Doubles your pleasure at tennis tournament
Wootton boys, Whitman girls win state titles
Talk about pressure.
The state title was not the only thing on the line for top-seeded Wootton freshmen Alex Hahn and Mateo Cevallos in Saturday's boys doubles final against Whitman duo Pablo Gottret and Aaron Hoffman at the University of Maryland-College Park.
The Patriots' three-set win also sealed two perfect seasons: Hahn and Cevallos went undefeated en route to county titles at Nos. 3 and 4 singles and won the Region II title to earn the No. 1 seed at states.
"We knew the pressure was on us not to lose," Cevallos said. "But we just played like it was a practice match and enjoyed it. It's pretty big to come in as freshmen and win the division, county, regional and state titles. To not lose a match all season really means a lot."
Tennis-rich Montgomery County has won four of five possible state titles each of the past two years and 15 of 20 over the last four. But Hahn and Cevallos' win was one of just two victories this year.
Whitman's Sarah Macy and Nicky Gottret took the girls doubles title with a straight-set win over Walter Johnson's Sarah Bernstein and Sarah Andrews. Macy won the mixed doubles title the previous two years with Pablo Gottret (2008) and Aaron Hoffman (2009).
"I wanted something different, a new challenge, something new to work for and I thought it would be fun to play with Nicky," Macy said. "I feel like mixed teams are not always evenly matched, usually the guy is a lot stronger. But in women's there's usually not one weaker player and I think it's harder to play against teams where both players are really good."
Wootton's boys No. 1 singles player and this year's county champion, Anton Kovrigin, was away playing a U.S. Tennis Association national competition. The county runner-up and regional winner, Blair's Dukyoung Park, carried the torch all the way to the final before falling to second-seeded Michael Razumovsky of Pikesville (Baltimore).
Wootton's No. 2 singles player, Eiichiro Okuyama, finished fourth. He fell to Razumovsky in the semifinals and to the tournament's No. 1 seed, John Healey (Atholton), in three sets in the consolation round.
Roosevelt's Katelyn Stokes won her third girls state singles title. Churchill junior Lauren Pinsky took third place.
The county has won six of the last seven mixed doubles titles but was not represented in the final Saturday. Whitman's Christina Davis and Michael Kader earned third place with a consolation win over Walter Johnson's Arielle Hartz and William Schmidt.
Hahn, Cevallos, Macy and Gottret are all primarily singles players. The doubles approach is quite different as it requires teamwork, communication and more aggressive play, especially at the net.
All four made the proper adjustments Saturday.
Both teams in the final had a left-handed and right-handed player. Hahn and Gottret are both southpaws and played the ad side. While some teams prefer to have both forehands in the middle, the two teams were able to take away some of their opponents' angles that way.
"[Mateo's and my] game go well together," Hahn said. "When I serve and because I have a lot of spin, returns weren't hit that hard and Mateo is good at net and his volleys were really good. So that was a good combination for us."
All four champions, as well as Okuyama, Pinsky, Andrews and Bernstein, will return next year and look to make more noise at the state level.
"I thought the county teams were really strong this year," Nicky Gottret said. "We all kind of know each other and are friendly with the other schools, so that was nice."