Varsity Tennis 2, NCS 7
With warm weather struck with a vengeance, bringing almost summer temperatures to the courts at the Landon Tennis center. Clear sunny skies brought the court surface temperatures near 80 degrees as the Tigers took their positions with a slightly revised ladder that flipped Kiesnowski and Aichinger at Singles #2 and #3. Similarly, Ngabo and Abouzied switched positions at the #4 and #5 singles position.
At #1 Singles, Freshman Tyler Morris (New Bern, NC) moved to 3-1 for the season with a 10-6 victory over a hard-hitting Campbell Bloomfield. Both players came out loaded for bear behind a big first serve and solid second serves that kicked off competitive rallies. Morris seemed to have the upper hand after 5 games, moving to 3-2, amid the usual early set crisis control. But Bloomfield refused to fold and fought back to 3-4, contesting every game. Morris settled in and switched tactics to further prolong exchanges already filled with solid baseline after baseline. The exchanges continued to when the match finally reached 5-5 and then tipped over to 6-5. An exchange of serves had the score at 7-6. Morris held, broke, and held serve to finish out the match 10-6 with only teammate Richardson still playing at #6.
At #6 Singles, fellow North Carolinian and Freshman Sebastian Richardson (Charlotte, NC) looked to be an even match that wasn’t reflected in the match score. Raider Sam Clark was clearly not interested in going down without a fight. Richardson jumped out to 5-2 lead behind a workmanlike attitude and a steady game. But Clark jumped right back in to amass 4 more games before Richardson was able to stem the flow and close the door on a great 10-6 victory.
At #5 Singles, Youssef Abouzied (Giza, Egypt) continued his adventures in tennis. Abouzied started on the right foot, taking the first game, but dropped 2 to make it 1-2. He held on before a break found him looking at 2-5 in favor of Grayson Bloomfield and the momentum threatening to run away from Abouzied. Digging deep, Abouzied manufactured his own service break and hold to bring the match score of 5-6. Some tough deuce games were decided on close lines and the sort of mishits that come with inexperience and match nerves. In the end, Abouzied came up short with a very respectable, if not frustrating, 5-10 loss.
With the singles ladder score 2-4, the team needed to win the doubles ladder to take the match. A determined Raiders #2 Doubles duo jumped on their Tiger opponents, crushing the team hopes even before the #1 Doubles and #3 Doubles matches could get underway. Rather than forfeiting, the Tigers chose to play on. In particular, at #3 Doubles, Duc Nguyen (Hai Phong, Vietnam) and Walter Thompson (Chatham, VA) matched up against a determined Raider duo that had each just finished 15 game sets. The fresh Tigers had trouble starting up, but were ultimately able to put up the lone game on the doubles side of the competition.
Evan Troast (Ft. Lauderdale, FL) and Jayce Alvelo (Chatham, VA) were each able to get in exhibition play to gain valuable court experience.
The Man of the Match was Sebastian Richardson. The warm weather seemed to really agree with Richardson. In his match, he contested every point. For example, he drove himself from a recovery position to 6 feet behind the baseline to handle a shoulder high topspin back to inside the service box to come up with a winner against a seemingly unplayable dropshot. Perseverance with a positive attitude seemed to roll off his court all afternoon.
Our next match will be at away against Carlisle’s at the Chatmoss Country Club on Thursday, April 13. Hargrave Tennis’ record is now 1-3 in VIC competition.
Individual Match Scores:
Singles
#1 – Tyler Morris v Campbell Bloomfield 10-6
#2 – David Kiesnowski v Daniel Habib 0-10
#3 – Tyler Aichinger v Michael Habib 1-10
#4 – Armel Ngabo v Malin Jha 0-10
#5 – Youssef Abouzied v Grayson Bloomfield 5-10
#6 – Sebastian Richardson v Sam Clark 10-6
Doubles
#1 – Morris and Kiesnowski v C. Bloomfield and D. Habib 0-6
#2 – Aichinger and Ngabo v M. Habib and Jha 0-8
#3 – Duc Nguyen and Walter Thompson v G. Bloomfield and Clark 1-6
