After the excitement of the LCA match, the Tigers addressed another historically strong team. After last year’s close VIC play-off games and VES bringing back 4 of 6 starters, it looked to be a tough battle. At the end of the singles ladder, the Tigers were still in it, although down 2-4. In order to win, they had to take the doubles ladder. But the Bishops weren’t willing to let the team match go uncontested and their quality doubles play overcame the Tigers.
The Tigers individual match victories were both hard fought. At #1 Singles, sophomore Tyler Morris (New Bern, NC) kept it close until VES’ Cook broke serve a second time to jump out to a 4-7 lead. Morris continued to scramble and his mixture of slices and deep drives started to fall back in play. Each of the last 6 games were struggles, but Morris emerged victorious 10-7. At #2 singles, senior Youssef Abouzied (Giza, Egypt) cautiously worked up to a 6-0 lead, but was well-aware that VES’s Cudd was constantly working his side of the court, looking to capitalize on mistakes. In the seventh game, it looked like Cudd had made his adjustments, with the first of the long games to put up a game, perhaps a toe-hold to a come-back. Every game from that point was tight, but Abouzied kept up his own pressure to come away with a 10-1 victory.
While not ultimately victorious, the individual losses also had bright moments for the Tigers. Evan Troast (Lighthouse Point, FL, 8th grade) founds that despite his rallies, the games seemed to keep falling to the Bishop’s Liu. His perseverance paid off with Liu up 2-7, Troast got off the defensive and started putting away games, but the damage was too great to be fixed by trading games to the inevitable end of the match. The other youngster, Sam Wilkerson (NYC, NY, 8th grade) was down 1-2 when he needed a medical time-out (rackets are harder than noses!). Returning, he continued to puzzle over Diron’s fireball serve and baseline game, but took 3 games to get ahead 4-2. But there, Diron made his own adjustments and after reaching 5-5, slammed the door on Wilkerson to finish it 5-10.
With the score 2-4 after singles, the pressure fell on the Tigers doubles ladder to be perfect to take the match. By coincidence, both 1st and 2nd doubles duos were led by a player that had won on the singles side along with one that had struggled. The match would come down to which players had the better doubles tactics and could use their experience from the singles side. The Bishops looked to have learned their lessons better. #1 and #2 doubles were tight matches, despite the scores. Forced errors (meaning that opponents were pressuring each other) were a significant factor rather than the usual unforced errors (which are the result of mechanical or mental mistakes). At #3 doubles, Wilkerson matched up with junior Aidan Steinbach (Durham, NC) in the continual search for the right combination of solid individual play and teamwork.
On the exhibition side of things, Walter Thompson (Chatham, VA, 9th grade) and Maddox McCluer (Hickory, NC, 8th grade) continued to cement their skills in the only exhibition match-up available.
The Men of the Match were Tyler Morris and Youssef Abouzied. Morris showed true grit and determination to rally back from a 4-game run leading to a 3-game deficit to put up a 6-game march to his victory. Abouzied showed high tennis IQ to take his match and continued to encourage his less experienced partner in a contested doubles loss that was competitive until the last scrambling point. Grit and confidence!
On the eve of a busy boarding school weekend, the Tiger squad really appreciated the family and staff that found a few minutes to visit and encourage them. The Hargrave Tennis record is now 3-2 overall (1-2 in VIC).
Our next two matches will be at home against 2017 state and VIC runner-up North Cross School (Roanoke) on Tuesday, April 10 and a rubber game against New Covenant School (Lynchburg) on Thursday, April 12. Match play begins at 4:30.
Individual Match Scores:
Singles
#1 – Tyler Morris v James Cook 10-7
#2 – Youssef Abouzied v Matthew Cudd 10-1
#3 – David Kiesnowski v Will Winstead 2-10
#4 – Evan Troast v Leo Liu 4-10
#5 – Sebastian Richardson v John Cook 2-10
#6 – Sam Wilkerson v Xander Dirom 5-10
Doubles
#1 – Morris / Kiesnowski v Cook / Cudd 2-8
#2 – Abouzied / Troast v Winstead / Liu 1-8
#3 – Wilkerson and Aidan Steinbach v Cook / Dirom 1-8
