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HERSHEY -- Max Lauver achieved a program first in the annuals of Juniata tennis on Friday.
The senior netter defeated District 2 Champion Akhilesh Velaga of Scranton Prep to advance in the opening round of the PIAA 2A singles tournament held at the Hershey Racket Club.
Lauver triumphed in straight sets (6-4, 6-2) over the freshman Cavalier.
"I came into this with a lot of confidence," said an elated Lauver. "This was a big goal for me. I blocked the tiredness out of my head and kept pushing forward. It's really exciting to get past the first round."
Juniata's head coach was pleased the hard work paid off for Lauver.
"Max always works hard," said Indians coach Sheri Landis. "We started practicing (for state) on Tuesday, and I told him his shots were falling short and if you were going to win in state your shots are going to need your shots to drop deeper. He worked hard all week on getting those shots to drop deeper and I was so pleased to see that, and it paid off for him."
The match opened with what turned out to be its longest games as the score went to deuce four times.
Twice Velaga held the advantage, but Lauver hung tough, battled back to get advantage and win when a Velaga lob hit the roof.
"The first game is really important, because if you lose the first game, you are having negative thoughts and questioning your game," said Lauver. "I had to do everything I could to win that first game and that put me in a good spot. I won the toss and wanted to serve because if you win the first game, it puts pressure on them to hold serve."
Velaga initially held serve to even things up at 1-1, but Lauver took the next three to grab a 4-1 advantage. The Cavalier battled back to pull within 4-3, but Lauver executed effective drop shots and overhand lobs to take game 8 and clinch the set two games later.
"Win the first set is big," said Lauver. "Your opponent has to win two in a row to beat you and it gives you a jolt of energy."
The energized Indian claimed the first game of the second set as well, but Velaga battled back to tie things at 2-2.
Lauver finished strong taking the last four games to claim the match utilizing a devastating serve and large amount of close to the net play.
"In the second set, I couldn't miss on my serve and I tried to go to the net a little more and put pressure on him because I observed he was a little weaker at the net. I am very comfortable going to the net your opponent can see it in their peripheral vision and it applies a lot of pressure."
Lauver was also part of a team that advanced in the PIAA doubles tournament his freshman year.
Big Red also had a doubles team in this year's tournament.
Unfortunately the singles momentum was non-transferable as the Indian duo fell in straight sets by identical 6-1 scores.
Seniors Adam French and Gavin Kint fell to Dallas's Chesman brothers (Kyle and Tucker).
The pair started strong posting a love service game to get a quick 1-0 advantage, but just as quickly things went sideways. The Mountaineer duo asserted their dominance and never looked back cruising to the relative easy victory.
"The first game went better than I expected," acknowledged French. "They were slated to be the number one top team, so our goal was to win one game, and we won two. I was trying to make my serves really good due to their power return game and I think we were going for a little too much."
"I was trying to get my serves so they weren't going to slam it down our throats on return," said Kint, "but it might have been too much. We did our best."
"(French and Kint) won some points and they were playing two boys who having been training in Florida for the last few years and it shows. They play tennis full time and are very good players. I thought we played well under the circumstances.