PHS sends two doubles teams to state finals

CHARLESTON -- There's nothing fun about playing Class AAA tennis in the state of West Virginia.

Ask any of the coaches from the Mountain State Athletic Conference or Region IV for confirmation.

Answers will come quick and be quite concise.

The message?

Yes, yes, it is tough.

And it stayed that way Friday inside the Charleston Tennis Club as the top classification in the state sorted out who would meet for the 14 state championships up for grabs today. Balls zipped through the air. Cheers went up from the crowd. And players left it all on the court, even if not everyone made it to the final match of the season.

You can bet Parkersburg High took part in all of it.

The Big Reds may only be sending the two No. 3 doubles teams to the state final, but everyone gave a yeoman's effort. From Jacob Boone and Isabel Bhati to all three doubles groups, no one wanted to be left out of Championship Saturday.

Boone, Bhati, along with Dylan Huynh were good examples.

The No. 1 boys' singles player drew his expected match up with George Washington's Rohen Jones at the same time Huntington's AJ Mercer began his semifinal. Mercer won his match 6-0, 6-1 and the match after him played deep into the second set, but Boone and Jones played on. Reminded of his mission to win a state championship against good friend Jones, the Patriot never let Boone breathe and finally claimed victory at 6-1, 6-2.

"Rohen is just playing on a different level right now. Is he playing on AJ's level? I don't know. But the score of Jacob and his match doesn't do the action justice," Olson said.

The same can be said for Bhati.

"When you go down 6-2 it is easy to give up. But Lily and Isabel both called injury timeouts in the second match, and you could tell they were really going all out. The reality in the third set is that Isabel had game point in games 2, 3 and 4 and losing those games was just too much of an obstacle to overcome," Olson said.

Then came the No. 1 doubles match.

Teammates Jacob Boone and Dylan Huynh faced perhaps the most confident No. 1 doubles team in the state in the semifinals. Cabell Midland's Alex and Aiden Cottrell were riding high after an 8-2 win over the George Washington duo of Rohen Jones and Alex Stacy in the quarterfinal. That moment clearly continued into the matchup against the Big Reds.

Knights' shots fell exactly where they needed to and there was little the Big Reds duo could do. They fought and did not give up, but Cottrell and Cottrell would not be denied their 6-2, 6-2 win.

Finally, and as the day got late Sofia Olson and Ashley Welshans took the court alongside male counterparts Levi Frashure and Simon Strobl.

Strobl and Frashure started out a little shaky up going up 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 but eventually they took Olson's advice to just relax and play smart for a 6-2, 6-0 victory.

Olson and Welshans never blinked against Spring Mills' duo. They won 6-0, 6-1.

"They have a tremendous chance as a freshman and sophomore to win a state title. I hope today gave them the confidence to go do so," Olson said.

Olson obviously wishes he could take everyone to the final matches, but he couldn't say anything negative about the effort from his players.

"They played wonderful. I can't complain how they played. I am proud of everyone and hope Levi and Simon along with Sophia and Ashley can take home state titles tomorrow," Olson said.