Waynesville Tennis took a rough Spring Break loss to Rolla tonight, 2-7.  Missing our #3 seed, David Sneed, our bottom Varsity squad was pulled up at least one spot higher than they would normally play, with Bryan Hudson (sr.) having to play 3 spots higher at #6.  This put us at a great disadvantage from the start.  Beginning the night with doubles, the Tigers were skunked 0-3.  It just took us way too long to get warmed up and moving tonight.  That just can’t happen if we’re going to have a successful season.  Fortunately, the boys picked it up and had much more success in Singles.  Wins tonight came from #1 Steven Berrios (sr.) and #2 Tyler Gayman (so.).  Steven led his opponent for the whole match, only giving up 4 games.  Tyler, on the other hand, played a long match.  Coming from behind, Tyler was down by only one game the entire match, finally pulling ahead in the end and winning in a long deuce battle, 6-8.  The last point of his match probably lasted 2 minutes in itself.  Tyler played with consistency and let his opponent make the most mistakes in the end.  Tyler, playing the #10 seed last year, has worked so hard in the off-season.  I’ve been so impressed with his progress, jumping all the way up to #2 this year.  Tyler has been on the courts every time I had the gate open this off-season.  He’s worked so hard.  His dedication just goes to show how important the off-season really is.  Other close matches tonight were played on courts 4 and 5.  Cameron Martell (jr.) just barely lost 6-8 and Eromo Aligbe (jr.) lost in a tiebreaker 8-9 (6-8).  The boys have the rest of Spring Break off with three matches being played next week.  The boys will take the road to Lebanon on Monday before having two home matches Tuesday and Thursday. 

Singles

Steven Berrios vs. Nicholas Roshan, 8-4

Tyler Gayman vs. Andrew Jones, 8-6

Derick Anglin vs. Pranal Madria, 2-8

Cameron Martell vs. Ethan Walker, 6-8

Eromo Aligbe vs. Haris Zahoor, 8-9 (6-8)

Bryan Hudson vs. Joel Schott, 4-8

Doubles

Berrios/Anglin vs. Roshan/Jones, 5-8

Gayman/Martell vs. Madria/Walker, 4-8

Aligbe/Hudson vs. Riedle/Wilsdorf, 2-8