After weather forced their home opener to be rescheduled, the Hargrave Military Academy Varsity Tennis team opened their 2015 season by traveling to Charlottesville on March 12 to take on perennial tennis power Covenant School. After weeks of weather extremes, a warm spring sun shone down on the courts of Pen Park on the last of the snowdrifts as both teams worked through early-season jitters.
Side-note: In VIC tennis, singles and doubles match victories each count as a team point; thus 9 points are possible from six singles matches and three doubles matches. Singles matches are 10-game pro sets (first to win 10 games with a two game advantage) with ad (deuce points are played). Doubles matches are 8-game pro sets.
As night fell and a late spring chill and breeze began to blow over the courts, the Tigers were left on the short end of a 1-8 contest. The final team score certainly did not reflect the efforts at the individual match level nor the potential of this year’s squad.
The men of the match were senior Cadets Zach Gjenasaj (Brooklyn, NY) and Sam Hazan (Raleigh, NC) at the #4 and #5 singles positions as well as teamed up at #3 doubles.
Gjenasaj took on Covenant Eagle Sutton Trader in both singles and later on in doubles. Gjenasaj and Trader ground out a 21 game match that clocked in somewhere beyond an hour and 15 minutes. Neither was willing to let the other dominate, ratcheting past multiple deuce points as the game count progressed stepwise to 8-8. With energy and patience in a seemingly endless supply despite the clock, they battled until the score tipped into Gjenasaj’s favor, 11-9.
On a neighboring court, Hazan was on the cusp of his own potential upset, battling Jacob Hollis in an all-court counter-punching contest that teetered at 7-8 before Hollis was able to finish off the contest 8-10.
After a short break, Hazan and Gjenasaj began again at #3 doubles. Against the familiar Trader with a fresh Eagle, Andrew Carson, the Hargrave #3 duo came close but still fell to the Eagle pair’s synergy, 5-8.
While this drama was unfolding, Team Co-Captain Cadet Turner Wall (Chatham, VA) took on an equally experienced Roger Wang at the #1 singles position. After a strong start, Wall found himself unable to get back into the zone as the match slipped away from him and he eventually fell 1-10. On the next court, Co-Captain Cadet Rankin Horsley (Belmont, NC) had the opposite experience. He fell into an early hole against his opponent, seeing the cards show 1-4 before his adjustments started to affect the flow of the match. He was able to climb back into the match as overhit ground strokes were replaced by defensive chipping. As Horsley began to construct points, he was about to take another 5 games before succombing 6-10 to the unrelenting pressure of returning Eagle Noah Hollis.
Junior Cadet Walter Kasica (Greensboro, NC) stepped out strongly against opponent Chris Boland. at the #3 rung of the ladder. In their even contest, vying for court position and executing winners characterized their play. Boland emerged from the exchange with a 6-10 victory.
Making his debut in Varsity Singles play, Sophomore Cadet Armel Ngabo (Kigali, Rwanda) was able to put in some strong points to log in a 3-10 result at #6 singles.
Cadets David Kiesnowski (Appleton, WI) and Grayson Massey (Chatham, VA) combined for an exhibition doubles match against Eagles Leo Tang and Ryan Dube.
Our next match will take us back to the Charlottesville area to meet up with the Blue Ridge School on Thursday, March 19. Our home opener will be against Virginia Episcopal School (VES) on March 24.
Individual Match Scores:
Singles
#1 – Turner Wall v Roger Wang : 1-10
#2 – Rankin Horsley v Noah Hollis : 6-10
#3 – Walter Kasica v Chris Borland : 6-10
#4 – Sam Hazan v Jacob Hollis : 8-10
#5 – Zachariah Gjenasaj v Sutton Trader : 11-9
#6 – Armel Ngabo v James Field : 3-10
Doubles
#1 – Wall and Horsley v Wang and Boland : 0-8
#2 – Kasica and Chen v HollisN and HollisJ : 4-8
#3 – Hazan and Gjenasaj v Trader and Andrew Carson : 5-8
