The boys found a way to win last night against a team that I would call a future region powerhouse. The Nation Ford roster consists of no seniors, 1 junior, and a 7th grader at 1 singles. No doubt they will improve the second time around this year and I would see them being quite good in future seasons.
Jeff Zimmerman again was the first to clear the courts with a 6-0, 6-1 win at 1 singles. Alex Atzberger handled his opponent at 3 singles and finished second with a final of 6-2, 6-1. Seth Russell finished next with an identical score of 6-2, 6-1.
Things got a little trickier at that point as Nation Ford was leading in all matches remaining on the court when Seth finished. I advised Seth & Jeff that the 1 doubles point could be the decisive factor and walked between the 2 doubles & 4th & 5th singles lines.
Drayton Wade fell behind early in the line 5 match with a first set score of 1-6, but managed to gain confidence and turn around the match in his favor. He won the second set 6-4 forcing the tiebreaker. Never trailing in the tiebreak, Drayton cruised to a 10-6 win for our clinching point.
By the time Drayton finished, Zach had almost finished his first set at line 4. Assuming that his match would probably outlast doubles, I headed over to 2 doubles to find them already in a final set tiebreak. Having dropped the first set 5-7, Brian Fitzpatrick & Eric Sabin came together and took the second set 7-5. However, Nation Ford played consistent tennis in the tiebreak and got out to an insurmountable lead at 9-1. Brian & Eric fought off three of the eight match points they were behind, but dropped the tiebreak 10-4.
Back to court 4 I travelled to find Zach finished with his first set, dropping it 5-7. I pulled Zach aside and we determined that there was no way his opponent could keep up the rallies as he was making attempts to come to net that Zach was easily lobbing over him causing him to do little more than run back & forth repeatedly. I advised Zach to make sure that he gives no points away and to run his opponent from side to side on every shot and to just wear him out. The strategy was simple and effective as Zach cruised to a 6-0 second set and a tiebreak clincher at 10-6. After the match, the Nation Ford player said "I feel like I just ran a marathon." Imagine if we played out dueces and/or played a full third set!
Seth and Jeff were into their 1 doubles match by this point which was shortened to an 8-game pro-set. They had some early difficulties, but ended up pulling it together and pulling away for an 8-3 victory.
With the win, we improve to 3-0 in region and 4-2 overall. We travel to York on Thursday for another region match. The bus will be at school at 4 PM and I would like us all to board as soon as possible. York's coach advised that they have a chorus performance at Winthrop tomorrow night so he'd like to start as soon as possible.
Go Trojans!
Box Score
1S Zimmerman (NW) def Ott (NF) 6-0, 6-1
2S Russell (NW) def Little (NF) 6-2, 6-1
3S Atzberger (NW) def McLelland (NF) 6-2, 6-1
4S Z Beaver (NW) def Randar (NF) 5-7, 6-0, 10-6
5S Wade (NW) def Hoberek (NF) 1-6, 6-4, 10-6
1D Zimmerman/Russell (NW) def Ott/McLelland (NF) 8-3
2D Morris/McGlohon (NF) def Fitzpatrick/Sabin (NW) 7-5, 5-7, 10-4
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