Hopkins at Edina

Today was the final day of the regular season, and we finished off with a rescheduled match against Edina, our last Lake Conference opponent and also a strong contender in the section, along with Wayzata and South.

From talking with former players, I've gathered that Hopkins boys tennis has not beaten Edina for at least eight years. I can't find the data online, but I can be pretty sure that it's probably been closer to twenty-eight years.

Although we may have been considered the favorite going into today's match, we knew that Edina is a tennis factory and will always have solid and deep teams. We went with the same lineup that we played against Maple Grove. Singles: Ryan, myself, Manny, Clay. Doubles: Brandon/Rust, Andy Novak/Zach, Andy Harris/Kenny.

Please keep in mind that my match was the last to finish today, so, for the most part, I wasn't aware of the matches coming off as I was playing, but I saw enough and talked to everyone after the match. Also, Edina's unorthodox court setup makes it difficult to see the doubles matches if you're playing singles and vice-versa.

The first two matches done today were #2 and #3 doubles. Zach and Andy Novak finished first, with a 6-2, 6-3 win. Andy Harris and Kenny also won shortly after, 6-1, 6-3. Edina took the next match at #1 doubles, with Brandon and Andrew Rust losing in two tight sets. Edina 1, Hopkins 2.

Meanwhile, the singles matches were going as usual. Ryan, Manny, and I won our first sets, while Clay dropped his. Manny finished his second set off pretty quickly, and won 6-2, 6-1. Clay and Ryan finished at about the same time, Clay was defeated, but Ryan won. Edina 1, Hopkins 4.

Ryan won just as my match was reaching its climax. I had won the first set 6-2, but I was then broken to begin the second set. My opponent, Kavir Kumar, was able to hold serve until he was serving for the set at 5-4. I held and went into the changeover up 6-5. He then regained some confidence on his serve and forced a tiebreak. I won the first three points, before dropping the next three. At the six-point changeover was when Ryan won his match. I then got another mini-break to go up 6-3, before he won both of his service points to get back to 6-5. With my first match point on my serve, I was able to finish it off with an ace.

Final score: Edina 2, Hopkins 5.

Although it doesn't mean much, this win gave us the Lake Conference title, which has gone to Edina almost every year in recent history. Tomorrow we have practice, and Coach Novak will be going to the section meeting tomorrow night, where the team and individual draws will be made. I'll post the link to the draws when they are made available.

Until then,
Michael