Coquitlam Tennis Club Junior Program 2016: 1 Gold, 1 Silver + 3 Bronze

Victoria Road Trip | Two sets of brothers came on this spring break trip to the Island, and everyone left on Sunday afternoon with one or two medals around their necks. Steven Shen, who turned fourteen on the first day of this trip, came away with the best results. Seeded number 2 in the boys under 14 singles, he defeated the top seeded player Ben Kirsh of Vancouver in the final in three sets 6-4, 3-6, 6-0. He also teamed up with his doubles partner, Alex Baumann, to compete in the boys under 18 doubles event. They played solid doubles in the early rounds, defeating the number 2 seeded team of Alden Eakins of Mill Bay and Graham Huelscher of Burnaby 6-2, 6-3 in the quarter-finals. In the semi-finals, they found themselves playing against their respective older siblings, Daniel and William. They won their big brothers-vs-little brothers battle and moved on to face the number one seeded team of Harman Gosal and Mark Nguyen in the final. This was their third doubles finals out of the three tournaments they had played in over the past few months. They won both their previous doubles finals. Having already played five matches over the last 48 hours, Alex's single blister on his right palm had increased to five. Playing his sixth and only match on the third day, he had trouble gripping his racquet handle through the match. Alex could not generate much pace off his forehand or serves with power nor handled his opponents power shots. This prevented this team from a more contested final as they were soundly beaten 6-1, 6-1.

Alex Baumann's blister on his right palm were made worse in his first round of his under 16 singles match against Ryan Petropoulos of Calgary. After finding himself down 6-3 in the first set, he fought back through the pain from his blister and broken racquet strings to take the second set 7-5. In the third set, the pain from the blister grew too much to handle and he lost it 6-3. The next day, he faced Victor Shang of Victoria in the consolation round. With the blister still tender on his palm, he found himself down 1-3 early in the first set. The blister had bled. He knew he should re-grouped quickly or risk loosing the match. The fourteen year old pushed past the pain and reeled off the next 11 of 12 games to take the match 6-3, 6-1. He has a blood covered over-grip to show for his effort. Playing in a heavily band-aid palm and fingers in his next match against Harman Gosal of Vancouver, Alex led 4-3 in the first set. And he led again in the second set at 5-4. Both times Gosal came back to win the set. Alex lost 4-6, 5-7..

Two week shy of his 16th birthday, Daniel Shen was seeded number 3 in the under 16 singles draw. He powered his way through the first two rounds. He demolished Joshua Piemontesi of Nanimo 6-0, 6-0, in his first match and then Matija Ivaz of Victoria 6-0, 6-1 in the quarter-finals. In his semi-final match, he faced the number one seeded player Mark Nguyen of Vancouver. After giving up the first set easily, he put up a harder challenge and took the number one seed to a tie-breaker. Daniel eventually lost the match 1-6, 6-7. Playing for third and fourth placing, he defeated the number four seed Patrick Hall in a tight three setter with a score of 3-6, 7-6, 10-3 in the third set super-tie breaker.

The under 18 singles draw had been re-configured into a round-robin contest. 16 year old William Baumann beat Colin Lippert of North Saanich 6-2, 7-5 in his first singles match. He lost his second match in three sets against Sam Smyth of Victoria. Smyth won 7-5, 3-6, 6-3. His third singles match was another three setter for him. This time he came through the match with a 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 score over Piers Zdan of Victoria. In his final round robin singles match, he was up against Alden Eakins. Willie last played against Eakins at the grass court tournament in Duncan the summer before where he had beaten him in straight sets. This time Eakins was the much improved player and took the match from Willie in a 6-1, 6-3 scoreline.

After losing their under 18 doubles match against their younger brothers the previous day, Willie and Daniel fought hard to take third place over Ryan Petropoulos and Piers Zdan. After splitting the first two set 6-7 and 6-2, Willie and Daniel took the deciding super-tiebreaker at 11-9.

Boys' under 14 singles podium medalists: from left to right, Ben Kirsh, Steven Shen, and Nyles Moisson

Boys' under 18 doubles podium medalists: from left to right, Steven Shen, Alex Baumann, Mark Nguyen, Harman Gosal, William Baumann, and Daniel Shen