Close calls make for great fall
There can be an equally fine line between a very successful or merely average season at the high school level, which an electronic device as simple as a calculator – or even a non-electronic device, like a person's fingers and toes – can figure out, by showing, for example, that 13 wins is better than 10.
The West Holmes tennis team proved that very point on Wednesday, Sept. 28, when the Lady Knights won by the slimmest of margins, 3-2 at Dover, sweeping their singles matches to pull out their third 3-2 victory of the year and wrap up the regular season at 13-2, rather than 10-5.
"I always want or expect 10 wins," explained ninth-year head coach Jason Otto, after watching Lady Knights number one singles player, and 2010 Division II State runner-up, Rachel Nelson improve to 21-0 on the year – including victories over State qualifiers My Lihn Li (Columbus DeSales) and Courtney Earnest (Lexington) – by disposing of Tornadoes top singles player Kacie Dryden, 6-1, 6-0. "But to go 13-2 – possibly even 15-2 if we didn't have rain outs – is pretty special. Obviously, the season went much better than expected."
A big reason for the better-than-expected performance in 2011 was the unexpected improvement of West Holmes junior Marki Hogle, who played junior varsity last year but worked hard enough over the off-season to become Otto's regular third – and occasional second – singles player.
Hogle beat third singles players from New Philadelphia and Mansfield St. Peter's while winning the West Holmes Invitational August 27, finished second at the Dover Invite Sept. 17, and wrapped up a 16-4 regular season Tuesday night, with a 6-4, 6-4 straight-sets victory over Meredith Moore of Dover.
"I never dreamed we would compete in the top two spots at the Dover Invite," said Otto, looking back on a season made all the more impressive by championship titles at the two invitationals the Lady Knights played in, as well as wins against two strong additions to the 2011 regular season schedule, including Akron Archbishop Hoban and Columbus St. Francis DeSales. "To win it was probably one of the best moments for me as a coach, along with getting to State."
West Holmes senior Miranda Huebner and junior Chelsea Black also finished as runners-up at the Dover Invite Sept. 17, losing to Dover's second doubles pairing of Hailey Rogers and Sierra Sandy 6-4, 6-2 in the championship match, before falling against the same duo Sept. 28, dropping a 6-1, 7-5 match to wrap up a 10-7 regular season together, and finish with a 12-7 record overall.
After reaching Districts as a number two doubles pairing a year ago, senior twin sisters Brittany Polen and Jenna Polen only teamed up occasionally in 2011, with Jenna Polen playing mostly at first doubles, alongside fellow 2010 District qualifier Hannah Frank, as the senior-junior combo wrapped up a 9-3 record on the first singles courts by dropping a 6-1, 7-5 decision against Dover's top pairing of Jillian Brown and Cortney Kourie.
But Brittany Polen picked up her sister and the rest of her teammates by securing the 3-2 regular-season-ending victory over Dover with a 6-2, 6-4 second singles win over Marquette Hovan, capping a 6-6 season in the number two slot, while also improving to 10-8 overall.
"Most of our matches were won 4-1 or 5-0, so that's impressive," said Otto, who also saw up-and-coming sophomores Morgan Wagers and Savannah Yoder string together a 5-0 record, playing second doubles on a part-time basis. "But we also had a few close 3-2 matches – against DeSales, Wooster, Ashland and now Dover – and we won three out of four."
Winning those three matches was the difference between finishing 13-2, versus 10-5, for the Lady Knights, and also helped propel West Holmes to a 5-2 record in the Ohio Cardinal Conference (OCC) – thanks to the victory over Ashland.
But in a finish as close as a ball on the line, the only 3-2 match West Holmes dropped throughout the 2011 campaign was at Wooster Sept. 6, when Hogle lost her third singles match by a single point against Ally Bucher, in a third set tie-breaker, while Huebner and Black also lost by one point against the Lady Generals second singles pairing of Allie Vanata and Maggie Guttman.
"I look and I realize we were only two points away from being 14-1, because we were that close to Wooster," said Otto, whose team also would have finished 6-1 in the OCC had those two points swung the other way against the Lady Generals.
There is no piece of electronic equipment that could possibly distinguish between the talent levels of West Holmes and Wooster at this point, after the Lady Generals finished their regular season at 12-3.
But, the Lady Knights will have the opportunity to battle it out with Wooster at the OCC Tournament, Saturday, Oct. 1, down in Lexington, hoping to wrap up second place in the conference, while also dreaming about unseating the host school as eight-time defending conference champions.
Who knows?
A close call here or there could swing things in the Lady Knights favor.