In Jonathan Roman’s mind, the best way to approach the State tennis tournament is to not think about it.
Otherwise, he fears, he’ll psych himself out of the tournament before it even starts.
“I don’t think the nerves will kick in until that morning, on Friday,” said Roman, a junior at Emporia High. “Right now, I’m just calm and collected, and nothing’s really going through my mind. I’m happy, but I’m trying not to think too much about it until that day.”
Roman will join with doubles partner Brandon Heavener in making his first trip to the State Tournament, which begins on Friday and runs through Saturday at Wulz Riverside Tennis Center in Wichita. The two will be part of the five athletes from EHS who will compete at the State meet, as Emporia’s other doubles team of Mark DeDonder and Sergio Segura, as well as singles player Chris Reimer, also qualified.
But while the idea of State might get overwhelming at times, Roman doesn’t want his and Heavener’s stay in the tournament to be a short one.
To advance to the medal rounds on Saturday, players must win at least one of their two matches on Friday. Roman and Heavener enter the meet as a No. 3 seed with a 14-3 record on the season, which means they will play a No. 2-seeded team to open play on Friday.
Not opening the tournament against a No. 1 seed is a better draw, and because of it, Roman said he and Heavener could focus on simply playing quality tennis.
“If we can keep playing consistent, even if we play someone who might be better, we can put the pressure on them if we just get the ball back,” Roman said. “That might get them frustrated and might make them try to take bigger and better shots, and then they’ll miss.”
The road might be a little bit more difficult for Segura and DeDonder, as they enter as a four seed — they are 14-14 this season — and will have to face a No. 1 seed to open the day. But, EHS coach Matt Irby said he could envision a situation where both doubles squads make it to the second day.
“There’s no pressure on a lot of them. Sometimes you play your best when there’s no pressure,” Irby said. “Even if you do lose that first match, there’s a good chance you should be able to win your second match, which, with all of them, as long as you can win one of your first two matches, you go on to Saturday. That should be their goal.”
As for Reimer, the trip to State won’t be a new experience for him after he qualified last year as a freshman.
And for that, Reimer is all the more confident.
“I know what I’m getting myself into now,” Reimer said. “State’s not like any other tournament. It’s the best players from the state of Kansas, and you’ve got to bring your ‘A’ game. If you don’t come out playing to win, they’re going to take you down.
“I’m just focused on doing better than last year and hopefully making it to the second day.”
Reimer should have hopes of improving upon his showing at last year’s State Tournament, where he lost both of his matches on the first day. After all, he’s been on a hot streak over the last three weeks of the season.
After beginning the year 8-8, Reimer has gone 17-5 in his last 23 matches, which included a third-place finish at Regionals — his only loss there coming to top-seeded Chance Joost of Shawnee Heights.
“At the beginning of the year, he was playing well, but it came down to closing out those close matches, and he wasn’t really doing that at the beginning of the year,” Irby said. “But now, he’s found a way and maybe a little bit more confidence knowing that he belongs there. He’s winning some of those close matches, and that’s the key difference — knowing how to close out a match. It’s mostly mental. That’s really all tennis is.”
No matter the outcome this weekend, Irby said he was pleased just by the simple fact that five of his players qualified for State. What those players do once they get to State would be just another accomplishment on an already successful season, Irby said.
“Obviously, they’re playing pretty well since they made it this far,” Irby said. “I think all of them can win at least one match at State, which is a good accomplishment. A lot of this is just icing.”
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