Carted the camera out for the first two matches of the day….didn’t take one picture. Just enjoyed the second to last day of high school competitive tennis that I will ever see.
Regionals, like last year, are hosted by East Lansing. Since EL only has 8 courts, they ship all of the doubles and 4 singles to Okemos for the first two rounds. And I didn’t realize this until much later, but that means that Kevin’s final two matches at home were yesterday in the first and second rounds.
And that boy saved the best for last. Very happy he went out like he did.
Quarterfinals: We are the #2 seed, and have St. Johns in the first round. They are some big kids, and they have a very very hard first serve. But, they can’t get it in most of the time and they aren’t very good. Kevin and Adham put up the double bagel, 6-0, 6-0.
I’m glad Suzanne also got to come see these last two games….Kevin’s serves were the best I’ve ever seen them. Several times the points just went 15-0, 30-, 40-0, game. Four serves, mostly no returns, and then the balls are being tossed back over the net for St. Johns to have their service game.
Got a good laugh with Suzanne at Kevin’s play at the front of the net….the boy has never had an overhand smash that is worth a darn and you could just see him struggle with it. He is always better just placing the ball where he wants instead of trying to kill it.
But great ground stokes, nice volleys…the whole package today.
Semifinals: Against EL…..we had beaten them in 3 sets both times we faced them this year. And it starts out tough; it’s 3-2 us in the middle of the first set.
That is as close as they got. Kevin/Adham win 6-2, 6-1.
If that was his last match at home (and it was)…well, damned proud of that kid. Played his finest tennis of the year in the most important match of the year. Just got it done….and dragged his partner along with him (Adham played ok, not great, and had some seriously sketchy moments against St. Johns, including one sequence where he served the ball over the fence!)
Finals: Playing over in EL…..they lost 6-0, 6-0 to Dow. Would be shocked if Dow doesn’t win states as a team and in this flight. Didn’t see very much of this, so, am happy that my memories of the day are dominated by the first two matches.
