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Show Miners Squeeze By Bugway for Championship I ' v"- - . . - -' 'I I t K -' ..." t ! Whew! The Miners won the State Championship May 15 at the Park City Racquet Club but not before coach Dave Chaplin had 5,000 new grey hairs and five years added to his life. The matches were closer than close. And the finals came down to two teams Park City ,.nd Dugway. They stood toe to toe, tace face and squared off for the final time this season. Park City and Dugway were pitted against each other again in a tournament where there were no tomorrows. The entire Miner team were in the finals and Dugway also had everyone there except its number one singles player John Bate, who lost his first round match to Montecello's Brett Jones. The loss of Bate hurt Dugway who went in to the final round trailing Park City by three points. To win the title all the Miners had to do was win two of the five final matches. Surely the Region 11 champs could come away with at least two wins. They were in the driver's seat. But number one singles player -Darrick Olsen dropped his match to Greg McDonald of St. Joseph 7-6, 3-6, 6-4. Olsen had beaten McDonald twice this year. Dugway's Jack Bruce ambused Park City's Shawn Glieden 6-4, 6-2, in the number two singles. And all of a suddon Dugway was down by only one point with three matches to go. The realization that Dugway may be taking the championship home with them struck the pro-Miner supporters there and the racquet club started buzzing. Mustang coach George Bruce, who was so wound up that he could not walk onto the courts to watch the kids play, keep his distance by staying in the clubhouse and nervously walking back and forth with a yellow slip of paper wrought between his hands. The paper had the point totals as the matches progressed and the odds of winning kept dancing through Bruce's head. Chaplin, on the other hand, outwardly was calm as he strolled the courts but on the inside he turned tumultously. "I was nervous since 8 o'clock this morning, and I haven't calmed down yet," Chaplin said. The number one doubles team of Ted Bird and Mike Jarosz finished first, defeating Dugway's Joe Mohammed and Sam Liddard 6-3, 7-6 (7-1 in the Paul Dyer, number three singles seed watches as his opponent's shot goes long. tiebreaker). lobs and served well. While c 1 xa: i i ,i r ju me miiicib icau was upped to three. They had a little breathing room. Now the Mustangs had to win the number three singles and number two double matches for the championship. "Beating Park City in those last two matches will be like walking on the Dead Sea," said Mustang coach Bruce as he went back to check the point total again. Dugway's Troy Carney downed Paul Dyer in the final singles contest 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 and Park City's doubles team of Collyn Adamson and Scott Piraglio lost the first set to Steve Lundy and Kevin McMinn 6-4. Lundy and McMinn took control of the second set and were leading 5-3 one game away from a championship. Adamson and Piraglio did not seem like themselves. They looked tight and a bit . drawn. What was once fun now looked like work. Lundy played brilliantly at the net. Anything hit off his racquet was gold, an instant point. The Miners duo was playing into Dugway's hands. Instead of lobbing long, to keep the ball away from Lundy, they challenged him short and were getting burned. Then all of a sudden the Miners started playing smart tennis and tied it at 5-5. They broke service for a 6-5 lead and helf for a 7-5 win. "We should have had them in the second set," said George Bruce of the number two doubles game. "But we let them off the hook." Adamson and Pirraglio relaxed more in the third set as if the pressure was off. They played more consistently, used longer rnings were going wen Tor the Miners the Mustang duo were having their problems. Lundy lost his touch and his returns were either wide or did not make it over the net. McMinn looked tired and many of his returns were weak or wild. The Miners marched through the thrid set 6-1 and bought the state championship to Park City for the first time in 80 years. "I was astounded we did in fact win the championship. The 11 realization is a shock," Chaplin said. "It is one of the things that you want the kids to do but you don't dare think about it that much." Chaplin praised the performance by Bird and -Jarosz calling it "a dynamic round of tennis". "Unlike most good tennis players Bird and Jarosz don't wait for the other team to make mistakes," Chaplin said. "They hit winners which is probably the most exciting type of tennis to watch." Dugway's Bruce survived a rugged semifinal game against Montecello's Mark McCauley, who had a monster serve and kept coming at Bruce. In his game against Glieden, whom he had beaten twice this year, Bruce was ready. "Bruce is a fine player who has some skills that some of our kids don't have," Chaplin said. "He can hit the ball under circumstances that technically he shouldn't be able to. He swings when he should punch and is able to Please Turn to Page 4B Miners Iest in state Continued from Page 2B attack from the mick' -: of the court instead of being right at the net.' McDonald's win over Olsen was disheartening for Park City's number one singles player. He had beaten McDonald twice this vcar in verv close matches but just ran out of gas in the third set and McDonaid was still hitting winners. Both players bore the fatigue of a 10 hour tournament but McDonald's shots were dropping in just inches inside the boundary and he worked Oslen unmercifully from side to side. Olsen's backhand seemed to leave him and his on-e long, low baseline strokes grew shorter. "Da r rick worked extremely hard in his first and second matches and expended a tremendous amount of energy," Chaplin said. "He didn't quit though and played with everything he had left." I |