ALTAMONTE SPRINGS — Temperatures soared near 90 degrees Wednesday as dozens of spectators lined the tennis court fences at Sanlando Park to watch the war of attrition in the No. 3 singles match between Matanzas’ Stanislav Valenteychik and Innovation’s Andrew Gomez.
The stakes were simple. With both schools tied at 3, a Valenteychik victory pushes the unseeded Pirates to the state semifinals with an upset over the tournament’s No. 1 overall seed. If Gomez wins, the Bulls advance.
“That’s the most people I think I’ve had watching me at once,” Valenteychik said. “I know there was Innovation, Nease, my team, and a couple other teams were cheering for me.”
Valenteychik, after dropping the first set 4-6, led 3-2 when the heat started getting to Gomez, who had required a medical check at the previous changeover. Then he started cramping, and the resulting back-to-back delay-of-game penalties gave Valenteychik the winning point for a 4-2 lead and forced Gomez to forfeit the next game.
Down 5-2 and limping, Gomez didn’t attempt to return anything from Valenteychik, and the two headed to a 10-point tiebreaker to decide the game, set, match and meet.
It wasn’t easy for Valenteychik, who went down 0-3 after Gomez found his legs. Even when the Pirate led 9-7, Gomez responded to knot the tiebreak at 9.
But finally, after several match points all in Valenteychik’s favor, Gomez sailed a forehand past the baseline.
Final score: 4-6, 6-2 [12-10] Valenteychik. The Matanzas Pirates beat No. 1 Innovation 4-3 to advance to the 3A Final Four.
“It felt amazing,” Valenteychik said. “I was thinking of throwing my racket, but they talked about a code violation, so I didn’t do that. But it just felt so great, and especially with everyone watching at that time.”
While Valenteychik’s triumph was the clincher, Matanzas wouldn’t have been in a position to win without its three previous victories.
The Pirates’ No. 1 singles player, Daniel Patsula, cruised to a 6-0, 6-2 victory over Innovation’s Corbin Grant. But it was the two doubles victories to start the afternoon that were the difference, according to Matanzas’ head coach Jens Oliva.
The No. 1 pair of Patsula and Owen Brady took down Corbin and Gomez 4-2, 4-2. Valenteychik played another marathon that was decided via tiebreaker with teammate Adam Stochel Polubiec, ultimately ending in a 4-2, 0-4 [10-5] win in favor of the Pirates against the Bulls’ Ernesto del Valle and Rafael Daher.
“That was our main focus, making sure that we won the doubles,” Oliva said. “If we don’t win the doubles, then it’s gonna be a tough road for us.”
And Oliva’s game plan was correct. Other than Patsula’s easy win and Valenteychik’s walk-off, Innovation took the other three singles matches. Del Valle beat Stochel Polubiec 6-2, 6-1 at No. 2 singles, Daher beat Brady 6-0, 6-0 at No. 4, and Jose Calcedo beat Alexander Engblom 6-0, 6-1 at No. 5.
But it wasn’t enough for the Bulls, and the Pirates improved to 18-0 with a date against also-unseeded Winegrass Ranch in Thursday’s semifinals. If Matanzas wins that, it’ll play for a state championship later Thursday versus the winner of No. 2 seed Chiles and No. 3 seed Osceola.
“They’re a one seed for a reason, and we beat them. So, who’s the one seed now?” Valenteychik said.
Two Seabreeze players compete as individuals
Sandcrabs Jeffrey Martin and Hunter Shuler also competed individually.
Martin competed in the No. 1 singles bracket after winning a district championship. Martin’s bid for an individual state title came to a close with a 6-3, 6-3 loss to Heritage’s Linus Mattheis in the Round of 16.
Martin also played as half of a Seabreeze doubles pair with Shuler after the two also won a No. 1 doubles district championship. After earning a bye to the quarterfinals, Martin and Shuler were beaten 6-1, 6-0 by the No. 2-seeded pair of William Chaves and Charles Neal from Nease.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Matanzas boys tennis upsets No. 1 Innovation to advance to state semis
Reporting by Zach Allen, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
