WEST LAFAYETTE — Gavin Ruan struggled to get through school Thursday knowing full well what might come later that evening.
Ruan, West Lafayette’s No. 3 singles player, had an intuition a sectional championship might be riding on his shoulders.
He was right.
“The entire day, I was feeling nervous, throughout class, throughout the school day,” Ruan said. “My heart rate was probably over 120 for the entire day. It was a lot of pressure.”
It wasn’t until winning a first set tiebreaker against Harrison’s Andrew Kang that Ruan’s nerves calmed.
Ruan carried that into a strong start during the second set before Kang began suffering from cramps in his leg. Kang powered through, but Ruan was able to close out his opponent with the crowd lingering beyond the chain link fence for a 7-6 (4), 6-3 victory that delivered West Lafayette a 3-2 sectional championship over last year’s state runner-up Harrison.
It’s West Lafayette’s ninth sectional championship in the last 10 years and 35th overall, ranking 10th in state history.
The title victory also avenged a 3-2 regular season loss to Harrison, which lost three singles players from last year’s runner-up team, including individual singles state champion Aaron Gu. New coaches Jordin Youst and and Stephen Smith came in and kept the Raiders a strong contender despite what they’d lost.
“I didn’t think they would be as good as what they were when we played them in the second match of the regular season and we go home on the bus a 3-2 loser,” West Lafayette coach Tim Wright said. “They played really well the whole year and those kids have stepped up. Any time you have a rivalry match like that, you never know what’s going to go into it and how nerves play into it, especially with younger kids.”
A lot has changed since that regular season match, though.
West Lafayette dealt with injuries and one player leaving the team.
It took eight players to win a sectional championship, including Eugene Zhang coming in at No. 2 doubles during Wednesday’s semifinal win over Benton Central after senior Bill Fei was unable to play.
In Thursday’s championship match, West Lafayette’s backs were against the wall.
Jasper Xiang’s 6-1, 6-0 win over Daniel Zhang at No. 1 singles was quickly evened by Harrison’s No. 2 doubles tandem of Zoltan Csathy and Henry Graham winning 7-5, 6-0 over Fei and Jack Park. Brogan Newton and Grant Weaver defeated Jonathon Hong and Julien Hellich at No. 1 doubles to put defending sectional champion Harrison ahead 2-1.
Before Ruan could be the sectional hero, he’d first need senior teammate Jack Ma to win at No. 2 singles against Harrison’s Emerson Mohr.
Ma survived a battle 6-1, 7-5.
“When I was playing, I was looking at the doubles and seeing how they were doing,” Ma said. “After I saw them shake hands, I knew me and Gavin had to win. Ultimately, I just worry about my match because that’s the only thing I can control at that point.
“The Harrison, West Side rivalry has been pretty intense, not just in tennis, but in all sports. It is huge to take the sectional championship after Harrison did last year.”
Ma’s victory then put Ruan in the pressure cooker he feared all day.
He’d only been in a scenario with everyone circled around his court like Thursday once before, ironically also against Harrison. It was while Ruan was playing No. 2 doubles the year before. But that was a regular season match.
This was the sectional championship.
“I knew it would be an extremely close match because of how similar we are at all five positions,” Ruan said. “I felt like all five positions, singles and doubles, it would be a battle for every one on both teams.”
Sam King covers sports for the Journal & Courier. Email him at sking@jconline.com and follow him on Twitter and Instagram @samueltking.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: West Lafayette tennis outduels Harrison for sectional title