Parkway Central Tennis Colts Fall To Eureka

In a rematch from last season’s Class 2 third place game, Eureka defeated the Colts 5-4.

Central lost all five doubles matches against the Wildcats, three of which counted towards the final tally.

The Colts altered the usual doubles line up, matching up junior, Jack Bridge with sophomore, Ani Gururaj instead of his usual partner Jacob Kanter who played alongside Jordan Bernstein. Throughout their match, Bridge shared strategies with Gururaj on footwork among other in-game tactics.

“Ani will use the mentorship from an experienced player like me” Bridge said. “I am helping Ani so that in the future he will be a better varsity player. “

On the singles side, the Colts outscored the Wildcats 4-2. Kanter defeated Matt Varner 6-2, 6-4 despite battling shin splints.

“The tape stops my shins from hurting but it limits my movement. It was difficult because it is hard for me to move, but my serve was dominating his return” Kanter said.  “I stepped out there and hit big serves. That’s all I needed.”

Bridge came out on the winning side of singles play as well. He admitted that his counterpart, Colin Mayer is a better doubles player than he is, but his experience in playing Mayer helped him prevail in the singles match.

“He hits the ball really hard, but today he was a little inconsistent. He ended up getting angry and missing shots” Bridge said.

Bernstein, who defeated Nick Bush 6-2, 6-2, returned to the court in September after surgically repairing his right shoulder from Thoracic Outlet Syndrome commonly known as nerve compression.

According to Bernstein, the transition hasn’t always been easy.

“It was definitely a different and an odd transition because these guys have been playing since last summer and I wasn’t able to” Bernstein said. “I feel ten times better since my shoulder is back to normal.”

The Colts are back on the court Saturday in Columbia, Missouri where they will take on Hickman and Rock Bridge.