EHS doubles team, singles player earn State tennis berths
By The Emporia Gazette (Contact)
Saturday, May 5, 2007
Kyle deBlonk and Grant Price just needed to get a little mad.
The Emporia High duo defeated Shawnee Heights’ Josh Hardy and Adam Baker in their semifinal matchup during Friday’s Regional tennis tournament at the Kossover Tennis Center in Topeka, but only after Price and deBlonk came back to win 2 sets to 1 after dropping the first set, 6-3.
Though deBlonk and Price went on to lose in the Regional title match to Mark Harper and Garrett Dunn, the EHS pair still managed to finish second, assuring themselves of a higher seeding at the State tournament.
The way EHS tennis coach Matt Irby saw it, Price and deBlonk started playing well after getting angry with themselves after losing the first set to Hardy and Baker.
“After they got ticked off that they lost,” Irby said, “they kind of stepped it up and took care of business.”
After deBlonk and Price defeated their second-round opponents from Highland Park — which secured a trip to State — they faced Hardy and Baker, and immediately put themselves on the defensive when they played sluggishly in dropping the first set, 6-3.
“We just have had problems, for whatever reason, of not having any energy to start our matches,” Irby said. “In any sport, especially tennis, if you’re feet aren’t moving, you’re going to have trouble. They didn’t match the intensity of the team they were playing and they took it to us.”
That’s when Irby said deBlonk and Price “got angry,” and the EHS duo throttled Hardy and Baker after that, taking the next two sets 6-1 and 6-2 to win 2-1.
“They showed some resolve and gumption to come back and win pretty convincingly,” Irby said.
In the Regional title match, deBlonk and Price simply did not have enough firepower to overcome Harper and Dunn, as the pair from Topeka West defeated the EHS pair, 6-4, 7-5.
Price and deBlonk were not the only State qualifiers for the Spartans on Friday, as freshman singles player Chris Reimer also earned a berth in the State tournament after taking fourth at the Regional.
Reimer wrapped up his spot in the State tournament with his first victory of the day, which came over Topeka West’s Blake Hamilton. Reimer and Hamilton began their match on Thursday, but rain forced the match to be suspended with the score tied at 1.
Once the match picked up, Hamilton did not win another game, as the EHS freshman defeated Hamilton, 8-1, which put Reimer into the semifinals and also into the State tournament.
“Chris played really well to qualify,” Irby said. “It was a big match. He really showed his experience he gained playing tennis growing up.”
In the semifinals, Reimer lost to Steven Fletcher of Seaman in consecutive 6-0 sets, and then in the third-place matchup, Reimer again fell, this time to Bill Bloomquist of Shawnee Heights, 6-3, 6-0.
Emporia’s other doubles team of Mark DeDonder and Jonathan Roman lost in their first matchup, as the Shawnee Heights pair of Barker and Hardy defeated the EHS duo, 8-1, ending DeDonder and Roman’s season.
Emporia as a team tied for third with Seaman with seven points. Shawnee Heights won the Regional title with 12 points, while Topeka West was second with eight points.
Up next for Price and deBlonk and Reimer will be the Class 5A State tournament, which will be held at the Emporia High tennis courts on Friday and Saturday.
Regional Tennis
Friday at Topeka
Team Scores
Shawnee Heights 12, Topeka West 8, Emporia 7, Seaman 7, Ottawa 1, Highland Park 1.
Singles
Chris Reimer (Emp) def. Blake Hamilton (TW), 8-1; Steven Fletcher (Sea) def. Reimer, 6-0, 6-0; Billy Bloomquist (SH) def. Reimer, 6-3, 6-0.
Doubles
Josh Hardy/Adam Baker (SH) def. Jonathan Roman/Mark DeDonder (Emp), 8-1
Doubles
Kyle deBlonk/Grant Price (Emp) def. Nicholas Campfield/Monty Bush(HP), 8-2; deBlonk/Price def. Hardy/Baker (SH), 3-6, 6-1, 6-2; Mark Harper/Garrett Dunn (TW) def. deBlonk/Price, 6-4, 7-5. took second