Josh Miller was confused as to why his teammates were carrying him off the court following his three-set win at No. 3 singles Wednesday.
The Brown County freshman thought his team was behind 3-1 against Columbus East in the first round of the boys tennis Columbus North Sectional. In reality, the match had been tied 2-2, and Miller’s victory gave the Eagles the 3-2 win.
"Honestly, I thought we were losing, so I had no pressure at all," Miller said. "I had no idea that it was on me. I probably would have been a little more nervous."
East’s Pranav Kumar fought off seven match points against Miller. Three of those came after he trailed 5-4, 40-0 in the third set.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery
But Miller bounced back to go up 6-5 and then finished the next game to claim a 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 win.
"I really felt like he had a good chance right there to pull it out," East coach Matt Malinsky said. "You have to give credit to Josh. He blew a lot of match points, and he could have easily crumbled mentally and just gave up and succumbed to the pressure. But every time he got down and gave up those match points and lost a game, he would come right back out and play a really good, aggressive game."
The Olympians (6-10) scored the first point of the match when JT Kuhlman and Jalen Pleak beat Aidan Burt and Nolan Patterson 6-1, 6-0 at No. 1 doubles.
Brown County (8-7) took a 2-1 lead after Aaron McCann beat Luke Miller 6-1, 6-1 at No. 1 singles, and Chase Watson topped Jackson Stevens 6-2, 6-1 at No. 2 singles. McCann’s win was the lone reversal from the teams’ regular-season meeting, which East won 3-2.
"At the beginning of the season, I was more focused on power and placement, and I should have been more focused on placement just in general, and I think I was able to just place my shots really well and was able to get it past him and have him make his mistakes," McCann said. "That’s the best way I play. Whenever I’m conservative, I just play my game."
Brown County coach Kevin Roush said McCann is playing at the top of his game.
"He’s playing probably the best tennis I’ve seen him play," Roush said. "In the last three matches, he’s been spot-on solid. So that was a big kick for us, him turning it around."
The Olympians tied the match when Nathan Hatchett and Derek Heideman beat Spencer Blee and Noah Cochran 6-1, 6-3 at No. 2 doubles.
Kuhlman and Pleak, meanwhile, will advance in the individual doubles tournament by virtue of their win at No. 1 doubles.
"They really came out firing at doubles," Malinsky said. "No. 2 doubles was a really tight match the first time around, and they just came out and played great, and they were able to ride it until the end. That was an awesome performance from our doubles there."
The Eagles move on to play Hauser in today’s semifinals. The teams were twice rained out of their regular-season matchup.
No. 14 Columbus North will play Edinburgh in the other semifinal. The sectional final will be on Friday.
"I keep telling them, you have to find a way to win those 50-50 matches, and that’s what this one was," Roush said. "We gutted out a three-set win with Josh."
