Freshman wins decisive match for Bulldogs

Batavia’s Josh Cogan returns a serve during Thursday’s meet at Geneva. Cogan won his match 6-0, 6-0.
(Tyler Stoffel/For The Beacon News)

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GENEVA -- Batavia freshman No. 3 singles player Drew Demars has been through it before.

Three times in his young varsity career, Demars has been in a position to win a dual meet for his team in a meet that came down to his match. That happened yet again Thursday against Geneva, and Demars survived to give the Bulldogs a 4-3 win in the Western Sun Conference opener for both teams.

With the other six matches already finished with a 3-3 score, Demars and Geneva freshman West Adelman were locked in a tight duel. It came down to a tiebreaker, and Demars won the match, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7-4) to give the win to the Bulldogs.

"Towards the end of the third set, I really felt like I could push through," said Demars, whose knee was bloodied from a diving play in the third set. "I didn't want to let my team down. I saw that we were both getting tired, so I tried to work him back and forth as much as I could, not let him get too many opportunities. It was a real fun match. It made my day, for sure."

Demars could have ended it before the tiebreaker, but saw a shot that would have given him a 6-4 win hit the tape. Adelman recovered to win that point and the next two points to force the tiebreaker and opened a 4-2 lead in the tiebreaker. But five straight unforced errors gave the tiebreaker, the match and the meet to Demars and the Bulldogs.

"He's improved every match," Geneva coach Peter Burkhardt said of Adelman. "It's just a matter of finishing strong. The kids started getting tired at the end and it's a matter of who wants it more. The match could have gone either way, really. It's just a matter of hitting shots when the pressure is on at that point."

Freshman No. 1 singles player Josh Cogan (10-1) got things started for Batavia (6-2 overall, 1-0 WSC) with a swift, 6-0, 6-0 win over David Ta. Alex Haizman gave the Bulldogs a singles sweep at No. 2 with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 win over Collin Rapp.

"The last couple of years, I haven't won a third set, but this year, I've been in three or four and I've won them all, so I'm confident going for harder shots," Haizman said.

Geneva (8-3, 0-1) flexed its muscle in doubles play. The Vikings rolled to straight-set wins at the first three doubles positions, led by Wes Kappel and Rich Michaels at No. 1 with a 6-2, 6-1 win. But the swing match in doubles play came at No. 4.

Batavia's Ethan Carlson and Kyle Stiffler had not won a match all season, but survived for a key, 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 win over Cooper Sartell and Peter Legrand that wound up being crucial to the Bulldogs' win.

"Right now, I'm pretty ecstatic," Batavia coach Bob Kummer said. "It's a nice win for our program. They have a great program. I was just sitting here thinking about how many battles we've had against them in my career. This is one that will stay with me for a long time."