It’d be hard to even find, mathematically, a team with more state tournament experience than Western’s boys tennis team.
“It was a tremendous help,” said Western’s first-year coach Andrew Wymer. “This is their fourth straight trip to state championship. They were nervous, but at the same time they’ve been there and they understand the ups and down.”
They rode those ups and downs to another Group AA boys tennis title with a 5-3 win over E.C. Glass at the Virginia Tech Tennis Center, the squad’s fourth in six years and bookend titles for the Warriors’ senior class. Western’s group of seniors has been to four state championship finals and is one of the most accomplished classes in state history.
The Warriors got it done with a pair of wins in doubles after splitting the singles 3-3 with Glass. But the momentum for those late wins was forged during singles.
State individual champion Cam Scot got an easy win at No.1, winning 6-3, 6-1.
“Cam played very well today, he played some his best tennis all year today,” Wymer said. “He came up big in singles and got us rolling.”
Scot kept it going, combining with Will Diamond for a win at No. 1 doubles 6-3, 6-3.
Timmy O’Shea and Tom Lewis won at the fifth and sixth slots to get the 3-3 split. That combination has been potent for Western all year, a product of their immense depth. O’Shea, the lone junior in the Warriors’ ladder, went on to earn the crucial doubles win with partner Gray Evans.
“He closed out two matches for us and today he decided the championship,” Wymer said. “That’s a great experience for him.”
O’Shea and Evans’ decisive win didn’t come easy though. In the first set, the tandem was in control but then stumbled and allowed E.C. Glass to force a tiebreaker. That stumble carried into the tiebreaker where the Warriors went down 5-2 before rallying to pick up the victory 7-6. O’Shea and Evans took care of business in the second set, winning 6-3 to close out the match and the state title for the Warriors. Evans, in particular, had to battle though for the Warriors.
“He wasn’t feeling very well, he was ailing with something and it showed in his singles match,” Wymer said. “He was up 5-2 in first set. He battled, but couldn’t win the singles. Then he found enough strength to get through that doubles.”
That’s what experience can do for a team. And it lifted Western Albemarle to another state title Saturday in Blacksburg.
