In order to return from an 8-9 deficit against Viewpoint, and obtain a 5-5 record, Sam Hummel ’14 had to beat Viewpoint’s number two singles player. In a close set, Hummel seized a victory, tying the match. The team went on to win the tie breaker earning 73 games to Viewpoint’s 69.
In the tough match against the number two player Julian Gordy, Hummel pulled out a victory that had a critical impact on the overall results of the day.
“We were down 8-9 in matches but Sam’s match was still going on,” Max Rothman ’14 said. “We knew that if Sam pulled out a win we would win the match because we had more games than them. The match was back and forth… he would be winning then losing then winning again. But he ended up getting the win and in turn won the match for us.”
As the Wolverines’ number one doubles team, Harrison Kalt ’13 and Dylan Eisner ’13 won all their sets, leading to a key doubles victory in this nonleague competition played at Los Angeles Valley College. This, combined with the the singles play, led to the victory for Harvard-Westlake over Viewpoint by four games.
The Wolverines won the match despite some of the team’s strongest players sitting out due to injury.
Rothman, who played number one doubles before his injury, described the incident on Feb. 26 and subsequent diagnosis that will keep him out of play until after Spring Break.
“I was serving in the third set of a double match against the number one Uni’s doubles team when I hit a serve and had to retire, forfeiting the match,” Rothman said. “After an MRI the doctor told me I developed a bad case of rotator cuff deficiency symptom.”
The team is also missing sophomore standout and 22nd best singles player in the nation, Michal Genender ’15.
“I am not playing this week because I am resting my arm because I have five tough weeks of tennis ahead of me and I need to be ready,” Genender said. “I will be back playing starting next week.”
The team looks forward to returning to full strength in the coming weeks as it enters the race to the playoffs.
“While things have been made a lot more difficult because of injuries to a couple key players, we have already made a lot of progress since day 1,” Harrison Kalt ’13 said. “Come playoff time, we will be ready to play anyone.”
