Brookstone boys tennis team falls in state semis

The Brookstone boys tennis team fell short of its goal of making it to the Class A-private school state championship match.

Paideia defeated Brookstone 3-1 Monday afternoon in the semifinals held at the Cougar courts.

At No. 1 singles, the Pythons’ Max Middleton put a stranglehold on the win as he defeated Jack Pease, 6-2, 7-5 to clinch the deciding point. Jack’s brother, Charles, was still on court at the No. 3 singles with the score 4-6, 5-4 when the team match was stopped.

“We went about as far as we could go, and it was credited a lot to the Pease brothers,” Brookstone coach Jim East said. “We had a lot of good fortune along the way, wining our area and quarterfinals and have nothing to regret.

“It came down to skill at No. 1 and No. 2 singles and they (Paideia) had a lot of skill at those positions.” East said.”Our guys never stopped competing.”

The Cougars’ single team point came at No. 2 doubles with Taylor Harris and Sutton Eggena winning their match 6-1, 6-2 over Jon Shoulder and Ryan Dollar.

But No. 1 doubles of Michael Umana and Reed Bickerstaff lost to Matthew Davidorff and Andrew Baxter 6-2, 6-2. And No. 2 singles player Josh Fernicola lost 6-4, 6-1 to Nathan Karnick.

In a near two-hour match, Kauffman overcame Pease’s variety of high moon balls and top spin to come through in a match a lot closer than the score.

The Pythons’ coach John Stubbs said it is always tough to play on the road.

“We won because the team played within ourselves. Any time you go on the road and have the crowd rooting for the home team, you can get rattled but our guys stayed on task.”

Brookstone has won three state title with the last one coming in 2014.

The Brookstone girls will play in the state final on Saturday. The Columbus girls tennis team plays at Cambridge on Tuesday in the Class 5A semifinals.

This story was originally published May 2, 2016 at 9:53 PM with the headline "Brookstone boys tennis team falls in state semis."