The Portage Invitational for boys' tennis was scheduled for today. We had had a lot of experience with this tournament as Cal played in it three times during his high school days. At that time it was played in Merrillville and we had fond memories of watching Cal participate before stopping in Valparaiso on the way home for dinner and mini-golf. This was Cameron's first time playing in the tournament and besides the venue change, there was also a reduction in teams. The top two high schools cancelled to play in bigger tournaments and another team called off due to lack of players. Bethany, Portage and Merrillville were all still available, so technically it was only a three team match. The Bruins decided to call it an invitational anyway and we enjoyed it just as much as in years past.
Doug and I arrived at the high school before 11 a.m. Eastern time. Portage and Merrillville had already squared off, but still had one court left to finish before Bethany could play its scheduled match against Merrillville. The two players left on the 3 singles court went into a tiebreak in the second set. Fortunately, Portage held out to win, therefore, eliminating the need for a third set. It was still a twenty minute wait for Cameron's match to start, so Doug and I decided to take a short walk. It was a lot hotter than I had expected. Fortunately, we dressed for warm weather and Cameron wore his short sleeve tennis shirt as well.
Cameron lost his first match 6-3, 6-1. He was disappointed in that, but we weren't. Doug hadn't seen Cameron play this week and was impressed with how much he had improved from his previous week's matches. His serve was consistent and he hit some hard passing shots. The positive from the match up was that Cameron's teammates had all won their courts. Thus, his loss didn't hurt the outcome of the match.
Cameron had a short break before he played Portage giving him time to regroup. It must have helped as he started off strong and soon had a 5-0 lead over his opponent. Portage did hang in there to win a few games, but in the end Cameron won 6-2, 6-1. It was definitely a fun match to watch. Cameron hit several drop shot winners and had some awesome volleys at the net. He even had one return that bounced on the Portage side of the net and spun back on his side. Making the win even better was the fact that all of Cameron 's teammates won their courts as well. It may not have technically been a tournament win, but the Bruins definitely enjoyed celebrating their Portage Invite championship singing their victory song before riding the bus home.
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