Warriors drop doubles but advance to team final

By Bart Isley

Published: June 7, 2008

BLACKSBURG — Western Albemarle’s Gabe Kosowitz tossed a towel over his head and stumbled toward his Warriors teammates, tired and frustrated — but happy, too.

“You don’t always have your all every day,” Kosowitz said. “But these are the type of days you’ve got to fight through it and still win.”

Kosowitz battled through footwork problems to pick up a three-set victory at No. 2 singles, clinching a 5-0 victory for the Warriors in the Group AA boys tennis team semifinals over Harrisonburg. Western will face Salem this morning at 9 a.m. the finals with the chance to win its second straight state title.

Kosowitz, a senior, got the opportunity to clinch the match because the Warriors’ underclassmen and senior Brennan Dougherty took care of business, staking Western to a 4-0 lead in singles. Alex Preve, Nico de la Pointe, Joey Manilla and Dougherty all wrapped up their matches in straight sets. Manilla beat Derek Vondrak 6-2, 6-1, jumping out to a 4-1 lead in the second set after breaking Vondrak’s serve.

That set up Kosowitz or Jaime Thomas for a victory clinching win and a chance to prevent Western from having to play doubles. Thomas went down 1-0 after the first to Harrisonburg’s Stewart Surratt, who was on fire from the start of the match.

Thomas continued to battle, but Kosowitz was tied 1-1 after two sets, winning the opener 6-4 before losing the second set 4-6. Kosowitz struggled with his footwork from the first serve of the match, but continued to match Seggy Byler point for point.

“I’m usually a slow starter and I started off slow,” Kosowitz said. “Fortunately, I managed to pull out the first set. I didn’t play too well in the second set either, I was just trying to fight through it.”

The senior steadied himself in the third, jumping out to a 4-2 lead. In the seventh game, Kosowitz seemed to build some decisive momentum, urging himself on after each point as a majority of Western’s team piled into the part of Virginia Tech’s indoor facility that Kosowitz was playing in.

“That’s a little bit of frustration letting out,” Kosowitz said. “I was just trying to let it out and work through it.”

Kosowitz, a four-year starter, took a 6-2 win in the set with a pair of nice drop shots to finish off Byler. The victory ended the match and play in Thomas’ match was suspended.

Preve, a sophomore, and de la Pointe, a junior, each cruised in their victories, losing just one game each. Preve won 6-0, 6-1 while de la Pointe rolled 6-1, 6-0.

“Those guys have been solid all year,” said Western coach Charles Ix. “They’ve got the confidence to be able to win. [Preve] had his best match all year long, it’s not even close.”

Western will take on a Salem squad led by AA individual champion Patrick O’Keefe. Salem edged Jamestown 5-4 Friday.

Western doubles duo falls in semifinals

After Manilla wrapped up his singles victory, he turned his attention to the boys doubles state semifinals where he and senior teammate Ben Fitts faced the unenviable task of trying to knock off defending state champions, Abingdon’s Adam Henderson and Randall Carter.

Abingdon’s unbeaten duo proved exactly why they’re back in the state tournament, rolling to a 6-2, 6-1 victory over the Western tandem.

“We just never could get it going,” Ix said. “I don’t think [Fitts and Manilla] have played a team this year that was that aggressive and hit the ball that hard. They didn’t miss a lot either.”

Henderson and Carter’s aggressive play created a host of problems for Manilla and Fitts, who struggled to return the Abingdon pair’s sharp serves and returns. Abingdon broke Western’s serve in the third game of both sets, putting Western in a big hole early on.

“We’ve been playing really good players and it’s just good to be able to play our game and come through like that,” Henderson said.

Fitts and Manilla aren’t done as a tandem yet. Odds are good that today’s match with Salem will come down to the doubles play.