Sunday, March 26, 2017
By Brian Dzenis
BOARDMAN
Garrett Gardner has some history with the Boardman Tennis Center and added another fond memory Saturday.
The Poland native — a junior at Valparaiso — defeated Youngstown State’s Luke Purser in a tiebreaker to clinch a 7-0 sweep against the Penguins.
Gardner won the first set and led 4-3 in the second before the sophomore from the United Kingdom rallied to take the second set.
Because the team portion of the competition was decided, the match went straight to tiebreakers instead of a third set.
“The biggest thing my coaches told me after that second set was to stay aggressive,” Gardner said. “It really just comes down to self-belief and motivating yourself to get those shots in the right spots.
“I was finally able to push him back on offense which caused him to try to out-hit me and anyone would struggle to do that.”
Gardner’s match was the last of the six singles matches to conclude. That gave Gardner’s former training partner, Penguins senior Mitch Maroscher, time to watch Gardner play. The Salem High School graduate was a bit conflicted.
“It was a little weird. It was a little strange. We both have feelings from our youth, but now it’s business,” Maroscher said. “We both have to support our school.”
The pair have squared off numerous times across youth and high school play. Gardner said he had never won against Maroscher in an official match. Neither player lobbied for a rematch Saturday and YSU coach Mickael Sopel wasn’t inclined to match them up.
“It doesn’t really work that way. You set your lineup on what you think will win, not to put the local guys together,” Sopel said. “Mitch was our No. 1 and [Gardner] was at the six-spot. It wouldn’t have been close based on where both guys are playing.”
Maroscher was matched up with Valpo’s Jeffrey Schorsch. The ex-Quaker led briefly in the first set, but Schorsch rallied to win 6-3. The Crusaders’ senior took the second set, 6-1.
“[Schorsch] turned his level on and he started playing with a heavier ball,” Maroscher said. “It was good to see what we’re up against for the conference tournament.”
Valparaiso (15-1) is the Horizon League’s reigning champion. YSU (12-6) is the only other team in the league with a winning record.
“We’re looking forward to playing that team again. It may be a 7-0 on paper, but if you look at the scores, there were a lot of tight scores,” Sopel said. “There were a lot of tough matches and I think we deserved better than this.”
Gardner’s presence made for a crowd at the Penguins’ first conference match of the season.
“I have some family members here. I had my friends from high school come here. I got texts this morning from people saying ‘we’re going to come see you. Go Valpo,’” Gardner said. “It’s kind of funny. We’re playing at an away match, but it felt like a home match.”
Gardner’s match excluded, Valpo won every singles match in straight sets. In doubles play, YSU didn’t get the point, but the Penguins weren’t completely swept.
Purser and Matthew Kritzinger were the lone victors for the home side as the pair took down Gardner and Kyle Dunn.
YSU will try to rebound this morning at 9 a.m. against the University of Illinois Chicago.
“I think we’ll do well. We got to play a good team and that will raise our level,” Maroscher said.