#2 – Pavel Stupin v John Smith: 6-10
#3 – Walter Kasica v Krutik Nigam: 5-10
#4 – Armel Ngabo v Dyer Pace : 0-10
#5 – Patrick Saad v Peter Su: 6-10
#6 – Yanshen Luo v Cody Mills : 1-10
Doubles
#1 – Wall / Stupin v Ikegami / Smith : 8-5
#2 – Kasica / Saad v Kevin Arroyo / Parker Lanom : 7-9
#3 – Ngabo / Ben Richter v Colin Penn / Chase Nichols : 2-8
