Singles play has been the strength of the Hubs varsity tennis team this season, but it was the doubles group that shined during a nonconference competition against the Rockford Lutheran Crusaders at Rochelle Township High School Wednesday afternoon.
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ROCHELLE — Singles play has been the strength of the Hubs varsity tennis team this season, but it was the doubles group that shined during a nonconference competition against the Rockford Lutheran Crusaders at Rochelle Township High School Wednesday afternoon.
After falling to the Freeport Pretzels on Tuesday, the Hubs took Wednesday’s match by a score of 4-1, with all three doubles teams picking up victories along the way. Headlining the action was the No. 1 doubles pair of sophomores Juan Montemayor and Hector Garcia, who took down Lane Kleber and Florian Courtrier of Rockford Lutheran by a score of 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.
“It was great to get a victory today,” head coach Kristy Eckardt said. “We’ve had a lot of close matches we couldn’t come out on top of, but today we had a chance to win and every match was a close match. To be able to win our last two doubles matches and close it out at the end was a big deal for us.”
The Hubs’ No. 2 doubles team of senior Bryan Garcia and sophomore Chris Jones defeated Jin Choi and James Gates by a score of 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, while juniors Tyler Nalley and Ozzy Fulgencio (Rochelle’s No. 3 doubles team) won by a score of 6-3, 6-4. While the lineup hasn’t been the same since the start of the season, all of Rochelle’s doubles players have made significant strides, Eckardt said.
“Juan and Hector have been thrown into No. 1 doubles due to some injuries and illnesses so it good to see them battle through and get a win today,” she said. “Bryan’s our only senior and he’s been out a little bit to an illness, so to get him back today was big as well. Ozzy and Tyler are always fighting and putting together good points.”
In singles, junior Noah Griffith bounced back after a tough three-set victory on Tuesday against Freeport to beat Rockford Lutheran’s No. 1 singles play Owen Horst by a score of 6-2, 6-2. Griffith lost his first set on Tuesday to Freeport’s Nick Fritz, but battled through a close second set and emerged on top in the end by a final score of 2-6, 7-6 (1), 6-1.
Junior Kevin Zheng rounded out the Rochelle varsity squad on Wednesday, falling to Zach Montgomery 1-6, 3-6. The Hubs improve to 3-6 overall with the victory.
