HMA Tiger Tennis Surprise Bishops, but Still Goes Under 3-6

The Hargrave Tigers entered the VIC Tennis playoffs as the #6 seed and matched up against the #3 seeded Virginia Episcopal Bishops in Lynchburg, VA.  With the threat of rain growing with each minute on an unseasonably cool day, play began slow and it looked like it might be a rehash of the earlier Tiger loss.  After being broken, Tyler Morris broke back and jumped out to a 4-1 lead against a hard hitting Doug Hogan.  Although the match was a display of well-developed points, Hogan was unable to get any momentum before falling 8-2 to Morris at the #1 singles position.  At #2, #3, and #4 singles, the same story was being played out, only in reverse as the Tigers lose.  With those matches quickly concluding, eyes started turning toward Abouzied and Hong at #5 singles and Richardson and Cudd at #6 singles.  

Richardson and Cudd, playing at a more deliberate pace and contesting every point and every game had only logged in five games, but things were looking promising for the Tigers with Richardson atop a close 3-2 match.  Abouzied was up 4-1, but knew that Hong wasn’t going to quit.  It looked like nobody would be going home early (due to the time pressure of the playoffs, a VIC playoff match may be stopped after one team earns 5 points) since the Tigers had clearly come to play.  Another 15 minutes and Richardon’s fortune had turned for the worse as Cudd held and broke serve to move to put Richardson down 3-5.  Despite Richardon’s determined efforts, he was unable to move beyond 4-5 and slipped under Cudd’s pressure to fall 4-8.  Hong had indeed fulfilled Abouzied’s prediction to come back to 6-5.

With the drama of the last two singles matches unfolding, the #1 doubles team got underway with Morris and Aichinger taking on Hogan and Debose.  Again, the Bishops had an opportunity to slam the door shut with a double victory (a team point is earned for each victory, whether it comes from doubles or singles matches).  Never one to follow somebody else’s game plan, the Tigers jumped onto a 5-2 lead.  But the Bishops rallied back.  Once again, Morris and Aichinger found themselves in the grips of a tie-breaker after an 8-8 set.  Unlike their experience at Blue Ridge, this time they were able to grind out the victory with a final 9-8 (7-5) score in the tiebreaker.

So, now #1 doubles were done, the team score was 2-4,and Abouzied and Hong continued to battling it out, now at 8-8.  With rain still threatening, an Abouzied victory would keep the Tiger hopes alive.  And indeed, Abouzied came through to eke out a 9-8 (8-6) match.  The team score moved to 3-4 and the Bishops had to take one of the final doubles matches to win.  The Tigers, in a quest for an upset, had to take both doubles matches.

The remaining doubles squads were all caught somewhat flat footed by the spotlight suddenly upon them.  Hong and Abouzied were completely warmed up, if not potentially punked out from their marathon match.  Nguyen, Ngabo, Kiesnowski, Cook, Winsted, and Liu had all retired from their singles matches and were cooled down, if not actually stiffened up in the damp chill of the afternoon.  But the Bishops answered the call first, coming out of their respective gates on fire, both jumping to a 5-0 lead.  

At #2 doubles, Kiesnowski had the serve.  The game went to deuce amid a series of well-executed shots and both forced and unforced errors.  Kiesnowski then proceeded to serve in what would end up being nearly a dozen deuce points with heavily contested ad points.  During this same time at #3 doubles, Ngabo and Nguyen caught fire.  In tennis, this sometimes happens: your mistakes start to fall in where the other guy’s sails wide, long, or short.  As the #3 doubles Tigers strove to minimize their mistakes and apply pressure, they found themselves taking the next games, moving to 3-5.  Victory was a steadily solidifying possibility if they maintained their momentum.  Unfortunately, the gas ran out at #2 doubles first.  The Tigers were ultimately unable to close successfully behind Kiesnowski, leading to a Bishop service break.  VES then held serve and again broke the Tiger serve to both take the doubles match and force the completion of the team match.  The final was 3-6, with the Bishops advancing to the quarterfinal round of the VIC playoffs.

The Tigers finished with their heads held high after a tough match that showed both their growth over the season and their determination.

Singles

#1 – Tyler Morris v Doug Hogan 8-2

#2 – David Kiesnowski v James Cook 1-8

#3 – Tyler Aichinger v Will Winstead 1-8

#4 – Armel Ngabo v Leo Liu 0-8

#5 – Youssef Abouzied v Scott Hong 9-8 (8-6)

#6 – Sebastian Richardson v Matt Cudd 4-8

 

Doubles

#1 – Morris and Aichinger v Hogan and Drennan Debose 9-8 (7-5)

#2 – Kiesnowski and Abouzied v Cook and Winstead 0-8

#3 – Ngabo and Duc Nguyen v Liu and Hong 3-5*

 

*match suspended due to team score and time.

Richardson