Close call for Columbus Academy
Jung, Kundur fall in third-set tiebreaker
Facing a doubles team that featured a player who placed three times at state in singles, Columbus Academy’s Ryan Jung and Shrikar Kundur were within a few tiebreaker points of taking home the Division II championship yesterday at Ohio State.
Not bad for a duo who featured one player who had never been to state in Kundur and another in Jung who had never been past the second round.
The pair lost to Cincinnati Country Day’s Patrick Wildman and Kevin Yu 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (3) in the final.
“That was epic,” coach Jeff Warstler said. “It’s disappointing and devastating to lose 7-6 in the third, but the guys fought their tails off.”
Jung and Kundur defeated Beachwood’s Brett Dubin and Karan Gill 6-0, 6-1 to advance to the final against Country Day, which finished first and second in singles and also had a third player in Wildman who was the state runner-up each of the past two seasons. Wildman was third in 2011.
After Jung and Kundur bounced back to win the second set, Country Day held serve just twice and Columbus Academy once during the third set.
The Vikings led 6-5, but Country Day broke serve to force the tiebreaker.Academy led 3-2 in the tiebreaker before Wildman and Yu reeled off five consecutive points to win the match.Keeping Wildman from dictating play was among the focuses for the Vikings, and they did so for most of the match.
“I thought they just performed better than us in the tiebreaker and made more shots,” Jung said. “It was a battle and a journey to get here.”
Columbus Academy is competing in the team tournament today at Reynoldsburg.
“(The Country Day team) stepped up big,” Kundur said. “We wanted to hit our shots and not let them push us around.”
Also competing at state was the New Albany
“It’s disappointing and devastating to lose 7-6 in the third, but the guys fought their tails off.”— Jeff Warstler, Columbus Academy coach
doubles team of juniors C.J. Cash and Alex Kobelt in Division I.
Cash and Kobelt lost to eventual champions Nakul Narendran and Mustafa Ahmad 7-6 (5), 7-6 (4) in a tight semifinal before bouncing back to defeat Mason’s Nadim Boulos and Sean Reid 6-3, 6-0 for third place.
“They were just hitting their shots cleaner and were painting the lines,” Kobelt said. “I felt like we were playing really well. Losing 7-6, 7-6 is a hard one."
New Albany coach Marc Thomas was pleased with how Kobelt and Cash responded after losing the semifinal.
“They (improved) consistently for the last three weeks of this tournament,” Thomas said. “They did everything we have asked as coaches. They’ve continuously gotten better. I can’t be prouder of these guys. They do all the little things right, and that’s what any great player does. There are no weaknesses. They play solid doubles, make shots when they need them and they’re great competitors. They came through when they needed to.”