The Rochester High School Boys Tennis Team continues their steady season in Thursday’s win vs Groves.
With the season not being so young anymore, and regionals and states around the corner taking place in October, the Falcons are retaining good momentum late into the schedule.
On Thursday, Rochester notched a 5-4 win against Birmingham Groves. The match started off in Rochester’s favor, with 1-3 singles, Clayton Anderson, Chad Anderson, and Andy Bardas winning in quick fashion. Bardas, playing the 3 spot in singles instead of his regular 4, didn’t have any trouble winning a quick first set and soon followed that up with an even quicker second set.
Later on in the match, after Rochester lost a few tough matches at the 1 doubles and 4 doubles spots, it became evident that the match was going to be decided by Rochester’s substitute 4 singles for the day: Sophomore, Declan Kelly. and 2 doubles pairing, Gakuto Morikawa and Elijah Chang. Both deep in third sets, 2 doubles’ Morikawa began cramping at about the 2-hour mark of his doubles match. While not ideal, Morikawa picked himself back up after a 10-minute medical timeout where he would receive treatment from his coaches and encouragement from his partner. He used what he gained back after the timeout to diffuse any high-pressure situations later on in the match to take the win. Which notched the teams tied at 4 matches apiece.
The last match was Kelly at 4 singles, who had not played in a situation like this before with the team needing him to win so they could claim the team victory 5-4. Kelly, failing to close the match out at 5-2 in his third set, was clearly the fresher player on the court. And while his 5-3 game appeared close in score, he never let his opponents’ good plays get in his head or the heat of the moment. And after a few unforced errors off of the Groves players racket, Kelly, who did not celebrate, had earned the Falcons a 1-point victory and confidence moving forward.
“I’m happy with how our team showed up,” said Sophomore team player, Matthew Morrow. “Last year we won by a similar score line so it feels good to take another close win and get some rhythm as a team.” When asked how he feels about the team moving forward to regionals and states, Morrow seemed confident, “Today, we didn’t even have our full lineup and were still able to get the win. With our full lineup I think we’re going to be doing really well moving forward”.
