The ball rocketed off Han Wang’s strings, skipped off the top of the net, took a sharp left turn, and bounced again off the top of the net as if undecided which side of the court to land on. The nearly perfectly struck forehand would have almost certainly sent the match to a tiebreaker, but the ball fell back onto Wang’s side of the net. Three points later the match was over, Mt Pleasant having won the closest of contests by a score of 5-4 as the sun faded to the west of East Lake Park.
“Han went for it, but that ball took a home court bounce,” smiled the Pioneer’s coach. “The boys almost pulled it off. It’s always fun going up against Mt Pleasant. We’re 2-2 in the last 4 matches. Looking forward to a rematch next week.”
Ruimin Luo led the Pioneer effort with a dominant 10-3 win over Owen Van Sickel, a player he‘d never beaten. Polo Altynski-Ross and Han Wang captured 2 more singles points to even the score at 3-3 heading into doubles.
Things weren’t looking good for the Pioneers midway through the doubles matches. In the #1 match, Ruimin Luo fell to the court in pain, his calf cramping badly for a second time. At #2, the Pioneers were behind 7-4, and the Pioneers had already conceded #3 doubles due to illness. The stage was set for an improbable comeback that fell agonizingly short when a Pioneer forehand never quite made it over the net.
Ruimin Luo is the Pioneer Player of the Match with a pair of impressive wins.