Columbus North’s chances at a 5-0 sweep against Greenwood Wednesday weren’t looking good when Kevin Lin fell behind 5-1 in the first set at No. 1 singles.
But Lin rallied to win six consecutive games to take the first set, then jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the second set in a 7-5, 6-4 victory against Ethan Gray. Combined with wins at the other four positions, that gave the 15th-ranked Bull Dogs the shutout.
"I had a slow start," Lin said. "My feet weren’t moving as quickly as I would like. I just started focusing on my fundamentals, not thinking too much about it, and the ball just started going where I wanted to go."
North (7-3) used a quick win from its No. 2 doubles team to take an early lead. Joey Zhao and Matthew Liu blanked Shane Paswater and Sam Fenner 6-0, 6-0.
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Adam Saad and Nathan Lin then downed Ben Sobierat and Charlie Brooks 6-1, 6-4 at No. 1 doubles to give the Bull Dogs a 2-0 lead.
"This was a nice match for us," North coach Kendal Hammel said. "Greenwood is really a pretty good team. Their doubles were maybe not as strong as they’ve had in past years, but their 1 and 2 singles for sure, and even at 1 doubles, they competed pretty well, so it was some nice wins for some of our guys."
The Bull Dogs’ clinched the match when Bhavey Jain finished off a 6-4, 6-0 win against Jacob Bothaar at No. 2 singles. Eamon Ma beat Aiden Luttrell 6-3, 6-4 at No. 3 singles.
"Bhavey had a huge match tonight. He had a tough opponent," Hammel said. "Then Eamon, that’s his first varsity match that he’s actually played really well. I was really pleased to see that effort from him at 3 singles."
By the time those matches were completed, the No. 1 singles players had just begun their second set. Kevin Lin jumped out to 4-1 and 5-2 leads in that set before Gray came back to within 5-4.
But Kevin Lin, who had fought off multiple set points in the first set, pulled through to finish off the match.
"I’m confident in myself and the team," Kevin Lin said. "We’re hoping we can finally make it past regional, and then hopefully state is the goal."
