The Varsity Tennis team returned to the Charlottesville area for the second time in as many weeks to hone their competitive edge. The weather cooperated enough to allow the match to be held under threatening skies, but the boys paid for it with a drop in temperature that reminded everybody that this was still early Spring.
With a revised team ladder, several players had the opportunity to move up significantly in competition level or gain valuable experience. The men of the match were senior Richard Flender (Sutherlin, VA) at #6 singles, junior Walter Kasica at #2 singles/#1 doubles, and senior Turner Wall at #1 singles/#1 doubles.
In his first competitive tennis appearance, Flender matched up with determined Baron Jackson Powell. Powell jumped out to a 3-7 lead before the light clicked and Flender came roaring back to bring his match to 7 games to 8. In turn, Powell found his own adjustments and the match tipped over to Blue Ridge after an 80 minute contest that left both parties fired up and looking forward to the season.
At #1 singles, Wall fell into a hole against a powerful Will Lauer, but came back with extended rallies and deuce games that fell in the Baron’s favor. Next to him #2 singles Kasica took on his opponent in an all-court battle that looked evenly balanced until Baron Chan was able to slam the door. Wall and Kasica then teamed up against a powerful and steady Baron duo. They were able to muster the energy and focus to bring the doubles contest to 2-3 after five games before the Barons responded with a series of protracted games that once again closed with a Baron victory in the books.
Also making his debut in Varsity Singles play was sophomore Jose Bendeck-Posadas (Nueva Orleans, Honduras) who stepped in at #4 singles after a multi-year hiatus from competitive tennis.
Cadet Alex Vogel (Asheville, NC) matched up with Baron Garrett Greiner in an exhibition singles match that went to 5-7 before the match was stopped due to falling light and the late hour. Additionally Tigers Rakan Alshinibr and Grayson Massey were on hand to gain experience.
Our roadtrips will continue with the next match at Liberty Christian Academy (LCA) on Thursday, March 26 in Lynchburg on the campus of Liberty University just prior to Spring break. Our first home match will be against LCA on April 9. Our previously scheduled home match against Virginia Episcopal School (VES) has been moved to April 23.
Individual Match Scores:
Singles
#1 – Turner Wall v Will Lauer : 4-10
#2 – Walter Kasica v Matt Chan : 4-10
#3 – Zachariah Gjenasaj v Jack Power : 0-10
#4 – Jose Bendeck-Posadas v Yibo Zhou : 1-10
#5 – Armel Ngabo v Hui Gu : 1-10
#6 – Richard Flender v Jackson Powell: 7-10
Doubles
#1 – Wall and Kasica v Lauer and Powers : 2-8
#2 – Gjenasaj and Bendeck-Posadas v Chan and Zhou : 2-8
#3 – Ngabo and Flender v Gu and Jim Jiang, 1-6 (due to falling light)
