CHARLESTON — As dominant has University High’s Andre Barcinas was in Friday’s semifinal of the state tennis tournament against Washington’s Michael Barr, it didn’t look like Barcinas was even going to have a chance to make the semis during his quarterfinals match Thursday.
After earning a bye in the first round, Barcinas took on Huntington’s Luke Lovejoy, and it appeared Barcinas’ tournament was going to be a short one.
Instead, Barcinas will go for his first state championship today at the Kanawha City Community Center.
While the semis and finals are best two of three sets, the first two rounds are only one set, so when Barcinas was down 7-4, hope for a state championship was quickly fading.
“I was just trying my hardest not to panic and keep my cool,” he said of his match against Lovejoy. “I knew I was going to have to fight for the win and stay out there as long as I needed to. On the 7-4 switchover, it was my dad asking me if I am going to lay down and give up or fight and bring home the win.
“I decided the only obvious answer, which was to come back and win.”
Barcinas’ father, Gary, is the girls’ head coach for the Hawks, so he’s been at every match this season. Not only during high school, but Gary has been in Andre’s corner since he started playing tennis.
He’ll be in his corner again today when Andre takes on George Washington’s Nadeem Jones in the championship match.
“I know he is a very tough opponent and if I want to win, I need to grind out everything I have out on the court,” Barcinas said. “He is a very talented player that is one of the best in the state.”
Barcinas was not the only Hawk to reach a state championship match. No. 4 singles Jameson Walters beat Hedgesville’s Joey Arndt 6-0, 6-0.
No. 1 singles Kyle Hawthorne lost to Parkersburg’s Jacob Boone 6-1, 7-5 in the semifinals. No. 3 singles Tommy McClelland also reached the semis, but lost to Parkersburg’s Nick McBride 6-1, 6-0.
No. 2 doubles McClelland and Walters fell 6-4, 6-3 in a thriller during their semifinals match. With the momentum in the final set, the lights went out during the match and when they came back on, the Hawks duo lost momentum.
Overall, UHS is still in the hunt for a boys’ state championship and coach Tom McClelland believes morale is still high heading into today’s state title matches.
“I’m just so proud of our team,” he said. “I couldn’t have asked for a more complete performance by the whole team.”
On the girls’ side, No. 3 singles Deah Gharib fell to George Washington’s Jana Zatar 6-2, 6-1, in the semifinals. No. 2 doubles Grace Valenzuela and Taylor Dalton lost to George Washington 6-4, 6-0.
