Girls Down Bengals 11-7, Boys Match Ends in 9-9 Tie
For the first time in five years Faith traveled to Bonanza to take on the Bengals in a renewal of a rivalry that had some great matches in our previous 4A days. This was no different as there were close sets all around, and the Boys ended up in a 9-9 tie as the team tiebreaker could not be played due to darkness, while the Girls won 11-7.
This was the regular season finale for both teams, and the playoff seeding was set for both Faith teams, as regardless of this result the Girls would host Bonanza in the opening round of the playoffs while the Boys would host Desert Oasis. With the above in mind, we tried some things to get folks some experience in other settings, and help decide on the playoff lineup.
For the Girls, that meant that Jade played the first HS doubles of her Faith career, while Courtney and Chloe moved to play singles. Bonanza has three solid singles players, so Courtney and Chloe were making a big step, but it would prove to be an important one. Faith led 4-2 after the first round, with Kennedy getting a big win at singles and the teams of Jade/Elyse, Summer/Kelsie and Megan/Sarah getting wins. Kennedy, Summer/Kelsie and Megan/Sarah won second round matches as well, as did the Ashley/Vittoria duo. THIS WOULD END UP BEING THE FINAL MATCH OF VITTORIA'S FAITH TENNIS CAREER, AND WE WERE THRILLED TO BE ABLE TO SEND HER OUT A WINNER!
The third round saw Kennedy complete a dominating 3-0 day as she dropped just two games in three matches, Jade/Elyse got another win, and the combo of Isabelle/Ireland also notched a win. Courtney played her second great match of the day, and Chloe also did well, gaining confidence and winning several points with aces or service winners, a great sign against quality competition. With the win the Girls ended the regular season with a 13-3 record and the #4 seed in the playoffs.
We made even more changes to the Boys lineup, as Jonah and Sam played doubles together while Liam and Juno moved up to play singles. The match was tied at three after one round, with the Crusader wins coming from Max, Ryan/Mike, Blake/Taylor. Juno played extremely well, dropping a 4-6 decision to a Bengal Senior. It was tied again (6-6) after the second round, with Max getting another win, Mike/Ryan doing the same, and Jonah/Sam getting the other Crusader point.
Then things got very interesting. Ryan/Mike completed a 3-0 day to sneak Faith ahead 7-6 but BHS quickly answered to tie it at 7 each. Taylor/Blake posted a win to make it 8-7, but Bonanza tied it at 8, leaving Max and Liam on the court to decide the outcome. Liam had gone on first, and since his match was closer to conclusion most of the eyes were on him. Trailing 4-5 and facing a match point, somehow Liam chased down what looked to all like it would be an outright winner from his Bonanza foe. Liam not only got to the ball, he hit a winner to stave off the match point, then proceeded to not only win that game to make it 5-5, but he won the next two games to win the match, assure at least a tie(breaker) and put Faith ahead 9-8. Meanwhile, Max was in a battle against the best Bengal boy, and it was getting late and very, very hard to see. Both teams gathered on the courts to watch this southpaw showdown, and despite Max making a valiant comeback to force a tiebreaker, Bonanza was able to capture the match and force a tie, 9-9.
Once confirmed that Bonanza could not improve its playoff seeding, regardless of the outcome of the team tiebreaker, it was determined that the match would end in a tie, a first for Faith Lutheran Tennis! Not sure what we would have done if we would have had to play it, as it was impossible to see the ball. With the result the Boys finished the season 11-4-1, good for fourth place in the league, and that gave us the right to - for the first time in our 4A history - host a playoff match.
