Section semifinal: Hopkins v Minneapolis South

Well, we knew that South would come ready to play today, and they definitely did. Somewhat surprisingly, they decided to go with their strong singles lineup. We went back to our lineup that we used against Edina, in our final regular season match last Monday.

Clay played #4 singles today, and, unfortunately, was the first match done, and he was on the losing end. Shortly after, #2 doubles (Andy Novak/Zach) won, evening the match at 1. Meanwhile, Ryan, myself, and Manny all won our first sets, but were all struggling in our seconds.

#3 doubles (Andy Harris/Kenny) were next off, also with a win. #1 dubs (Brandon/Rust) won next. Hopkins 3, South 1.

After winning my first set, my opponent played well in his second and was able to even our match. As I went to get some water, I saw that both Ryan and Manny were down 5-2 in their second sets. Although we only needed one of us to win in order to win the team match, we were all in tough battles.

I started off my third set strong, going up to a 3-0 lead. I noticed Ryan lost his second set as well, but Manny fought back to 5-4 and was playing well. I heard the parents clapping and saw him change the scorecards again: 6-5 in Manny's favor.

I held to go up 4-0, and Manny finished his match off, sealing the team victory. Although I knew our spot in the section final was safe, I still wanted to keep fighting for my own win. I talked to Ryan after the match, and he felt the same way. The USTA official even offered to Ryan to play a super-tiebreak a few games into the third, but we wanted to play the full third out.

I went into the changeover up 4-1, and Ryan got up to a 2-1 lead. I was able to close my match out, winning 6-1 in the third set. After thanking my group of friends that came to watch, we saw Ryan win his third set, 6-2.

Final score: Hopkins 6, Minneapolis South 1.

Wayzata took down Edina by a score of 5-2 today, so Wayzata will be our opponents in the section final tomorrow. Coach Novak told us not to celebrate too much, and be ready for tomorrow; we've worked all season for the opportunity we have tomorrow. We were able to beat Wayzata 4-3 earlier in the year, but it could have very easily gone the other way, and they'll be ready for tomorrow as well.

Until then,
Michael