Warriors go back-to-back

By Bart Isley

Published: June 7, 2008

BLACKSBURG — Western Albemarle’s Alex Preve could feel the tension building. Preve’s head coach, Charles Ix, turned to a parent and told him to “put on your bouncer shirt, it’s about to get rowdy.”

“I kind of felt everybody coming over and I knew Gabe [Kosowitz] had lost — it was really intense,” Preve said. “I settled in and found a way to calm down because I knew if I got over-excited I was going to lose a lot of points.”

He didn’t let that happen. As the entire crowd gathered around Preve and Laven Newsom’s No.3 singles tilt — knowing full well that the match hung in the balance —Preve took control of his emotions and the match.

The sophomore managed a win and set the table for Western’s powerful doubles group, where Preve and freshman Teddy Nelson teamed for a 6-1, 6-1 victory at No. 3 doubles that clinched Western’s second straight state title with a 5-2 victory.

“Last year we won our first regional quarterfinal match and we were like, OK, great,” said Western senior Ben Fitts. “It was more of a surprise last year. There was a lot more pressure this year. When they [Preve and Thompson] won, it was this cleansing, rewarding feeling — like, we did it.”

Western won the title last year largely by surprise and by a narrow margin, a narrow 5-4 victory. This year was more march than wild ride as the Warriors set out from day one to repeat in Blacksburg — along the way Western mowed down opponents en route to a 22-0 record.

Western’s Jaime Thomas, Nico de la Pointe and Brennan Dougherty paved the way for the Warriors with a trio of dominating straight set victories in singles play to start the match. De la Pointe struck first with an easy 6-1, 6-0 victory in the No. 5 singles spot over Chuck Farabaugh. Salem then evened the match when freshman Patrick O’Keefe, the VHSL singles champion, knocked off Joey Manilla in straight sets.

Thomas and Dougherty then struck back to give Western a 3-1 lead. Only Kosowitz and Preve went to three sets after winning the opening set in their respective matches.

Kosowitz battled Will Drougas, who forms the other half of Salem’s lightning-fast freshman duo with O’Keefe. Drougas bounced back from the first set loss to win back-to-back sets and give Salem a chance to go into doubles tied with the Warriors at 3-3.

“We sort of have to take our one, two and three for granted,” said Salem coach Michael Gibson. “Our No. 3 doubles is not quite there, so we don’t have the strength.”

When Drougas won, that’s when the crowd began forming around Preve and the Spartans’ Newsom. The gritty Salem senior fought against the big sophomore and managed to hold serve to cut his third set deficit to 4-2, but Preve made too many shots for Newsom to overcome down the stretch. Preve broke Newsom’s serve to pick up the 6-2 victory in the nerve-wracking match.

“His play was unbelievable,” Ix said. “I was up at 3:15 a.m. this morning saying ‘how are we going to get to the doubles at 4-2? I need one of the top three to win.’ That match was so pivotal and everyone knew it.”

In the doubles round, Manilla and Fitts took control of their match early, while Nelson and Preve also jumped out to a lead by winning the opening set. In their final high school match, Kosowitz and Thomas got locked in with Farabaugh and Newsom in an intense doubles match that went to a tiebreaker.

But before anyone could take control of the tiebreak, Preve and Nelson closed out Todd Blankenship and Jay Patel. The easy win at No. 3 doubles showcased the Warriors’ depth, where few teams can match the firepower of Preve, Western’s No. 3 singles player, and Nelson, a talented freshman that will likely factor into the Warriors’ top six next season.

“That’s the whole issue, on a given day our No. 3 doubles can be No. 1,” Ix said.

The celebration began immediately after Preve and Nelson won, as Manilla sprinted off the No. 1 doubles court before Fitts made him quickly reverse directions to shake hands with his opponents. Manilla and Fitts then made a beeline for the adjoining court to join their teammates, who were already cheering wildly and hoisting Preve into the air.

“I can say ‘come on’ in individuals and look at the crowd and they’re like ‘good shot,’” Manilla said. “But I can scream here and throw my arms around and the whole crowd just roars. There’s nothing better than being on this team.”