BOYS TENNIS: Bahney, McNaughton bring home state gold

HERSHEY>> Championships are seldom won with ease. There is usually a moment, a gut-check, where the pursuit could totter one way or the other, depending on the response.

For Elco's Adam Bahney and Galen McNaughton, seniors taking their last shot at tennis glory, that moment occurred early their PIAA Class AA doubles semifinal match Saturday morning, against unexpectedly-tough sophomores John Yurconic and Mason Groff, of Salisbury.

Yurconic and Groff jumped Bahney and McNaughton's well-versed map to gold like muggers in a dark alley by taking four of the first five games of the day, leaving the more experienced Raiders muttering to themselves and huddling after nearly every point.

It could have blown up right there. All the work. All the sacrifice. All the dreaming.

It took a five-of-seven games rally and a ridiculous 22-point first set tiebreaker, but Elco's senior duo passed the litmus test. The rest of their court time at Hershey Racquet Club was practically toes-in-the-sand by comparison.

Elco won the AA doubles gold medal later in the day with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Holy Ghost Prep's Mark Pabalan and Brandon Fritze in the championship final.

"It hasn't really set yet. It's weird to think about – state champions... We've been playing together for so long," Bahney said. "We've had good results. At the beginning of the season, I thought there was a definite possibility we could do pretty well in states. I didn't know what kind of competition we'd run into, or anything like that."

McNaughton beamed like a kid with a free pass in a candy store.

"Section doubles, league doubles, district doubles, we had to do it," McNaughton said, "We had to do it."

But it was that 7-6(10), 6-3 semifinal survival test against Salisbury that revealed their will to win had forged into steeled resolve.

"We came out and were playing a little too cautious, I'd say," Bahney said, explaining their 1-4 start in the opening set. "We weren't really going after it like you should in doubles. We were playing more of a singles game, which is what (Yurconic and Groff) do. We ended up playing into their game.

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"They're great players, but our goal was to control the net that match and I think we started to play more attacking tennis."

McNaughton agreed. "That's their game (singles ground strokes). Making our returns was huge. We started getting some returns, then playing the net and congesting the middle, those two things gave us momentum."

Elco rallied from 1-4 to seize a 6-5 lead, before Salisbury held on serve to force a first set tiebreaker.

The District 11 champs won the first three points of the tiebreaker. McNaughton and Bahney, battling themselves as much as anything, fell behind 2-5, then managed to rally to take a 7-6 lead.

That set off a string of set points that bounced back and forth between the two squads. Elco had three. Salisbury had three. Only when a net response was reflexively flicked wide by Yurconic, at 10-11, did the Raiders finally win the grueling first set.

"I am actually more relaxed down a set point than up a set point," Bahney said. "To me, that's how I feel. We played smart tennis on those points (we were down) and were fortunate to come away with them."

"It was totally nerve-wracking," McNaughton added. "While serving, I remember my arms were shaking. I just had to remember to breathe and spin it in. It was good to be able to lock that set up."

The tense tiebreak loss seemed to take the starch from Salisbury. Bahney and McNaughton took control from the go during the second set, to win in nine mostly drama-free games and set up the final with Holy Ghost Prep.

Once there, destiny became the sense at HRC.

Bahney and McNaughton never trailed in games at any point in either set against Pabalan and Fritze. A service break in the eighth game of the first set gave Elco the sliver it needed to see it out. The Raiders broke Ghost three times during the second set to win the title while playing their best tennis of the day.

Elco's champs wound up their doubles career with a 52-4 mark.

"For being a small school in the middle of farm fields, to be able to bring a championship home is awesome," Bahney said. "It feels great."