Sophomore Emil Erickson arrived at yesterday’s tennis match against San Juan High School expecting to play the number-one boys’ singles match and be late to the baseball game, in which he was also expected to compete.
But San Juan’s team had only four competitors, leaving Country Day with two players to spare.
That’s an unusual situation for the Cavs, who often are short on players. In the end, San Juan had to forfeit one match. However, they won three of the four they played, resulting in an SCDS loss, 2-3.
According to coach Patricia Jacobsen, Erickson and his mother talked to the San Juan coach about the possibility of leaving early.
“The San Juan coach thought (Erickson) would win easily over his number-one guy, so they agreed to let (Erickson) go,” Jacobsen said.
So Erickson returned to Country Day to play in the baseball game. (Freshman Molly Gherini was the second SCDS team member without an opponent at the match.)
Junior Colby Conner, who had never before played a singles match, was left to take on San Juan’s number-one boy.
“When he finished, I asked him if he had fun,” Jacobsen said. “His response was, ‘That was the longest tennis match I’ve ever played!’ He played really, really well.”
Conner ended up losing the match (6-7, 6-2, 2-6) after going into a third set.
“Because I have always played doubles, it took me a while to get used to running backwards and forwards and up and down the court,” Conner said. “Even though I can aim the ball, I had to constantly remind myself that I couldn’t hit in the alleys.”
Senior Anna Wiley also played a singles match for the first time today. She took on San Juan’s number-two girls’ singles player.
Even though Wiley lost both sets (4-6, 6-7), she said she was happy with her play.
“It was a pretty even match,” she said. “Most of the time, whoever served won.
“It went a lot better than I expected.”
Sophomore Christian Van Vleck easily won his match against San Juan’s number-two boys’ singles player in two sets (6-1, 6-0).
Van Vleck attributes his success to consistency. “Our rallies were long, but I was just more consistent,” he said.
Senior Lara Kong, who played number-one girls’ singles, lost her match (3-6, 4-6).
