Northeast's Hoppe goes on offensive, wins

 No comments  
 E-mail Story
 Print Story
  Share

 digg it!
 Facebook
 del.icio.us
Seed Newsvine
Fark It
Reddit

Text Size: 

Tools Sponsor

BY RON POWELL / Lincoln Journal Star

Nathan Hoppe’s finesse game began turning into a timid brand of tennis that was getting the Lincoln Northeast senior in trouble.

So Hoppe switched gears in the final game of his No. 1 singles championship match against Jeremy Jank of Hastings on Saturday. The more aggressive style finally got Hoppe over the finish line.

Hoppe crashed the net and put away two shots for winners, then drove a forehand passing shot for a winner on match point to secure the 8-6 win and a gold medal in the 12-team Lincoln High/Northeast Invitational at Woods Tennis Center.

“I was playing too tentative and coach (Ed Boehle) got my head on straight on the changeover (at 7-6),” said Hoppe, who held a match point ahead 7-3, only to see Jank win the next three games and make things interesting. “He (Jank) started playing a lot better and putting a lot of pressure on me to make shots.’’

In the first 10 games, Jank had difficulty with Hoppe’s variety of shots. During rallies, Hoppe would often throw in off-speed topspin or slice shots off either side, then would follow up with a flat ball with more pace that would allow him to attack.

Jank held serve to close the deficit to 7-4 after saving a match point trailing 30-40. Hoppe’s serve was broken in the next game as he double-faulted the final two points. Jank then made it 7-6 when Hoppe had trouble handling Jank’s big serve and the Hastings senior held at 15.

That’s when Boehle advised Hoppe to go for more offense.

“Sometimes I’d like him to play a little more straightforward, especially since he‘s hitting a bigger serve and more power on his groundstrokes than last year,” Boehle said. “Nathan’s smart. He has all the shots, and he has a lot of imagination in his game.’’

After a summer of playing Missouri Valley junior tournaments and working out with local pros Scott Broady, Jesse Plote and Rick Stempson, Hoppe is learning how to effectively use his game against players who hit with more power.

He also gained confidence in a narrow 7-6, 7-6 loss to Plote in the quarterfinals of the Cornhusker State Games men’s open singles last month. Plote, the Nebraska Tennis Center head pro, went on to win that tournament.

“The guys in the 18s (18-and-under division) are too patient and disciplined to self-destruct, so I have to do more than just get the ball back in play,’’ Hoppe said. “I try to hit a big mix of balls to keep those guys from getting into a rhythm. For a lot of kids, that one-handed slice backhand low at their ankles and at half-speed is something they don’t see very often.”

Despite not having an individual champion, Fremont won the team title with 60 points, six more than runner-up Lincoln Southwest. The Silver Hawks were led by their No. 2 doubles team of freshman Christian Sanderfer and junior Alec Lowery, who won with an 8-2 victory against York’s Bret Gardner and senior Danny Zegers in the championship match.

Southwest was without freshman No. 1 singles player Drew Bartek because of illness.

York, which finished third in the team race, earned the gold medal at No. 1 doubles, as Jon and Justin McQuistan defeated Fremont’s Shawn Custer and Andy Sajevic 8-4 in the finals.

Reach Ron Powell at 473-7437 or rpowell@journalstar.com.