The pickleball team tied for first in the county championships last Wednesday, winning the Division II doubles tournament 2-1 in a thrilling nail-biter.

MCPS’s varsity program contains three divisions – Division I, Division II and an Open division without the rule of a corollary athlete to be paired up with a non-accommodational athlete.

WJ came into the championship as a reigning favorite after winning their regional championship. Freshmen Spencer Robinson and Owen Altman contested the Division I matches, while fellow freshman Rong Miao and Liam Snow took their shot at Division II. Both pairs needed to win two matches each to clinch the general classification, which was awarded to the team with the most wins.

The first match didn’t go their way as Robinson and Altman fell 2-0 to Damascus. Despite their loss, the duo held their heads high as freshmen competing at the most competitive level of their sport.

“I feel really great and it’s been an awesome season,” Robinson said. “We’re going to do this the next four years, and hopefully win this soon.”

Altman stated that he was still excited to cheer on his teammates, and they played a fair game.
“I’m a little disappointed in our loss, but Damascus really knew what they were doing by hitting to places we were weak,” he said.

Maybe that additional sense of comradery kicked in. Miao and Snow shut Northwood out in their first match, winning 2-0 and qualifying for the finals.

After two back-and-forth sets with Magruder, which resulted in a 1-1 score, Miao and Snow won the third set, clinching the Division II title. Their win, paired with Robinson and Altman’s third place, was enough to tie Damascus for first in the general classification.

“When we lost the second set, my heart was pumping so fast,” Miao said. “I was so scared we’d let everyone down.”

Snow credited communication with Miao and a strategy change to winning the third set.

“We identified the weaker player, and made sure to hit the ball their way and expose their weak spot.”

Coach Larry Bublick was asked what he thought of the strategy change.

“It wasn’t absolute aggressive play, but they had deeper returns, made the MacGruder players do too much, and slowly applied pressure until they were worn down,” Bublick said.

When asked about the general classification, Bublick said that wasn’t even a concern for him.

“I knew that if we won two matches, we had a shot, but honestly, I didn’t even think about it,” Bublick stated. “The most important thing was to help our players win and thrive.”