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One step away: Despite beating Boyd, Allen fails to make regionals after playback loss to East
BY Kevin Hageland, khageland@starlocalnews.com
The Allen team tennis season came to an end Thursday via a 10-6 loss to Plano East.
But just making it to a playback, with the winner advancing to this weekend's Region II Tournament in Tyler, served as one of the season-defining moments for the Eagles.
To do so, Allen (which beat Plano Senior in the opening round, 10-1, and lost to Plano West in the semifinals, 10-3) had to first defeat McKinney Boyd, a team it lost to in the regular season, in last Wednesday's third-place match.
"I was so proud of this team," said Justin Quest, Allen head coach. "We played really well."
Allen took a 4-3 lead in doubles with straight-set wins from Nicole Goodman/Jessica Limjuco (No. 2 girls), Kari Helgeson/Janesse Birdsong (No. 3 girls), Andrew Miller/Josh McKinney (No. 2 boys) and Nick Pena/Andrew Ho (No. 3 boys). Miller and McKinney put up the most lopsided result of the day (6-0, 6-1).
"We had a really good effort in doubles," Quest said. "Miller and McKinney haven't lost since they've been at the No. 2 line, so they played real well again, and then Goodman and Limjuco did an excellent job following the game plan."
In the waning stages of the five-hour match, Allen found itself at a 9-8 deficit in the race to 10 despite straight-set singles victories from Besa Bwalya (No. 2 girls), Helgeson (No. 4 girls), Pena (No. 4 boys) and Ho (No. 6 boys).
The tying point came from McKinney (No. 2 boys).
"That match was so key," Quest said. "[Boyd's Braden Lowes] is a good player with a big serve, but Josh is one of those kids that always fights until the end; he makes his opponent battle for every point."
McKinney won the first set, 6-3, but Lowes took the second, 7-5. A third set tiebreaker was eventually necessary with McKinney winning, 7-6, to even the dual match. That outcome put all the focus on the No. 5 boys line where Allen's Daniel Betten took the opening set, 6-1, and Boyd's Aaron Mead won the second, 6-4.
"It was a great atmosphere; I'd say the most fun match of the year," Quest said. "All the kids were watching, so you had a cheer or chant going after every point."
In that match, Quest discovered his team's best attribute during the fall.
"We grew a ton with our cheering and all the off-court stuff this semester," he said. "That's a big part of any team tennis match, but it can be monumental in those close matches."
That was evident last Wednesday as the Allen cheering and play of Betten led to a 6-2 win in the third and 10-9 Eagles victory.
While that match took place, so did Plano East-West for the district title.
If the Eagles won and the Panthers lost, which they did, 10-4, a playback for the final regional spot would be necessary.
"In our district there isn't a big difference between us, Boyd and Allen, so you know the fourth-place team can beat second," said Don Allen, East head coach. "And we knew this was a win or the season would be over type of situation, so I told the kids to go out there and show we were the better team."
"Beating Boyd was such an emotional win, so it was a tough turnaround to play East the next day," Quest added. "But our team was focused; they knew we had one more match to go and I don't think we had any letdowns against East."
What Allen did have, however, was trouble closing three-set matches.
There were five in doubles and the Panthers won four of them to take a 5-2 lead at the turn.
"That was really huge for us," Allen said.
East won five singles matches as well, with the final one coming from Vishal Menon, to clinch the Panthers first trip to regionals since 2003.
"It was more relief than a huge celebration," Allen said.
In the wake of that loss, the Eagles found hope going forward.
"I think we will move into the spring season with a positive attitude," Quest said. "We grew so much this semester, with almost an entirely new set of players. We had four or five freshmen consistently in the lineup and then another three or four watching all season and that is something that will pay dividends for us in the long run."
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