Fremd rewrites MSL West ending
Ken Goettsche had seen this movie before.
You know, the one where Fremd is on the brink of defeating long-time Mid-Suburban West rival Barrington - until the Broncos' doubles teams ride in at the end to help defeat the Vikings.
Not this time, though.
A new feature starring a couple of freshmen saved the day and helped the Vikings take a giant step toward a divisional title after an exciting 4-3 win Tuesday at Barrington.
The rookie duo of Ryosuke Miawaki and Mike Artov, trailing 3-1 in the third set, came back to win 6-4 to defeat Jim Deroche and Doug Nordli in the final match of the day and tag the home side with its first divisional loss.
"We just tried to go out and play and just stay focused," said Miawaki, who along with Artov seemed unfazed by the attention given to them just moments after their heroics.
"I have to be honest in saying that my stomach was beginning to turn and a case of nerves were beginning to come over me when I saw our 3-0 lead begin to disappear, all the while knowing that Barrington always has great doubles teams and that today could come down to the last match at 2 dubs," said Goettsche. "But to tell you the truth, if we were going to have count on anyone in the most important match of the day, it would have been those two guys because they are unflappable and they just go out there an hit."
That early lead Goettsche spoke of was acquired by a clean sweep at all three singles flights as Kenta Shimizu, Ryan Kreis and Matt Burkhardt went over the competition in straight sets at Nos. 1 through 3 and force the Broncos to do the same at doubles.
One-by-one, that nice cushion the Vikings' had built began to slowly evaporate until it became 3-3.
Joe Gasior and Kasiurak defeated Brian Cho and Arjun Puranik (6-2, 7-5) at No. 3 when the Broncos' broke their opponents in the final game of the second set. Minutes later teammates Connor Brownell and Ben Nuckles pulled their club closer with a straight-set victory at No. 4 over Adam and Tom Szmelter.
The Broncos' top team of David Martin and Cam McClelland drew the team even with a hard-fought 6-3, 7-5 victory against Ryan Owen Marsden and Nick Marowiecki.
"We had to really work at all of (those) matches to win," said Barrington coach John Roncone.
Miyawaki and Artov lost their opener in a tie-breaker (4) then sent the match into a final set after a 6-3 win.
"We never felt any pressure before that third set," said Artov.
Once there, it appeared from the onset that Barrington had found the magic it needed when the duo broke Miyawaki to take a 3-1 lead.
But the Vikings' pair fired back to win the next 3 games, and then in a marathon game No. 9 which went to deuce nine times, the Broncos made it 4-4.
The Vikings' took control for good by breaking Derouche, and Artov finished it off with an exceptional serving game.
"Today was a green day of tennis in the MSL West, and one that (we) are not very happy about," said Roncone. "But make no mistake, Fremd was clearly the better team today, and deserved the victory, and our hope (now) is to come back strong at the conference tournament in two weeks."