ELIZABETHTOWN — As the season nears its midpoint, confidence is growing for the East Bladen boys tennis team.
Stung by two tough defeats already, the Eagles posted a third shutout in Three Rivers Conference play Monday, beating rival West Bladen 9-0. The second consecutive win for head coach Terry Smith’s squad was punctuated by junior Jay McGill’s comeback against well-regarded senior Jose Hernandez Osorio at No. 1 singles.
“He did a great job,” Smith said of McGill’s 3-6, 6-4, (10-8) triumph. “He’s a good kid, works hard. That’s a big win for him.”
Osorio is regarded as one of the Three Rivers’ best, with a powerful first serve and the ability to volley at the net. West Bladen head coach Billy Bryant said McGill made pivotal adjustments in the match.
“When he started, he was trying to swing at it,” Bryant said. “And at the end, he was blocking it back. That’s what I tell my guys to do, when you have a good server on the other side. He made the adjustment to figure that out.”
And McGill, an accomplished soccer midfielder who scored nine goals and assisted six others in the fall, stayed resilient in addition to respecting Osorio’s big weapon.
“Jay hustled, and hustle can win you a lot of points,” Bryant said in praise. “Jose, his serving, he had a lot of serving errors. If he’s on, he’s great, and if he’s not, he struggles. He had three games where he was up 40-love and lost. And another game he was up love-40 with Jay serving, and he lost. And that came back to haunt him.”
After splitting sets, the tie-breaker reached a final deadlock at 8.
Smith said the confidence boost for McGill should be good. With matches against two of the league’s other top players this week – at Whiteville on Wednesday, home against South Columbus on Thursday – it certainly won’t hurt.
“It was back and forth,” Smith said. “Jay has played really good this year. He lost a tough match earlier against St. Pauls. I imagine for Jay, the experience of that tie-break in that one, helped him for this one.”
At Nos. 2-6 singles, respectively, sophomore Jackson Bostic defeated junior Logan Lewis 6-2, 6-1; junior Jake Evans bested Victor Arellano 6-3, 6-2; sophomore Will Hester turned back senior Eduardo Carranza 6-3, 6-2; junior Colin Hill won over Mark Flores 6-1, 6-4; and sophomore Garrett Melvin clipped sophomore Dylan Dove 6-3, 7-5.
In doubles, McGill-Evans defeated Osorio-Carranza 8-5, Bostic-Hester bettered Lewis-Arellano 8-5 and sophomore Hoytt Register-freshman Latham Waters defeated Flores-Dove 8-3.
Bostic said he was challenged by Lewis hitting a lot of deep shots to the baseline.
“I got in on his backhand, and made him hit it short so I could hit it deep,” Bostic said. “I was trying to get to the net every play.”
He praised his opponent’s consistency, a trait he says is on his goal list.
“My serves needs to get better,” Bostic said. “I’ve got to be more consistent.”
Evans, like all of the players, dealt with a wind that played a role across both court complexes.
“At the end, the wind was in my favor,” he said.
He remained undefeated at No. 3 singles, weathering the challenge of an opponent who kept him at the baseline.
“My topspin, I need to work on that to beat better people,” he said.
Bryant also came away with knowledge for the remainder of the season.
“One thing, all of them, serving seems to be their worst enemy,” he said. “Double faults, and they get to thinking about it. My doubles, I’ve got to concentrate more on doubles. They get lost in what they’re supposed to be doing. Doubles is a team effort. Most of the time, it’s not the best players, but the best team. I see some things there I’ll have to concentrate on.”
Smith, meanwhile, is braced for two more tough tasks this week.
“We’re a lot better than we were last year,” he said. “I’ve got a lot of sophomores. Jay and Jake are juniors. No seniors. I returned everybody. We lost our one seed, and Jay played the two. So basically, everybody came back. And we picked up Jake Evans, who played baseball last year.
“You’re in midseason form. This is basically midway. This is where we should be, kind of at your peak.”
Senior Jose Hernandez Osorio of West Bladen is among the top players in the Three Rivers Conference. Monday, he was defeated by East Bladen junior Jay McGill 3-6, 6-4, (10-8).
Junior Jay McGill, of East Bladen, upset West Bladen senior Jose Hernandez Osorio at No. 1 singles on Monday. The score was 3-6, 6-4, (10-8).