It’s complicated…” might be a good description of the JV Tennis match against Smith Mountain Lake Christian Academy (SMLCA). These two teams had met only 15 days earlier, but to open their 2025 season on the road. If anything, the Bernard’s Landing courts had gotten more beautiful with the sun hitting the lake on two sides of the courts and the trees starting to flower. As fitting for JV squads in tennis, the focus of both coaches was the development of individual players (rules of the game, character development, physical conditions, mechanics of the game). The mantra is “progress not perfection.”
On the Hargrave side, two normal JV players elected to take exhibition matches against SMLCA Varsity players. This took them out of the normal ladder (the roster is built in order of increasing skill) and gave less experienced players (willingly or not) the opportunity to play. Our squad’s mantra may be “progress over perfection,” (and much progress observed by all the players on both teams), but keeping score is still part of the game. After 3 hours, the HMA JV Tigers came out under the SMLCA Eagles with a 2-7 loss.
The team was particularly grateful for the surprise visit by Mr. Caudill who was almost incognito outside his scrubs or HMA uniform. They closed their evening watching the sunset over the lake enjoying a donated meal from Subway. Tristan Schwartz was excited that his mother was able to travel several hours to visit him and watch him play.
JV Tiger Tennis will play again on the road against boarding school rival Virginia Episcopal School on Tuesday, April 1 on the VES campus (Lynchburg, VA) at 4:30 pm. At the same time, the Varsity Tennis squad will be at Wesleyan Christian Academy (High Point, NC).
Doubles Matches
- Mortimer & Lawrence vs. Mayo, H & Arnold — L 5-8
- Herrera & Zachary Suttle (7th grade, Halifax, VA) vs. Gray & Workman — L 3-8
- Li & DiBartolo vs. Mayo, C & Perry — W 8-5
Singles Matches
- Mack Mortimer (Junior, Sammamish, WA) vs. Harrison Mayo — L 3-8
- Daniel Mitchell (7th grade, San Antonio, FL) vs. Peyton Arnold — L 7-9
- Andy Li (Freshman, Lynch Station, VA) vs. Xander Gray — L 2-8
- Cyrus Lawrence (Junior, Silver Spring, MD) vs. Keatyn Workman — W 8-3
- Luca DiBartolo (7th grade, Dry Fork, VA) vs. Carrington Mayo — L 3-8
- Xavier Washington (6th grade, Chatham, VA) vs. Skylar Perry — L 1-8
Additional Exhibition Matches
- Tristan Schwartz (Freshman, Andrews, NC)
- Brandon Hyon (8th grade, Devon, PA)
Men of the Match
Daniel Mitchell (7th grade, San Antonio, FL) was a Hargrave Man of the Match because of his demonstrated perseverance under challenging circumstances. In tennis, a player needs to win a game by 2 points. It is possible to get in a “whirlpool” of deuce/ad-in/ad-out. Mitchell and his opponent played 29 deuce points over the course of their match until the seesaw was finally broken with a 7-9 match (Mitchell was at deuce at 7-8; closing the game out would have forced a tie-breaker game). This is Mitchell’s first season playing tennis.
Another novice player was also named a Hargrave Man of the Match. In his first competitive tennis matches, Luca DiBartolo (7th grade, Dry Fork, VA) started the afternoon with a doubles match. While it happened to turn out as a win, what was more evident was his courtesy and kindness in working with both his partner and his opponents. That level of courtesy, kindness, and sportsmanship carried over to his singles match.
