With four days off since his Columbus East team had last played tennis, Matt Malinsky was concerned about the Olympians being a little rusty going into Wednesday’s sectional opener against Hauser.
East, however, came out sharp against the Jets. The Olympians posted a 5-0 victory to advance to today’s Columbus North Sectional semifinal against Edinburgh.
“I was pretty happy with the way we played,” Malinsky said. “We had a couple of rainouts (Monday and Tuesday) and a weekend inbetween the last time we played, so it was nice to come out and be sharp relatively quickly. I was a little bit concerned about some rust, but I thought they played pretty well right off the bat.”
The Olympians (7-14) got 6-0, 6-0 wins from Pranav Kumar against Caleb Wallace at No. 1 singles and Emmit Romine against Noah Estes at No. 3 singles.
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“It felt good to get a win right off the bat this year,” Kumar said. “I’ve been a little inconsistent earlier in the season. But tonight, I was glad I was able to get out there and clean up really quickly.”
East’s Daniel Murphy beat Eli Miller 6-1, 6-4 at No. 2 singles.
“The first set was pretty good,” Murphy said. “The second set, (Miller) came out guns blazing. My groundstrokes weren’t working very well, but I found a way to win.”
At No. 1 doubles, the Olympians’ Matthew Degner and Derek Heideman topped Caleb Hoover and Levi Gollmer 6-2, 6-4. East’s Carlos Fernandez and Erik Takahashi defeated Carson Rose and Dawson Paul 6-1, 6-1 at No. 2 doubles.
Hoover and Gollmer, who were regional doubles qualifiers last year, battled back from a 5-2 second-set deficit to within 5-4, but Degner and Heideman closed it out.
“I wish we would have had the second set for the first set and started off like that,” Hauser coach Heather Miller said. “We had a little slow start.”
The Jets finish the season 3-9.
“Eli really wanted to play doubles this year, but stepped up and played singles all year for us, so he’s improved 1,000 percent from where he started, so we’re really proud of him,” Heather Miller said. “Tonight didn’t show it as much, but Noah Estes has improved game by game, set by set. Caleb Wallace is just a freshman, and he’s gotten a ton stronger and we expect a lot from him next year.”
The Olympians, meanwhile, reached their highest win total since going 9-6 in 2016.
“One of the goals this year was to have more wins last year,” Malinsky said. “My other goal was to have an overall winning record, and I think the ship has sailed on that a little bit. But I still think getting more wins than last year is a nice accomplishment for this team. I wanted to make sure we could maximize our potential with this being the last year for Pranav and Danny.”
No. 13 North will play Brown County in the other semifinal. Both semifinals begin at 4:30 p.m. today, and the final is at 4:30 p.m. Friday.
