Colonels squeak by Bulldogs

By: Dave Faries, Editor
Posted 5/12/21

Isaac and Simon Way admittedly expect to win their sets, especially when they team up for the doubles round.

“We know each other pretty well,” Isaac Way said, joking that Simon “has been …

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Colonels squeak by Bulldogs

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Isaac and Simon Way admittedly expect to win their sets, especially when they team up for the doubles round.

“We know each other pretty well,” Isaac Way said, joking that Simon “has been pretty lazy.”

The brothers from Atlanta made the difference on Monday as Missouri Military Academy edged Mexico at the Fairgrounds Park courts 5-4.

Isaac blanked Randy Hernandez in singles play, winning 2-0, with the match using a best two out of three scoring format. The Bulldogs’ Haden Frazier made a run at Simon after dropping the first game 6-0. In the end, Way managed to distance himself just enough to eke out a 6-4 game win to take the set.

In doubles play, Hernandez and Bryson Stuehmer were pitted against the brothers. Earlier in the season they had struggled to score. On Monday, they made a dent in the Way brothers’ invincibility, taking three games in the Pro 8 format, for a respectable 8-3 loss.

“They had us running,” Hernandez said. “But we had good communication.”

Simon Way has a wicked, breaking serve that he can unleash at any time. But the Bulldogs’ number one pairing managed to force several long volleys.

“I’m not disappointed in the way we played,” Stuehmer added.

Mexico was up 2-1 after the doubles round and had hope of capturing the overall win. The Colonels’ number five, Gorka Yarte, and six, Oscar Lopez, were unavailable. So Nathan Dempsey and Bradford Wright stepped into the lineup.

The Bulldogs’ Carter McIntosh and Brendan McKeown struggled at first, but finally pulled away, taking the set 8-4 over Wright and Marco Tavarez.

“They were good,” McIntosh observed. “But toward the end we picked it up.”

Haden Frazier and Ryan Pemberton had to rally to overcome MMA’s Dempsey and Samual Way. Down early by a small margin, the Mexico pair battled back but could not shake free.

Neither could the Colonels.

“It was a back and forth thing,” said Pemberton, who finally hammered the backbreaking blow – a laser shot that neither MMA player could reach. “I was just going for it, lining it up and smacking it.”

But that came in the tiebreaker after an 8-8 draw in regulation. The extra set proved more comfortable for Frazier and Pemberton, as the pulled away 7-3.

“The big guys at the net killed us,” Dempsey observed.

Both Bulldogs towered over the MMA duo, and smashes by Frazier and Pemberton wore the Colonels down in the extra set.

“Down to the wire again,” said Frazier, who has appeared in a number of thrillers this season. “They were pretty good, but as long as we didn’t hit it to the net person we were good.”

Singles is where things turned in the Colonels’ favor. Samuel Way, who as the season progressed has become equally adept at collecting wins as his brothers, held off McIntosh 6-1, 6-2 to put MMA up 4-2.

But Pemberton blanked Wright in two sets. And McKeown just managed to fend off Dempsey in a torrid battle. McKeown narrowly won the first set, 6-4. The second required an extra game before he dispatched Dempsey 7-5.

While these contests were playing out, Tavarez jumped on Stuehmer 6-1. But the Mexico senior recovered and began winning games through hustle and some clever racket work. But it was not enough, as Tavarez claimed a 6-4 win.

The Colonels are unbeaten as a team, sitting at 8-0 on the year – two of those victories coming at Mexico’s expense. They were scheduled to face Colombia Independent on Wednesday.

Mexico finished the regular season at 8-6. They took part in the NCMC conference tournament on Wednesday.


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