photo by Mikaela Acton
“Going into the Clayton match, we were a little nervous because our No. 6 player Nate Horvit was at DECA Nationals and we were going to need every match if we were going to win,” freshman Brian Baker said. “But our No. 1 JV guy came through big and won at the the No. 6 spot, which was a really big win.”
Following this win and the other singles matches, the dual was tied at 3. In the doubles matches, the No. 2 team lost to the No. 3 team. This put the meet in its most heated moment because Rock Bridge’s fate depended completely on the outcome of the No. 1 doubles match. Thankfully, the No. 1 team pulled through and won its match, winning the Clayton dual 5-4.
Chasing this narrow win, the Kirkwood match was a much easier victory, with Rock Bridge winning against Kirkwood 7-2. Junior Rohit Rao believes the team had its ups and downs on Saturday that it can use to improve for the road ahead.
“Our singles struggled that day but our doubles came very strong,” Rao said. “That’s the reason why we could win. This is our last home season meet. We have two more away meets then districts start. In the future, I definitely see us in the Final Four at state.”
Baker agrees that, with the team’s performance on Saturday, he sees Rock Bridge doing well in the future.
“Clayton’s No. 1 [player] was last year’s singles state champion, and Clayton’s No. 2 [player] was the class 2 state runner up,” Baker said. “The win against Clayton was really good for our confidence because it showed us that we can pull out duals when we need to and that confidence will help us in postseason play. I see us winning districts and sectionals and playing a tough Rockhurst team in the state semifinals.”
By Urmila Kutikkad
The team’s next dual is against Jeff City Wednesday, May 7, their last dual before districts.
