On Tuesday, May 14th, Blake Cushman and myself, Teddy Porter, went to an individual HVAL singles tournament. This was the first time they decided to do a tournament like this. This tournament took the #1 and #2 singles players from all HVAL teams and made a bracket for those players.
Blake had the best record in all of HVALS and got a first round bye on one side of the bracket.
On the other hand, since I missed many HVAL games due to injury, I had to play a play-in game against Watkinson’s #2 singles player. I won this match 6-0 and had to play Harvey’s #1 in the next round. I have had really good matches with Harvey’s #2, so I knew going into this game that it was going to be a struggle. I started off winning 3-0 in games. Harvey’s #1 soon found his rhythm and was able to make the score 3-3. This game was very back and forth and it was tied 5-5 at one point. Due to the fact that the score was 5-5, we had to play an extra two games because we had to win by two. I unfortunately lost this game 5-7, but Wooster still had Blake on the other side of the bracket.
Blake Cushman played Forman’s #2 in his first match of the day. Blake was able to win this match pretty easily with a score of 6-0. After this match, Blake played another match in the semi finals. Blake out performed his opponent and was able to win with a score of 6-1. Blake made the finals and watched the semi finals on the other bracket to see who he played against. Harvey’s #1 and #2 were playing each other for the final spot. Harvey’s #2 was able to come out victorious. Blake played this match on Thursday the 16th and was able to defeat his opponent 8-2, naming him the first ever HVAL individual tournament winner.
On Wednesday, May 14th, doubles teams Joey and Andrew, and Jonah and Austin were selected to participate in the HVAL doubles tournament which was run the same as the singles tournament. Austin and Jonah played their match first and they played a team that we knew was going to be a good match. The game was back and forth, but unfortunately, Austin and Jonah lost to Forman 4-6. Joey and Andrew got a first round bye in their division and were set to play in the semi finals. They were faced against the other Forman doubles team and were able to defeat them easily with a score of 6-1. Andrew and Joey then moved on to the final to play Harvey’s #1 doubles team who they beat 8-1 in the HVAL final. Andrew and Joey started off down, but then they were able to make a comeback. Unfortunately, the comeback was too late and they lost 7-9 in a very close battle. This doubles team did qualify for NEPSITT though!
On Saturday, May 18th, the boys tennis team traveled all the way to Massachusetts for an early start in the NEPSAC tournament against Kents Hills which is a school all the way up in Maine. We knew going into this match that it was going to be a really good match and we were all going to have to play our best. Due to weather conditions, we had to play indoors for the first time all year. We first started off with doubles. Blake and I , #1 doubles, played Kents' #1 doubles team. The match started off 1-1, but then Kents Hills took advantage of our weaknesses and was able to beat us 8-3.
Joey and Andrew, as well as Jonah and Davis Goldblat, were playing at the same time as Blake and I. Joey and Andrew were having a really great match and they were up 6-5. Unfortunately, Jonah and Davis lost their match fast, 0-8, meaning we had to stop Andrew and Jonah's game early because Kents already won the majority of matches for doubles. Shortly after the doubles games, we were ready to play singles. We had to win 4/6 games to advance to the next round of the tournament. Instead of playing matches to eight games, we were playing two sets to six.
Blake, #1 singles, played a player who is from Germany and he is one of the best young players in Germany. Blake lost 0-6, 0-6. During the time of Blake's game, I played another very good player from Russia. I lost the first set 1-6, but in the second set, I found my opponent's weakness. Unfortunately, his weaknesses weren’t easy to pick apart, so I lost the second set 3-6. Michael, #3 singles, played another really good opponent and lost 0-6, 1-6. Due to the fact that we already lost 3/6 games, we had to take all of the rest of our team out of the singles because we already lost to Kents Hills.
Although this was a tough loss for the season, Wooster Boys Tennis had a successful year because we were able to win HVALS and we played very well in the individual tournaments. Tomorrow, May 25, Blake and I were selected for a NEPSAC individuals tournament at Choate.
