Broad Run Knocks Off Briar Woods

Spartans Move On to District Tennis Final

By Matt Brooks (Contact)

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Broad Run sophomore No. 1 Kevin Chang walked back to the baseline with the hint of a small smirk across his face. He'd just witnessed his 4-0 second-set lead on Briar Woods senior Kyle Slack disappear before his eyes in their critical Dulles District tournament semifinal match. With the Spartans leading 3-2 and all five of the other singles matches complete, all eyes were on the two top players.

Trailing a set and 4-0 when the match began on Thursday, Slack was lucky to escape as the rains came and suspended play. Rejuvenated with a day of rest, he came out firing Friday afternoon, drawing even at 6-6 to send the second set into a decisive tiebreaker. But from there, Chang showed why he's become one of the top players in the district in spite of his youth and inexperience. He survived numerous long rallies and break points during the final games of the set, but bounced back emphatically in the tiebreak, jumping out to a 5-0 lead and taking the set and the match with a 7-2 victory.

"Watching the lead go away, I was like, 'Noooo,'" Chang said. "I should have finished that off yesterday, so that was pretty tough. But once the tiebreaker started I was just thinking, 'I don't want to play a third set.' So I knew I had to end it."

From there, the Spartans needed just one doubles victory to knock off the reigning tournament champions and advance to the final. They got that win when the No. 2 doubles pairing of junior Naveen Vaddadi and senior Eric Pasztor knocked off the Falcons' Alex Hensley and Curtis Bottoms, 6-4, 6-2 to with the match by a score of 5-3.

With two 6-3 victories over Briar Woods already under their belts, the regular-season champions entered their semifinal matchup with plenty of confidence and a perfect 12-0 mark on the season. Still, they knew knocking off the reigning tournament champions in a one-match playoff scenario would be far from easy.

When play was suspended due to rain on Thursday, Broad Run led the top three singles matches, was even at No. 5, trailed at No. 6 and had already lost to the Falcons at No. 4. In each of their previous matches with Briar Woods and all of their matches this season, they entered doubles play with at least a 4-2 victory. With just one more win necessary to seal the victory, they had survived several close matches despite inconsistent play from their No. 3 doubles tandem. And thanks to Chang's gutsy performance, their loss at the third doubles spot didn't hurt them yet again.

"Kyle had Kevin down 6-5 in the first set and Kevin got him to 6-6 and beat him in the tiebreaker," Broad Run Coach Chris Pasternak said. "He had to do the same thing in the second set after Kyle battled back to take the lead. But for a sophomore No. 1 to lose a lead like that and not get his head down, come back and take care of business in the tiebreak, that just says a lot about how mature of a player he is."

As play resumed on Friday afternoon, the importance of taking that 4-2 lead was at the forefront of the young Spartans' minds. Junior No. 2 Max Kadyrkaev, who led his match with Briar Woods senior Alex Hensley 6-2, 6-6 (4-2) when play was halted, won three straight points to claim the second set tiebreaker and his match to even the overall score at 1-1. Briar Woods sophomore Venkata-Gantam Kanumuru took the lead back for the Falcons with a 0-6, 6-1, 6-0 victory over Lewis Creech at No. 6. But the Spartans responded with wins at No. 4 (Sinaan Ulkuatam over Bottoms 6-4, 4-6, 6-1) and No. 3 (Vaddadi over Brett Stockman 6-2, 6-6 (7-2)) to get back on top 3-2. Chang and the No. 2 doubles tandem took care of the rest for the Spartans.

"They've been killing us the last two years, so to beat them three times this year just feels great," Kadyrkaev said. "They're a great team and we knew they were going to give us a tough match but this is our year."

When the No. 1 doubles match between Slack and Stockman and Chang and Kadyrkaev was halted after the completion of the deciding No. 2 match, Slack turned to the Broad Run tandem and offered a few words of encouragement.

"Win it boys," he said.

Broad Run advances to host second-seeded Loudoun County, which defeated Freedom 5-4, in the tournament final on Wednesday. The Spartans won both regular season matches by 6-3 counts, but they know the Raiders will be gunning for them. Fortunately for Broad Run, their regular-season title guarantees them a spot in the AA Region II tournament regardless of their result.

"It's going to be a dogfight, that’s for sure," Pasternak said. "It's just been a fun year and it keeps getting better and better. Hopefully we can keep it going."

Notes: Chang is the No. 2 seed in Monday’s singles tournament and he and Kadyrkaev are the top seed in the doubles draw.

Extra Points

By Paul Tenorio and Matt Brooks