Two weekends ago, the Jesuit Doubles Tennis Team took on the first real challenge of the season at the Keller Invitational Doubles Tennis Tournament. The men’s doubles team of Kevin Butkus ’12 and Nick Erturkuner ’12 made it to the finals, while the mixed doubles team of Hockaday senior Nina Quirk and Zack Vander Hieden ’15 clinched the team’s first ever final win in a mixed doubles tournament.
It was not an easy road to the team’s two final appearances, especially for the mixed doubles team that had to go through an intimidating series of opponents. To get to the final, Jesuit’s mixed team had to face the number one and number two seeds in the tournament.
The Jesuit team was confident going into the match. Paul McDaniel, a junior counselor and coach of the tennis team, called his team “very experienced” and noted the “greatness” he expects from them.
Jesuit started off the championship match strong, winning the first set of a best-of-three match 6-2. When the second set began, the Jesuit – Hockaday combo jumped out to a seemingly insurmountable lead, winning five straight games. They were one game away from capturing the team’s first doubles win in a final in the team’s history when their opponents came fighting back, winning three straight games to make the score 5-3.
“They just lost their focus and let their guard down,” McDaniel said about the team. But they quickly regained their composure, winning their sixth game and sealing the championship. The mixed doubles win marked Jesuit tennis’s first championship.
But the mixed team’s championship was not the only accomplishment of the day. The men’s doubles team was named a finalist, a major accomplishment considering that Butkus and Erturkuner had not played with each other in almost two months.
It was a nice surprise for Coach McDaniel, who said that: “We weren’t looking to necessarily win the tournament but rather establish communication and tactics for later in the season.” By the way the team performed, both players seem to have pretty good communication and tactics.
For the tennis team’s schedule, see the link below:
