Who are you calling a Tree?
But apparently being called a Tree on the tennis courts isn’t quite as flattering.
“It’s an insult,” explained West Holmes junior and 2010 Division II State singles runner-up Rachel Nelson after dropping her first set against Mollie Miller of Portsmouth 4-6 and being hit with that very insult (and even worse) by her Lady Trojans opponent, during the championship match of the DII East-Southeast combined District tournament, in Athens, on Monday, Oct. 17. “It means I’m lucky and don’t really do anything to win. My skill level isn’t that good, but for some reason I’m lucky that day.”
Oops, not a good idea Mollie Miller – a heavy hitter prone to mistakes, who was beaten by Nelson in another heated three set District championship match a year ago – as her Lady Knights opponent started playing with fire coursing through her veins, storming back to win the next two sets 6-0, 6-2 to repeat as District champion and advance to the DII State singles tournament as a number one seed, Friday, Oct. 21 and Saturday, Oct. 22 at the Stickney Tennis Center, on the campus of The Ohio State University.
And make no mistake, insulting Nelson really was a costly error in judgment by Miller who only compounded her own unforced errors on the court by needlessly stoking the West Holmes junior, who had beaten Sarah Nestor of Washington Courthouse/Miami Trace 6-0, 6-0 in round one, and Melli Martin of Chesapeake 6-1, 6-1 to advance to the District championship match.
“I get angry and then it seems to fire me up,” said Nelson, who actually defeated every single opponent she faced this season in mundane straight sets fashion, except for longtime nemesis Courtney Earnest of Lexington (whom she bested in three), prior to stepping on the court against Miller. “I’m a competitor and I do play better when I’m fired up. At the beginning of the third set she really started to aggravate me” – likening Nelson to something that rhymes with “ditch,” in a move that should have resulted in points being taken away under Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) guidelines.
“But I can’t outhit her, there’s no way. She hits it so hard and it takes a while to get used to that. I’m definitely not as strong so I had to wait for opportunities.”
“Miller is a big hitter and if she’s on, you’re done,” agreed seventh-year West Holmes head coach Jason Otto who was disappointed that Portsmouth’s coach didn’t enforce a points penalty against her player for the use of poor on-court language. “She hits like a high school guy and when she’s on you can’t hit it back. But eventually she’ll start making errors.”
And she did, both with her racquet and her mouth, adding a little excitement to a match played solely for seeding purposes, and a match which Nelson admitted is “a little more fun,” than the seemingly effortless wins she picked up throughout the regular season.
But if Nelson really wanted excitement, all she had to do was look over to the doubles courts down in Athens where second-seeded West Holmes seniors, and twin sisters, Brittany and Jenna Polen fell behind the fourth-seeded pairing from Logan Elm 1-5 during the first set of their opening round match, before battling back to win the set 7-5, and secure the match with a 6-4 win in set two.
“You know us, we’ve got to make it interesting,” they told Otto, as they continued a trend during which they had to rally from a 1-4 third-set deficit during the Dover Sectionals to even reach the District tournament, and nearly secured a number one District seeding when they climbed out of a 2-5 hole in the third-set of the Sectional championship match, only to fall in a tiebreaker.
With the first round win in Athens, Polen and Polen became only the third doubles pairing in West Holmes school history to reach the State-qualifying match, where they ran into another set of twins, in the 2010 State qualifying tandem of senior sisters Lauren and Madison Hoffman of Waverly High School.
“The first set of their second match was kind of a letdown after that tough first match,” said Otto, as Polen and Polen fell to Hoffman and Hoffman 6-1.
“There were times they played so well I think they could have beaten that team [Hoffman and Hoffman] if they were on the whole time,” the West Holmes coach added after watching Polen and Polen play a competitive second set before eventually losing 6-3, to bring their West Holmes playing careers to an end. “But they were just so up and down.”
Up and down, maybe, but they definitely weren’t Trees, and neither was Nelson.
In fact, what Miller and the rest of the State tournament draw should know is the only thing tree-like about Nelson on the tennis court lies within her family tree.
During her run to the State championship match a year ago, Nelson’s grandfather pointed out that it was the 16th time he had been down to Columbus to watch members of his family compete in the State tournament, including Nelson’s sister, aunt, cousins, and other members of the extended family.
And, frankly, that’s the kind of tree that shouldn’t be insulted on the tennis court.
Published: October 17, 2011
