CHARLESTON — A young representation of the Morgantown Mohigan tennis teams gave it their best efforts but fell to the more experienced players in two of their finals matches at the Class AAA Finals of the WVSSAC State Tennis Tournament. However, they had one champion to be proud of on yet another sunny day here on a Saturday at Schoenboem Tennis Courts.
Sophomore Wyatt Abbitt persevered over a grueling four and a half hour match to win 7-6, 10-8, 3-6, and 6-2 over Hurricane senior Domenick Hoh to win the Boys No. 4 Singles Championship.
A very athletic Abbitt used his consistent and steady game to outlast Hoh, who was somewhat slowed by leg cramps throughout the match. “I could not have done it without the parents and the coaches,” said Abbitt, who was playing in his first year.
Freshman Maddie Carver came into her match with senior Jana Zatar from George Washington High School undefeated on the season. She matched the footwork and even gained momentum in the second set but was unable to stay positioned as Zatar’s angled shots kept her away from center and unable to return her opponent’s drives down the lines.
“I just tried to play the way I know how to play and get the ball back and not make any mistakes,” said Carver. “She used a lot of angle shots and they are definitely hard to get to but if you start running toward them you can get there. But if they were really low, I didn’t have a chance to get to them.”
“That girl was really aggressive. She is a senior and has been there before. She lost last year to Sam (Carver’ older sister),” said coach Ted Greenlee. “Every time Maddie had a short ball, it was angled. Even on drop shots, which are Maddie’s best shots, she was angling to the other side of the court. Maddie did well but that girl had an answer for everything Maddie would try. But Maddie did well.”
Carver found momentum in the second set going up 2-1, but Zatar stepped up her aggressiveness rallying for the 6-3 set and match win.
Abbitt came back in the afternoon to play in the doubles match with teammate and fellow sophomore Steven Tian but with a little less success as they fell to Hurricane’s Pauley and Kave 6-1, 6-4. “For me, when playing in this heat you get kind of used to it after playing in it for two days,” said Tian when asked about the conditions.
“If we had just kept the ball in more because they were not playing us that tough,” added Abbitt.
As the match began the Redskins team used a successful combination of finesse, drop shots and power smashing drives to the back of the court. It also became clear that the arms of Abbitt, and in general the Mohigan duo, were getting slightly weary after nearly seven hours of intense play.
“We are a very young team and our players have learned a lot from this experience,” said Mohigan coach Ashok Aggarwal. “We’re really excited about coming back next year. We’re just going to learn and get better and be back next time better than ever.”
by Joey Johnson
