Hargrave Tiger Tennis took on a tenacious Liberty Christian Bulldog squad down at the Landon Tennis Center on March 27. Bright sunshine fought to remove the bite in the air remaining from Tuesday’s unexpected snowstorm. The Bulldogs initially swarmed over the sluggish Tigers in singles play. Across the courts, scores cards flipped to indicate three and four-game deficits. But the Tigers would not to go down quietly. Two major battles occured at #1 and #2 Singles, while the bottom half of the ladder continued to gain experience.
At #1 Singles, Rankin Horsley started to dig in his heels in his second game, and stopped the momentum at 0-4 against a tough Max Henderson. After Horsley broke and held serve to get back into the match, a tough seesaw contest began in earnest. Both players found themselves giving a demonstration of all-court play to an appreciative crowd of students, faculty, staff and parents. The pace of play varied from heavy-topspin baseline rallies to scrambling exchanges of dropshots and lighting fast volleys, and plenty of net-skimming approaches and passing shots. Horsley emerged with his first victory as a Tiger 10-8. He improves his record to 1-1 in VIC Singles play.
At #2 Singles, Turner Wall’s match moved at a deliberate pace against Bulldog veteran Dave Kang. While Wall also slipped down to 0-3 before turning it around, the match was contested from the first point so that their fifth game was beginning while other matches were being wrapped up. Wall’s continual adjustments along with some advice from Team Captain Dan Kim resulted in positive changes that pulled him ahead to 5-4. But Kang was able to make his own adjustments in turn to bring the match to a 6-10 close in favor of the Bulldogs.
Due to individual improvement, injuries, and illnesses, the bottom half the ladder underwent significant changes compared to the team that started the season. Daniel Su moved up to #4 singles from #6. At #5 Singles, Zachary Gjenanaj made his first start in varsity singles play, fighting to post a 3-10 score that belied the tenacity of himself and his opponent. At #6 Singles, Tyler Aichinger also made his first start in varsity singles play in an effort that was much better than the 2-10 score would imply.
Singles match play ended with the Tigers down 1-5.
On the doubles side, Horsley was joined by Dan Kim at #1 Doubles where they worked steadily to reel in a tough 8-6 victory and post a season record of 1-1 in VIC play. Wall teamed up with WeiAn Chen at #2, but both struggled with consistency in closing off points, leaving the courts at 2-8. At #3 Doubles, Raines Wall and Walter Kasica made their debut. After jumping to a 4-0 lead, their momentum was literally snapped (broken string). Although a racquet exchange put them back in business, the match continued to slip away and the match closed out at 5-8.
Doubles match played ended 1-2 in favor of the Bulldogs, leaving the final team score 2-7.
David Kiesnowski, Anthony Leinbach, Laurence Leinbach, Sam Hazan, Armel Ngabo, and Yang Zhao were able to collect match experience in exhibition matches against LCA while official play finished.
The loss drops the Tigers to 0-2 for the season. Our next match will be at home against Blue Ridge School on April 1. The JV team will open their season on Friday April 4 at VES (Lynchburg, VA).
Individual Match Scores:
Singles
#1 – Rankin Horsley v Max Henderson : 10-8
#2 – Turner Wall v David Kang : 6-10
#3 – Frankie Chang v Nico Garay : 1-10
#4 – Daniel Su v Hamin Cho : 1-10
#5 – Zachariah Gjenasaj v Caleb McKee : 3-10
#6 – Tyler Aichinger v Jacob Brooks : 2-10
Doubles
#1 – Horsley and Dan Kim v Kang and Cho: 8-6
#2 – WallT and WeiAn Chen v Garay and Brooks: 2-8
#3 – Raines Wall and Walter Kasica v McKee and Jacob Drane: 4-8
