Hiland Tennis Invitational offers chance for teams to experiment for tournament trail
In the end, Triway, the odds-on favorite to win the invitational, did just that, earning 12 points by taking care of business, getting three singles champions and a first doubles title on its way to 12 points. Hiland secured second place by grinding out three second places in singles play and two third-place finishes in doubles, while Coshocton and West Holmes both finished the day tied for third with five points.
Hiland's second doubles tandem of Conner Lee and Martin Magaldi lost their opening round to Triway's doubles team of Daniel Doan and Adam Zimmerman, but rallied to pick up a consolation victory over Coshocton. The loss was the first of the season for the duo, and Triway actually slid its No. 3 singles player Doan into the doubles slot for the competition.
The match was a good one, Hiland winning the first set, then dropping the next two. The loss didn't bother Lee and Magaldi, Lee stating, "I really think it's a good thing. It takes some of the pressure off of us. We knew coming in that we would have to play well to beat them, because they are very talented, and while we played well in the first set, we just made too many mistakes the rest of the way to win. It felt early on like we were confident and in control, but once things started to go bad we lost that control and got too tentative."
Magaldi agreed, and added of the competition, "That was great fun. I would much rather play that kind of competition and lose than just beat somebody up. That was so much fun to play against them."
Lee and Magaldi have grown quite comfortable playing as a team. In stark contrast, one West Holmes singles player was experiencing something completely new.
Evan Aurand, who is in his first year of playing tennis, has been playing doubles with Ricky Guerra all season. But because Knights coach Jason Otto put his number one and two singles players Brendan Lynch and Danny Nelson in doubles, where he expects them to play in tournament action, the doubles tandem had to slide up to play second singles against some pretty stiff competition.
Aurand dropped his first match, but rallied to win the consolation contest and pick up a point for the Knights.
"I had nothing to lose, so I just went in hoping I'd get lucky," said Aurand with a smile after his victory over Coshocton's Andrew Miller 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, Aurand having fought off match point twice in the final set before earning the win. "Singles is just a completely different kind of game, and my only hope was that I could keep the ball in play. I really wasn't nervous, because I normally don't play singles. I'm pretty thrilled to get a win. Singles is a lot more crosscourt play, and he kept me running most of the match. I'm pretty beat."
At third singles, Ethan Rawson fell to Quinn Miller in the opening round, Miller winning 6-4, 6-2, and then Rawson lost to Coshocton's Alex Roman 4-6, 6-4, 6-2. Guerra lost at first singles to Patterson, 6-0, 6-0, and then lost to P.J. Bair of Coshocton 6-0, 6-0 in the consolation round.
As for the strategy involved with setting up the team for the four-team invitational, Otto said that he wanted to get Lynch and Nelson an opportunity to get experience at the doubles level, where they will play at Sectionals.
"Something like this, that isn't league play, is a good chance for them to gain some valuable experience," said Otto. "Our Sectional is loaded with talent, and by playing them in doubles, we give them the best chance to move on."
Otto said that the two mesh well together, Nelson having a rich tradition of family tennis in his background, and displaying a wicked forehand, while Lynch is athletic, gets to everything and has a tremendous backhand.
"They mesh well together," said Otto. "This is a good place to get them ready against some very good competition."
While they dusted off Coshocton's Austin Bryant and Scott Simpson 6-1, 6-4 in the first round, they found the competition a little tougher in the finals, where they faced Doan and Zimmerman.
The match was a battle, as the two teams displayed plenty of shot-making ability. However, after a lengthy three-set match, the Titans pulled out the victory 7-5, 2-6, 7-5, with the Knights having several opportunities to pull out the win.
"We struggled a little bit at times, but I'm not going to beat myself up worrying about it," said Lynch. "They were good, and it was a good experience for us."
The West Holmes' doubles team of Sam Meyer and Collin Galbraith made the finals of the second doubles, then dropped a 6-2, 6-3 contest in the finals to Coshocton's Jason Milliken and Drew Baker, in a game in which Meyer said they struggled from the onset against a team they felt they could beat.
"We just didn't play well," said Meyer. "We've got them coming back to our place next week, so we will have our chance to get back at them."
The Coshocton duo also topped Hiland's doubles team of Cameron Yoder and Cole Reynolds, in a match that Triway coach Jim Nelson felt Hiland had the upper hand.
"I really expected Hiland to win the second doubles today," said Nelson. "Their two kids there are solid, and we felt like the way things were set up that they had the team to beat."
Instead, Hiland fell to Coshocton in the first round, and had to settle for one point by besting Triway in the consolation.
"That was awful, just plain awful," said Reynolds of the first round loss. "We just didn't do anything right."
Reynolds and Yoder rebounded to beat Kyle Starkey and Jon Hart in the consolation round, winning 6-3, 6-4.
As expected, Triway had its way in singles play, where they took all three singles matches, garnering three points apiece, all of the finals against Hiland's three singles players, who grabbed two points each for their team.
Kyle Patterson defeated Brad Mullet 6-2, 6-0 at first singles, Tyler Flickinger knocked off Braxton Mullet in second singles 6-0, 6-0 and Andrew Tarutani knocked off Quinn Miller in a rematch of last year's third singles final, scoring a 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 win.
Published: April 29, 2011
