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The deck was stacked against Lone Peak sophomore Tyler Loong in his semifinal match against Alta's Landon Barlow Saturday morning in the 5A state boys tennis tournament at Liberty Park in Salt Lake.
He trailed 5-3 in the deciding third set with his opponent serving for the match. His legs had been cramping up for much of the last few games, limiting his mobility and resulting in poorer shots.
But Loong wasn't ready to concede -- far from it.
The sophomore broke Barlow's serve, then held his own serve to tie things up at five games apiece. He followed that with another break and then pushed the Hawk to the edge.
Twice Barlow managed to stave off match points but the third time was the charm for Loong as he finished off the thrilling three-hour match with the 6-7 (5-7), 6-1, 7-5 win and advanced to the finals.
"I just kept battling," Tyler Loong said. "It was a great feeling when I finally got the win."
His older brother Spencer Loong put himself in the opposite position, cruising through his semifinal match against Viewmont's Landon Peay without giving up a game.
But those were the only two highlights in the final day of the tournament for Utah Valley participants and Lone Peak specifically.
The Knights fell in both championship matches and also lost their other two semifinals, winding up in third place overall behind first-place Brighton and Hillcrest. Lehi's Devan Dean also lost in the semifinals.
"Realistically, we knew it would be tough up here with Brighton, Hillcrest, Bingham and us," said Lone Peak head coach John La Cognata. "They're all very deep teams and everyone had different strategies. We chose not to stack out doubles teams, to just come at Brighton with best we've got but they were up to the challenge."
After his three-hour marathon, Tyler Loong ran out of gas against Bengal Spencer Smith, falling 6-4, 6-1.
"The first match took a lot out of me," Tyler Loong said. "I'm not accustomed to playing that long. He kept me moving, which was smart. But I'm satisfied with my performance. I lost in the final to the toughest player in the state."
Dean, the only non-Lone Peak Utah County participant to make it through to Day No. 2, represented the Pioneers well but lost in the semifinals to Smith in straight sets.
Spencer Loong made his Brighton opponent Corbin Benson work but couldn't pull it out, losing 6-3, 6-3.
"He's a tough player and when you play against a player like that, you have to consistently play at a high level," Spencer Loong said. "I had times when I was playing well but I couldn't keep at the level I needed to to beat him.
"I'm really happy with how I played, though. There's nothing that I could regret. I held nothing back."
The Knights hoped to make up some ground in the No. 1 doubles competition but Zach Dastrop and Jeff Oviatt of Hillcrest proved to be too much for Mike Nielsen and Clark Sheffield, earning the 6-7 (6-8), 6-2, 6-1 win.
The Huskies eventually took the state titles in the No. 1 doubles division, which was enough to push them past Lone Peak for second place.
Brighton handily defended their 5A title by sweeping the singles positions, wracking up 21 points in the process.
La Cognata said that he wasn't surprised with the results but wished the seniors could've ended their high school careers on a higher note.
"It would've been nice if we could've sent out the seniors with individual titles," the Lone Peak head coach explained. "Spencer Loong has been a class act for us for four years and a team captain for two. You couldn't have asked anything more of him."
Spencer Loong said the team overall would've liked to have performed a little better.
"We knew what our expectations were, that they were set high," he said. "We wanted to meet those but we had a couple of tough matches and we weren't able to pull through. Players were playing well but the competition in 5A is tough."
Jared Lloyd can be reached at
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Results
5A state boys tennis tournament -- Day No. 2
Team scores
1. Brighton, 21
2. Hillcrest, 15
3. Lone Peak, 13
7. Lehi, 4
8. (tie) Pleasant Grove, 3
10. (tie) Spanish Fork, 2
14. (tie) Timpanogos, 1
No. 1 singles
Semifinals
Tyler Loong (LP) def. Landon Barlow (Alta), ; Spencer Smith (Br) def. Devan Dean (Lehi), 6-1, 6-1.
Finals
Smith (Br) def. Loong (LP), 6-4, 6-1.
No. 2 singles
Semifinals
Spencer Loong (LP) def. Landon Peay (Vm), 6-7 (5-7), 6-1, 7-5; Corbin Benson (Br) def. Justin Benson (Bi), 6-0, 6-0.
Finals
Benson (Br) def. S. Loong (LP), 6-3, 6-3.
No. 3 singles
Semifinals
Bridger Dallimore (Hc) def. Jon Nilson (LP), 6-4, 6-3; Grant Taylor (Br) def. Dylan Harrison (Bi), 6-1, 6-2.
Finals
Taylor (Br) def. Dallimore (Hc), 6-1, 6-0.
No. 1 doubles
Semifinals
Zach Dastrop/Jeff Oviatt (Hc) def. Mike Nielsen/Clark Sheffield (LP), 6-7 (6-8), 6-2, 6-1; Jeff Peterson/Steven Balls (Bi) def. Ben Tasevec & Dennie Clark (Sky), 7-5, 6-7 (7-9), 6-4.
Finals
Peterson/Balls (Bi) def. Dastrop/Oviatt (Hc), 5-7, 7-5, 7-5.
No. 2 doubles
Semifinals
Brett Hashimoto/Jamison Meiling (Hc) def. Spencer Nielsen/Alex Cannon (Br), 6-4, 6-2; Evan Bonar/Luke Shunk (Sky) def. Alex Dial/Troy Winder (Bi), 7-6 (7-4), 6-3.
Finals
Hashimoto/Meiling (Hc) def. Bonar/Shunk (Sky), 6-3, 6-4. Discuss this article on the forums. (0 posts) |
