Today's match was our third in three days, the middle of a packed week. The opponent was St. Paul Academy, or SPA. They've always done well in the 1A (smaller schools) state tournament, and they're returning the 1A singles state champion, John Hill, so we knew we'd have our work cut out for us.
Similar to the match against Eden Prairie on Monday, SPA took their usual second and third singles players and put them into doubles positions. This equated to Manfred (6-0, 6-0) and I (6-0, 6-1) winning within seconds of each other, before most of the other matches had finished their first sets.
In the other five matches, we lost all of the first sets. Clay Thompson played #4 singles, the only change from yesterday's lineup. #3 doubles (Andy Harris/Kenny) forced a tiebreak in the second set, but fell short. Clay was the next one done. He fought really hard against an opponent who, to be honest, was obnoxious whenever he won a point. Hopkins 2, SPA 2.
Clay's opponent seemed to be the most vocal, but some others weren't far behind. I know a few of the SPA guys, and they're great. It's kind of frustrating to see a team that is so good to have to blemish their reputation and embarrass themselves by acting pretty childish. I hate to say that, but, as Coach Novak tells us, act like you've been there before.
Now, the only matches remaining were Ryan and #1 and #2 doubles. #2 (Zach/Andy Novak) won their second set to force a third, and then #1 (Brandon/Rust) followed suit. Meanwhile, Ryan went up 5-2 in his second set.
As the two doubles matches got going in their third sets, Ryan's match started to turn in John Hill's favor. Ryan wasn't necessarily playing badly, but John was serving consistently huge, and Ryan did start to miss more balls, and ended up losing the set in a tiebreak. Ryan wasn't too pleased about how he played, but John's a great player, no shame in losing to him, and I know Ryan will only improve in the next couple weeks. Hopkins 2, SPA 3.
After many ups and downs, both doubles matches found themselves knotted at five games apiece. #2 got a break to go up 6-5, and they held Zach's serve to close out the match. Unfortunately, a minute or two later, #1 lost their set, 7-5, in a similar manner. Both teams played extremely well, the scores could have gone either way for each match.
Final score: Hopkins 3, St. Paul Academy 4.
Tomorrow's match is against Edina, a team that we have been unable to beat for at least eight years, probably many more. Before I go study for my Macronomics and Micronomics AP tests tomorrow, I want to give a special shout-out to Noah Sussman, a proud Hopkins tennis alum who has come out to watch the last few matches. We always appreciate the support! The match tomorrow is away against Edina, followed by a trip to Maple Grove on Friday.
Until then,
Michael
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