Boys tennis: Win in final match lifts Ottawa over L-P 3-2

LA SALLE – Moments after the second to last match ended on the courts at the LPHS Sports Complex on Tuesday afternoon, Ottawa boys tennis coach Matt Gross had a message for his last remaining group still competing.

With Ottawa and La Salle-Peru holding two victories in hand, Gross passed along the news to his No. 2 doubles pairing of seniors Landen Thorsen and Ethan Cela that their match would be the deciding factor.

“Coming back to win the second set gave us a lift for sure. We didn’t play our best at the start of the match, but we were able to make some adjustments and started to play the way we are capable in the final two sets.”

—  Ottawa's Landen Thorsen after he teamed with Ethan Cela to win at No. 2 doubles over L-P

“To be honest, it really didn’t affect me either way other than maybe help me focus a little more,” Thorsen said. “At the time, I think we were up in the third set, so it was just a matter of us doing what we’d been doing and close it out.”

Thorsen and Cela did just that in a 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 win over L-P’s Danny Santoy and Michael Peters to lift Ottawa to a 3-2 Interstate 8 Conference victory.

“Coming back to win the second set gave us a lift for sure,” Thorsen said. “We didn’t play our best at the start of the match, but we were able to make some adjustments and started to play the way we are capable in the final two sets.”

Cela said playing more conservative after the opening set with a strong west wind affecting play was the key.

“We started off very slow today and really didn’t play well in the first set,” Cela said. “We talked about some things we needed to start doing better before the second set and we were able to do that. The main thing was control. We hit so many easy shots out of bounds in the first set because of the wind, so we talked about keeping things simple and trying to focus our shots on the middle of the court instead of the lines.”

The Pirates also received victories from a battle of brothers as the No. 1 duo of Noah Gross and Adam Gross held off the Cavaliers’ Jon Milota and Michael Milota, 6-2, 3-6, 7-5. Ottawa’s Rylan Salas and Alan Sifuentes topped L-P’s Colin Krug and Riley O’Brien 6-4, 6-4 at No. 3 doubles.

L-P swept the pair of singles matchups as Andrew Bollis, who is normally part of a doubles team, defeated Sebastian Cabrera 6-3, 6-2 at No. 1, while Adam Kasperski earned a 6-0, 6-3 triumph over Trevor Mortenson 6-0, 6-3.

“I was playing singles today more less as a strategy for us to hopefully win the dual,” Bollis said. “With playing singles, you have to be more consistent, more mentally focused with not having a teammate to pick up any slack you might have, and just cover more space on the court.

“I was really trying to hit the ball to his backhand as much as possible. It seemed like (Cabrera) was returning everything, so I just had to stay positive. With the wind the way it was today it was important to keep things simple and not take too many chances. I feel like I did those things and it worked out for me.”

Despite the overall outcome, L-P coach Aaron Guenther was happy with his team’s efforts, and felt they did an excellent job of maintaining composure in some tight matches.

“The Milotas normally play at No. 2 doubles, but today they stepped up and played really well against one of the top teams in our conference.” Guenther said. “Our other two doubles teams also played pretty solid matches but just came up short. Andrew moved to singles today, and along with Adam, both had good matches to give us a chance for the dual win.

“Every match today was competitive, and I feel like if we played again tomorrow the outcomes could easily switch from what they were today. Although we came up short as far as a team win goes, being in tight matches across the board like we were today was a good situation for us to be in. Hopefully we can build off some things from today moving on.”

Both teams are scheduled to play Wednesday at the Geneseo Quadrangular.