Western is state’s finest…  again

In Blacksburg, the heavy drama continued for the Western Albemarle boys tennis team on Saturday in the Group AA state finals against Hidden Valley.

When all was said and done, the Warriors — behind the senior doubles tandem of Alex Politis and Riley Wilson — won their third straight state title in a 5-4 marathon that lasted 6 1/2 hours and left spectators numb.

“Not one of our fans left there with their voice intact,” said Western Albemarle coach Charles Ix. “It was two solid days of screaming.”

The match began at 9 a.m. and didn’t finish until 3:30 p.m. Ix, whose team finished the season 19-1, was elated.

“The first two [titles] were very good,” he said, “but this one was really sweet because we were doing it with almost a brand new team.

“And to have two seniors who had been on the team for four years and didn’t get playing time in those four years. … To end it like that — it couldn’t be sweeter. You can’t write fairy tales like this.”

A day after six of Western’s eight semifinal matches against Jamestown went to third-set super tiebreakers, the action was even more tense as everything came down to Politis and Wilson. The Warriors had won four of the six singles matches but dropped the first two doubles matches.

The duo, with everybody watching intently, came up huge in the clutch.

The seniors trailed 5-3 in the third set. Hidden Valley had a chance to serve out the match but was broken by the Western tandem and subsequently forced a tiebreaker.

Tied at three in the breaker, Politis and Wilson ran off four straight points to win the match — and the title.

“I’m shocked, relieved, still can’t believe it happened,” Wilson said. “To see the other two doubles teams fall and it all come down to us, and for us to come back from 5-3 in the third set was just shocking. I’m still in shock.”

For Wilson and Politis, it was a great way to end their careers after not playing very much their first few years.

“We didn’t even know we’d be playing in the states until three days ago,” Wilson said. “We weren’t guaranteed starters. A lot of people doubted Alex and I. … We just wanted to come out and prove that we’re a solid No. 3 doubles team.”

On match point, Wilson spun a second serve in before Politis made an aggressive volley at net to put the hammer down on Hidden Valley.

“After that was a blur,” Wilson said. “I can’t really remember what happened. Everybody rushed the court and we were all piling on each other.”

Ix is certainly glad he decided to put Wilson and Politis in his lineup.

“I had a gut feeling on these seniors that if we were going to come down to the wire, I wanted them out there to win or lose it,” Ix said, “and they did it.”

The day wasn’t a total success for the Warriors, as Joey Manilla and Alex Preve fell 6-2, 6-3 to Salem’s Patrick O’Keefe and Will Drougas in the Group AA doubles final.