HUNTINGTON, Ind. — In Hollywood scriptwriting, the end result is in doubt all the way to the wire. The Crossroads League may be three time zones away from the glitz of Los Angeles, but the same was true Tuesday evening as the Maple Leafs needed all nine matches, including a three-set win from senior Michael Oyer in the final match, to secure a 5-4 men's tennis victory on the road against the Huntington Foresters.
The Leafs jumped out to a 2-1 lead after the doubles portion of the match, highlighted by the return of Balazs Pirot to the court, playing with Taylor Ermoian at no. 3 doubles for the first time since he retired due to injury in the team's season opener. The Leafs prevailed 8-4 in that match, with the other doubles point coming at no. 2, where Luis Perez and Vasanth Palanisamy broke their opponents's serve in consecutive service games en route to an 8-3 win.
"The team came out of doubles having played well with convincing wins at no. 2 and no. 3 doubles," said sixteenth-year Maple Leaf head coach Stan King. "Perez and Palanisamy played aggressive tennis at no. 2, and though Balazs' game is not yet up to his standard, it was very good to have him back in the lineup and showing few ill effects."
Huntington found their points at the top of the lineup, with no. 1 doubles pair Joseph Strazanicky and DIego Inurruteggi accounting for the remaining doubles point and two singles victories. Despite Goshen's lead duo, Jon Kaasa and Aritha Weerasinghe, not factoring into the team score, King was pleased with their progress nevertheless.
"Kaasa and Weerasinghe stayed on serve through the first seven games against a strong duo before losing 8-3," the coach explained. "And though they played very good tennis at times, they were not consistent enough to gain singles victories."
In addition to his aforementioned season comeback, Pirot pulled off another comeback at no. 3 singles to level the match. The junior took his first set at a comfortable 6-1 score, but then dropped his first two service games to open the second set and fell behind 0-4. But he broke back twice in the remaining eight games, including a win at 5-6 when his opponent served for the set, and nabbed seven of the eight tiebreak points to win the second set and the match 7-6(1).
That left Oyer at no. 6 singles. Facing the Foresters' Volodymyr Kohut, the senior went the distance, winning a three-set match 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to give Goshen its fifth team point. "Michael played his brand of steady, counter-punch tennis to perfection in frustrating his opponent," explained King.
The win raises the Maple Leafs' record to 4-4 on the season and 4-2 in Crossroads League play. "This was a great win for the team as it put a stop to a string of five consecutive losses to Huntington," said King, "and it keeps us in contention to host a conference tournament match."
The Leafs sit in fourth place, one game ahead of Huntington for the final first-round hosting slot, with two matches left for Goshen in the conference season. Goshen has a week off ahead of their next conference match, with seventh-place Taylor; their next match is a non-conference dual with Anderson, set for Anderson, Ind., at 1 p.m. Saturday afternoon.
