The pack of Westfield players migrated from one vantage point to another, tracing a path around the courts’ border. They settled on the grass beyond the fence near the second doubles court.
That was a good spot.
Three matches, at that moment, still plowed forward. But the spectators Friday peered mostly at just one, because they knew. Knew this third set at second doubles likely would decide the day’s victor.
It did. Very quickly. Westfield’s Deven Patel and Evan Sewald rapidly dismantled their flagging opponents, giving the Blue Devils their third win of the afternoon and clinching the win over Summit. No. 8 Westfield (19-2, 8-0 UCC Watchung) defeated No. 14 Summit (15-5, 5-2 UCC Watchung), 3-2, Friday at Tamaques Park, beating its only true competition in Union County for the second time this season and clinching the regular-season conference title.
Sewald and Patel won, 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-0, after a triumphant third set.
“Super big,” said George Kapner, Westfield’s head coach. “They took a little while to get their act together in the first set, and they had chances to put the first set away and didn’t. But then they really got on a roll in the second.”
Patel and Sewald typically play separately. Patel’s normal partner at second doubles is Colin Cimei. But Cimei recently suffered a back injury, relegating him on Friday to a side court as he recuperated.
So in stepped Sewald. The modest crowd cheered when he won points. He thrived on it. Conducted his orchestra after each point. Patel, usually a reserved fellow, even cracked a smile after putting away the winning point.
The win arrived on a sweltering day, at least by recent standards. A cloud mercifully drifted into ideal position, its shadow covering the courts. But the heat still visibly affected a couple players.
“There was no way to acclimate to the heat,” Kapner said, “because it just came out of nowhere.”
Some heat, actually, radiated from the courts, from the second singles court and from the first doubles court. Westfield played scorching tennis on those courts.
At first doubles, Eshaan Khera and Cole Hornbeck smothered their Summit opposition, 6-2, 6-0. Khera and Hornbeck are, at this point, almost a sure thing. They’ve won 11 of 12 matches this season. They’ve delivered all 11 wins in straight sets. They’ve seldom allowed their opponents to snatch more than a game or two or three.
Their only loss came against No. 1 Millburn. It took the full three sets for them to fold.
Then on Friday there was Tristan Wroe, winning, 6-1, 6-1, at second singles, in what he dubbed a “revenge match.” Edward Wang, Wroe’s opponent, nipped him, in three sets, a couple weeks ago. Not this time.
“I wasn’t happy about that,” Wroe said. “So I went into this match thinking about that a lot. It was a pretty easy one.”
A fascinating dynamic played out on Friday, a certain knowledge towering over these seemingly routine matches. The Union County Tournament begins Wednesday. It ends Thursday. The players who stood across from each other Friday almost certainly will stare at each other again come Thursday.
“Every Summit player and every Westfield player is better than the rest of the players,” said Westfield’s Zander Ainge. “So you’re only worrying about Summit.”
Ainge worried plenty about Summit on Friday. He lost, 7-6 (3), 1-6, 1-6, to Ben Levkov, a diminutive freshman whose small stature belies dependable play.
Adrift in his personal mental ocean, Ainge grew frustrated. Extremely frustrated. He yelled a few times. His racket clattered to the ground once or twice. He questioned himself repeatedly, wondering aloud all sorts of things about his game.
He then berated himself after the match.
“There’s a very, very clear weakness in my game, which is my overheads,” he said. “I need patience. The kid today was just more patient.”
Levkov, Ainge said, possesses a game that “I would call the most boring thing ever.” Return after return. Groundstrokes and more groundstrokes.
“Just one of those days,” Ainge said.
Ainge, though, is a two-time UCT champion. He has the mettle, the adroitness. Now it’s a matter of harnessing it all as the season’s big tournaments roll in, one after another, like repeated crashes of thunder. The Newark Academy Invitational this weekend. The UCT next week. The sectional tournament further down the road. A parade of tournaments, all holding seductive bounties.
Heading into the season’s most loaded portion, the Blue Devils will monitor a new development. Ben Duan, the sophomore who plays first singles, tweaked his calf during his match Friday. Midway through the second set against Jonah Ng, Duan melted to the court and clutched his leg. He hopped on one foot over to his bag and stretched and waited for a trainer to arrive.
He eventually resumed playing, though Ng won, 1-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Duan sustained a minor calf injury and returned home with instructions to rest and apply ice. His status for Saturday’s Newark Academy Invitational depends on whether the injury dissipates, or at least diminishes, overnight.
He seemed plenty capable after returning from the injury timeout, sprinting and sliding and pounding shots down the baseline. Ng bludgeoned Duan in their first match this season, winning a tight first-set tiebreak before blanking Duan in the second set. Duan flipped the script this time. Temporarily.
“He was super aggressive in the first set, and that caught the kid off balance a little bit,” Kapner said. “Jonah rallied himself, and it was a very, very tight match. I think it would be taking something away from Jonah by saying that the injury was the determining factor. I thought it was a great match, and Ben played as well as he has all year.”
Duan, Kapner said, has recently broadened his game, implementing new things, as directed by coaches.
Duan limped slightly at one point late in the match. Kapner asked if Duan wanted to retire. Eyes trained on the court, Duan responded.
“No.”
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
Kapner reminded Duan he had two matches the next day. Duan ignored that. He kept playing. He ripped a cross-court forehand winner a minute later.
His Westfield teammates shouted in response.
Duan still lost. But he came close. Closer than last time against Ng. And that, perhaps, bodes well for the county tournament.
