Montgomery Academy tennis uses loss to Mountain Brook as stepping stone
John Alford returns a shot in doubles match with Jackson Brown defending the net for Montgomery Academy. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
It wasn’t the outcome Montgomery Academy tennis coach David Bethea hoped for when he scheduled reigning 6A state champion Mountain Brook.
On the other hand, he knew exactly what to expect from the Spartans.
“It was the best Mountain Brook team I’ve ever seen,” Bethea said. “They’re deep. They’re a good team. They made us play better. I’d rather play good teams like this. I think it showed us what we’ve got to do to get a little better. The teams we’ve been playing, we haven’t really had to win matches. These guys make you win every point and that’s what you want. That’s what is going to make you better.”
Mountain Brook returned four individual state champions from a year ago -- Thomas Austin, Guy Mitchell, Max Gayden and George Dumas -- and looked every bit the part in defeating a short-handed Montgomery Academy squad 9-0 on Monday afternoon at Lagoon Park Tennis Center.
“We did not play terrible and still lost 9-0,” Bethea said. “That shows you how good they are. The DNA of our program is we’re going to play the best teams that we can play. I think Mountain Brook is the best team in the state in any classification. Tomorrow, Vestavia (Hills) is the defending 7A state champion. It only makes us better. Because we’re a young team, I think it helps us see what we’ve got to do to get better.
“We played hard points. A lot of shots we hit, against 95 percent of the people we play, those are winners. I’m excited about playing Vestavia because I just feel like it gets us a step closer to where we want to be.”
The Eagles were missing their No. 3 singles player, Edwin Wu, who was on an academic assignment and three eighth graders -- No. 6 singles player Duncan McInnes and two girls’ players, No. 4 Mary Surhea White and No. 6 Alyssa Kaplan -- on a field trip to Washington, D.C.
And while the outcome wouldn’t have changed, it certainly didn’t help the Eagles shuffling the lineup against an experienced Spartan team. With Wu out, No. 4 Ford Morano bumped up to No. 3, No. 5 Anton Yang played No. 4 and Bo Johnston (at No. 5) and Ron Sharma (at No. 6) were inserted into the lineup. The No. 3 doubles team, normally teaming Yang with Wu, featured Yang and Johnston.
For the Montgomery Academy girls, Gabby Barrera defeated Olivia Roberts at No. 1 singles and teamed with senior Mae Mae Voltz to defeat Annie Lacey and Ann Royal Goodson at No. 1 doubles as the Spartans were without their No. 1 player, Pippa Roy, sitting out with a hand injury.
The MA girls, like the boys, were a little shorthanded with two eighth graders on the field trip to Washington. Mary Surhea White (No. 4) and Alyssa Cameron (No. 6) were absent, with junior Marianna Lassner competing at No. 4, freshman Lillian Cameron at No. 5 and senior Anna Powell at No. 6.
The 7-2 loss to the Spartans marked the third straight loss for the MA girls after losing to St. Joseph’s of Baton Rouge, La., and Madison (Miss.) Central in the McT Invite in Mobile on Saturday. Despite the team losses, Barrera and Campbell each went undefeated in three matches over the weekend to help the Eagles finish fourth in the ‘A’ division of the prestigious tournament.
“I think it’s important for us to continue to play really tough opponents -- this past weekend, this match, tomorrow’s match with Vestavia -- they’re all a dress rehearsal for sectionals and for state,” Montgomery Academy girls coach Maddy Ethington said. “Where are our gaps? Where do we need to make sure we’re improving? We’re looking really strong, but there are certain things we need to tweak -- we need to up our net game, work on our first-serve consistency -- but I feel like those are fixable things and I’m feeling really optimistic for the rest of our season.”
The Spartans simply replaced Roy with freshman Olivia Roberts instead of bumping up the lines, but the rest of the defending 6A state champions featured a veteran lineup, while the Montgomery Academy lineup normally has two freshmen and two eighth graders in the rotation.
“We lost Jenna Chandler to graduation last year and this year we’ll lose Mae Mae (Voltz), Anna Powell and Sarah Kate Ingram, so we really need for some of our young blood to step up and fill those roles and be the leaders,” Ethington said.
On Monday, the inexperience showed at times against a deeper, more experienced lineup. The Eagles likely will face more of the same on Tuesday when they travel to Vestavia Hills.
“The scores sometimes didn’t reflect the amount of effort the girls were putting in,” Ethington said. “Lillian Cameron ran down every single ball. She lost 6-0, 6-2, but a lot of those points went to deuce because she was out there scrapping for every point she got.”