Central Mountain Tennis Falls Short in District Doubles Tournament

ALTOONA-Central Mountain took two teams to PIAA AAA doubles districts in Altoona. Asher Talbot and Joey McCluskey teamed and Tim Brinker and Joe Caimi were the other team competing for the Wildcats.

Asher and Joey played against Selinsgrove #2 Lomand Rodger/Christopher Feiler. The Wildcats started early by holding serve and quickly broke their opponents’ serve to take a 2-0 lead. Before long, they won the first set 6-0 and didn’t hold back in the second set, which they took 6-1 and the match.

Next up for Asher and Joey was State College #1 Mark Sandow/Peter Novikov. The opening set was an exciting one. The Wildcats battled hit for hit with the top-seed Little Lions. CM was up 5-4 serving for the set but State College found a way to break their serve and win the first set 5-7. Unfortunately, the team of Asher and Joey couldn’t continue the outstanding play throughout the second set. They had flashes of brilliant play but it was not meant to be. They lost in the quarter-finals 5-7, 1-6.

“I was proud of how they played against Mark & Peter. They were playing inspiring tennis out on the courts. It was fun to watch them play at a high level. They should be proud of their efforts and how they play together as a team”, said Coach Brinker.

Central Mountains second team in Tim and Joe also made a quarterfinal run of their own. Their opening match was against Mifflin County’s #1 team Quinn Miller and Landon Mazur. After spotting Mifflin an early lead of 3-0, the doubles team settled in and fought back to make it 6-6. In the first set tiebreaker, the guys traded points back and forth. With the score 5-5, CM pulled out the next two points to win the first set. Mifflin County regrouped from the opening set loss to even it out at 1-1. The Wildcats dug deep in the third set super tiebreaker. Joe and Tim rallied around each other and outstanding timely hits to win the final set 10-5.

Their quarterfinal match was against the number 2 seed Ben Johnson and Garrett Bouchard from Hollidaysburg. Unfortunately, they couldn’t produce enough successful hits to overcome a talented team. They fell in straight sets 0-6, 1-6.

“Joe and Tim should be encouraged by how they played today. They played competitive tennis against two number-one teams in the tournament. Well done to the both of you,” said Coach Brinker