With Spring and sunshine finally descending upon Landon Tennis Center, Hargrave Tiger Tennis faced off against a measured VES Bishop Tennis squad. Across the board, the individual players were able to log in the longest matches to date. Throughout a wet season that has challenged all squads in the conference to ability to develop consistency and confidence, the Tigers team continued our journey. While the score was lopsided, the watchword for both teams was “perseverance.”
On the singles side, nobody was clearly outclassed with the all matches having several deuce games (indicating a close contest). In an individual match that seemed to be a sequel to last year’s, Cadet Turner Wall and Carl Xiao were once again on the same rung in the competition ladder. Both former #2’s from 2014 were now at the top dogs on their respective ladders, having moved up to #1 positions and the captain’s position. Unlike last year, Wall was more competitive, challenging in 8 of the 11 games before finally being closed out 1-10. At the #2 singles spot, both teams had newcomers and it was undoubtedly the most interesting match of the day. Cadets Pavel Stupin and Nick Silvester brought strong service games and all-court capabilities to the table. By mid-set, with a score of 4-6, it was clear that neither was going to be easily broken and anything short of an outright service winner was going to become a tangle of big cross-court groundstrokes before an errant shot led to a putaway drop or smash. The temporarily loss of our usual #3 singles player, Cadet Walter Kasica, moved Cadets Zach Gjenasaj and Jose Posadas up a position. It also brought Cadet Richard Flender into the battery. Both Posadas and Flender were able to tie up their opponents in protracted contests before both succombing 1-10.
With Stupin having to retire with an arm injury, the doubles line-ups were jumbled. Wall and Gjenasaj teamed up, but couldn’t get anything going after winning the first game. At #3 doubles, Cadets Patrick Saad and Rakan Alshinbr again found themselves in a varsity match as tennis novices. They stepped up to the challenge and put forth a very respectable effort. Alshinbr’s quick hands and feet were able to deflect the attack while waiting to set up Saad’s short volleys for winners.
Our next scheduled regular season team contests will be a trip to Charlottesville to take on Miller School (4/28) and a final home match against Eastern Mennonite (4/30).
Individual Match Scores:
Singles
#1 – Turner Wall v Carl Xiao : 1-10
#2 – Pavel Stupin v Nick Silvester : 6-10
#3 – Zach Gjenasaj v Robert Mays : 0-10
#4 – Jose Bendeck-Posadas v Will Winstead : 1-10
#5 – Armel Ngabo v Zeil Ren : 0-10
#6 – Richard Flender v Teddy Bond : 1-10
Doubles
#1 – Wall and Gjenasaj v Xiao and Ren : 1-8
#2 – Posadas and Ngabo v Mays and Winstead : 0-8
#3 – Patrick Saad and Rakan Alshinbr v Bond and George Adams : 1-8
