As the saying goes, the third time’s the charm.
After close losses to Crespi in the last two seasons, the Hart boys tennis team pulled out the win, edging the Celts 10-6 at Hart High School Tuesday afternoon.
“This was a great win, because this team has had our number the last couple of years. The last two times we played against Crespi, we lost 10-8 and we lost a lot of close sets against them the last two years,” said head coach Allan Hardbarger. “This year, we came out strong in the first round.”
Two important pieces to the Indians’ (3-0 overall) win were Luke Papayoanou and Jack Burns. Both players snagged crucial points for their team in order to flip the tide in their favor and secure the win for the Indians.
“Luke won a pretty big tie-break to their No. 1,” Hardbarger said. “Jack won another big tie-break in the first round, too. We came out to a big lead and we were able to just play loose. We ended up winning the match today because of it.”
Jeremy Killian and Jojo Aguilar were also huge for Hart on the doubles court. The duo swept the competition and picked up three points for the Indians to put even more space between them and the Celts.
“We finally were able to get the team together,” Killian said. “I think one of the amazing things is we play together as a team. We were really having trouble staying focused, but we ended up getting back on our stuff and playing well and winning.
Hart has also taken the start of the tennis season to show off its new tennis courts. It recently renovated and extended them to fit six courts across the lot, which allows for more matches to happen at once.
“Momentum can change very fast with six courts,” Hardbarger said. “We just have to make sure that we’re all focused, but it’s great. We’ve been waiting for this for ever since the school opened.”
Killian agreed with his coach. Having six courts is great, especially when it keeps the team from being out too late.
“It feels great to have six courts,” Killian said. “The match goes by way faster. It’s finally something we can be proud of here at Hart.”
Matches may be over quicker with extra courts, but that was not the case on Tuesday.
The final two matches were called off as the sun set over the tennis courts. “It was getting too dark,” said Hardbarger. There was no sense is playing in the dark and risking the injury of both Hart’s and Crespi’s two best players.
Of course, there are many great things about having a new court, but one trumps the rest. That is walking off with a win, and that’s exactly what Hart did.
The Indians will pick up the rackets again on Thursday with hopes of having a 4-0 start to the season. They will play Windward at 3 p.m. at Hart High School.
