ALBIA — Lawrence Eyre’s first trip to Albia as a head tennis coach at Fairfield Maharishi ended with a hard-earned 5-4 win 37 years earlier.
In what might be his last trip to Albia as a Pioneer head coach, it was deja-vu all over again for Eyre as the MSAE girls were pushed to the final match by the Lady Dees in a dual that tested both teams physically and mentally.
Aparajita Kalra and Sohani Singh once again came through for the second straight meet for Maharishi, winning an 8-6 battle in the No. 2 doubles match against Brookelyn Spinler and Christa Gronewold securing a 5-4 decision for the Pioneer girls. It’s the third dual this season for Maharishi decided by a 5-4 score, the exact same score the MSAE boys won by against Albia back in 1988 at the exact same facility where Eyre made his debut as the school’s head tennis coach.
“Truthfully, I’m not sure if that dual also came down to the final match or not. It’s kind of lost in the mist of time,” Eyre said. “It took the same heart to get the same result. I’m really proud of our girls. They had to rise to the occasion.”
Singh made Eyre extremely proud after dropping an 8-4 decision in the No. 5 singles match to Gronewold, leaving the dual even at 3-3 heading into the three doubles matches. Singh scored on several big points in pivotal games at the net, helping snap a 4-4 tie in the No. 2 doubles match.
“For her to come back and tell herself that it was a brand-new match was impressive,” Eyre said. “She really had to help her partner out from being a little bit down.”
The Pioneers were able to pick up wins in each of the first three singles matches against Albia. Ria Alynska-Ross, the most experienced MSAE player, rolled to an 8-1 win over Ryleigh Birchmier in the top singles match before teaming up with Joyce Wang to win 8-4 in the top doubles match over Birchmier and Megan Teno, giving Maharishi a 4-3 lead in the dual.
“Even though there’s less people out for the team this year, our teamwork and the contributions of everyone encouraging each other to do our best definitely helps us have success,” Alynska-Ross said. “Communication is definitely the key to having a successful match.”
Kalra and Wang each secured tough 8-6 wins in singles play for the Pioneers. Albia, however, responded by winning the next three matches including an 8-0 shutout win by Lily Buckingham over Raine Yang in the No. 6 singles match.
“We’ve not only been able to practice outside, but we’ve been able to use Ryleigh’s indoor facility which has been nice when the weather has been bad,” Buckinghman said. “I like playing singles. I was a little nervous coming out for the first dual of the season. I kind of surprised myself. I’m really happy with my backhand. I was able to slow down and kept focusing on turning my racket over.”
Buckingham and Alya Green gave Albia a chance to win their opening dual of the season, taking an 8-1 victory in the No. 3 doubles match over Kathy Tang and Raine Yang leaving the dual in the hands of the final doubles match on the court. As the drama of the match unfolded, rain and wind began to increase forcing all four players to deal with the elements.
“We had to really survive it,” Eyre said. “Ironically, it was as calm as it had been all day right at the end of the match.”
Despite the loss, Albia head coach Brooke Bettis was encouraged by the all-around effort from her team. The Lady Dees have 10 seniors, including four that started in Monday’s season opener.
“We had three matches that could have gone either way,” Bettis said. “I feel like it was really good competition, but I feel like we came out more prepared this season than we did at the start of last season. It was fun. I tell them all the time that you can’t come out scared. The girls were confident and learned a lot.”
Maharishi (2-1) visits Mount Pleasant on Tuesday at East Lake Park starting at 4:30 p.m. Albia (0-1) heads to Davis County on Tuesday for a South Central Conference dual immediately following the boys dual between the Blue Demons and Mustangs.
