Double vision leads to lights out for West Holmes doubles team
By Bill Houston
May 21, 2011
344
Its hard to play tennis when youre seeing double, and thats exactly what West Holmes senior Brendan Lynch and sophomore Danny Nelson were seeing at the Division II East and Southeast Combined District Tournament on the campus of Ohio University in Athens, on Saturday, May 21, as they faced back-to-back pairs of twin brothers, becoming dazed and confused in their State qualifying match and falling short in their quest to become the first ever boys players from Holmes County to reach the State tournament.
In the quarterfinal round against the all-senior pairing of Craig Miller and Taylor Huff of Minford High School, Lynch and Nelson continued a stretch that started with their final two matches of the regular season and which West Holmes eighth-year head coach Jason Otto called, the best theyve played in the two years theyve played together, cruising easily to a 6-0, 6-0 straight-sets victory and advancing to the semifinal round.
But having dropped out of Districts in round two a year ago, Lynch and Nelson took their game to an even higher level in their semifinal match against the twin brother combo of seniors Zac and Isaiah Carson of Miami Trace.
The second match, they played the best tennis theyve ever played in their lives, said Otto after watching the Knights duo pound out a 6-2, 6-0 win over Carson and Carson, as Nelson attacked with his forehand and Lynch returned everything he could reach.
That dominating victory set up a rematch with another set of twins in the State qualifying match as Lynch and Nelson became reacquainted with sophomore brothers, and 2010 State qualifiers, Cody and Connor Engstrom of Cambridge who beat them in a three-set heartbreaker during Sectional seeding matches a year ago.
With his top two players playing at the very top of their game, Otto explained, The last two matches Danny and Brendan played together, and their first two District matches, they were both on. Thats what we need to beat the twins [Engstrom and Engstrom]. They both need to be on.
But instead they were on again, off again against the Bobcats top pairing.
Danny was on in the first set, Brendan was a little off, explained Otto after watching the Knights duo drop their first set against the Engstrom brothers 4-6. And in the second set, Danny was off and Brendan was on.
And that was enough to flip the off switch permanently on Lynch and Nelson as they were dumped 2-6 in the second set, bringing their season to a close and capping the high school playing career of Lynch.
I think they could have won the match and they probably should have won the match, said Otto afterward. I honestly thought we dictated the whole match but lost because of unforced errors. Theres nothing the twins did that beat us.
There were four volleys or overhands in the first set that Brendan missed that he would not miss 95 percent of the time. The last game of that set was 4-5 and Danny had three horrible, horrible shots and then in that second set he just started missing his forehand like crazy.
Despite watching the Knights put together their best season since 2008 by compiling 11 wins and finishing fourth in the Ohio Cardinal Conference standings, Otto said that failing to get Lynch to State as a senior was one of the most disappointing parts of the 2011 campaign, on par with the Knights unexpected regular season loss to OCC rival Orrville.
Im really, really disappointed for Brendan, said Otto. He really believed this was going to be the year and he really wanted to be one of the first guys from West Holmes and Holmes County to get to State.
Instead, that honor will go to Hiland senior Brad Mullet who qualified as a singles player out of Athens.
But with two more years left in his playing career, Nelson may have his sights set on becoming the second boys player from Holmes County to compete for a State title.
As Otto explained, If I were him, Id be thinking, As a freshman I won a round at Districts and as a sophomore I was in the qualifying match at Districts. So its all positive for him, he has something to build on.
And having watched his twin sister, Rachel Nelson, finish as the State runner-up this past fall, Danny Nelson would probably like nothing more than for those following both the girls and boys State tournaments next year to be seeing double.
