File:Tennis 2018, Jack Wilson from the Frederick News Post, April 21, 2018.jpg

Brunswick Sports: Brunswick High School Tennis

Brunswick boys, Walkersville girls ride doubles teams to victory

From: The Frederick News Post, April 21, 2018

BRUNSWICK — After the Brunswick boys tennis team was forced to reshuffle its lineup Friday to accommodate a missing player, junior Ryan Allen and sophomore Tommy Cicmanec took the court for the first time as a doubles team.

A few hours later, they pulled out a decisive third set for a 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 victory over Walkersville’s Hunter Owen and Michael Pollak that lifted the Railroaders to a 3-2 team win over the Lions.

“They never give up,” Brunswick coach Larry Collins said after the Railroaders improved to 5-4 this season on the boys side.

While doubles teams often toil away in relative obscurity, the victory by Allen and Cicmanec was a reminder of how critical they are to a team’s success. No team can win a high-school match, after all, without at least one victory from its three doubles teams.

Shortly before Allen and Cicmanec won, Walkersville’s third doubles team of Tanner and Walker Owen — the twin brothers of Hunter Owen — kept the Lions’ hopes alive with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Brunswick’s Jonathan Henry and Parker Shelp at No. 3 doubles.

Brand new to varsity tennis this season, the Owen brothers improved to 10-0 this season.

“Tennis is pretty cut and dry. If you are better than the other person, you are going to win,” Walkersville coach Ricky Casillas said. “With doubles, there is more strategy behind it. You can have lesser talented doubles teams, teams that are lesser skilled, but they work better together. They play better together. They can beat a team that is more skilled than them.”

Some high school teams move their better players into the doubles matches to improve their chances of winning.

The Brunswick girls (5-4), who dropped a 3-2 decision to Walkersville on Friday, did this with senior Samantha Campbell, who, according to coach Lee Zumbach, is one of the best players to come through the program in recent seasons.

Over the last two seasons, Campbell and her partner, Kealy Murphy, have lost one match together at No. 1 doubles.

The same could be said of Brunswick’s No. 2 doubles teams of Chay Reeves and Lauren Hefner. Outside of falling in the county tournament last spring, they have not lost a match in two seasons.

“I think [doubles] is a tougher game than singles,” Zumbach said. “There is a lot more strategy to it. You have to work with somebody. You know, people like to sometimes talk about how there is no glory to it. But it’s a much more fun game to play, I think. We have a lot of fun teaching it.”

The Walkersville girls rely heavily on their two very talented singles players, reigning county and regional champion Julie Wallace and Julia O’Connell. But one of the reasons the Lions are 8-3 this season is because their doubles teams are much more consistent.

The No. 2 team of Melissa Netzer and Hannah Dumikjan has been particularly strong. After struggling to win matches last year, they are 6-3 so far this season.

“Hannah is really good along the baseline, and I play a little better at the net. So, we complement each other pretty well,” Netzer said.

Doubles requires an innate understanding of what your partner is going to do, and that’s where the Owen brothers have an advantage for the Walkersville boys.

“I guess you can say we have good communication,” Walker Owen said when asked about why he and Tanner have been so successful on the court despite having relatively little playing experience. “We don’t mind helping each other out.”

Results

Boys

Brunswick 3, Walkersville 2

Singles—Wilson (B) d. Miler, 6-0, 6-3; Lazo (B) d. Arowosegbe, 6-1, 6-0. Doubles—Miller-Jacobs (W) d. Hahn-Rogowsky, 6-4, 6-0; Cicmanec-Allen (B) d. H. Owen-Pollak, 7-5, 2-6, 6-4; T. Owen-W. Owen (W) d. Henry-Shelp, 6-4, 6-0.

Walkersville 3, Brunswick 2

Singles—Wallace (W) d. Armstrong, 6-0, 6-0; O’Connell (W) d. Burton, 6-1, 6-3. Doubles — Hafner-Reeves (B) d. McClatchie-Netzer, 6-1, 6-0; Heller-Dumikjan (W) d. Allen-Willems, 6-3, 6-4; Lopez-Khattri (B) d. Broadhurst-Driscoll, 6-2, 7-5.