Aaron Francis and Marquese Hayes didn’t know what to expect when they decided to team up and play doubles in the Monterey Bay League tournament.
But once San Benito High’s top two players started first-round action on Tuesday, they were confident they could go the distance. On Wednesday, Francis and Hayes won the doubles championship with a 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 victory over Stevenson’s Anthony Horne and Austin Baker.
The two advance to the Central Coast Section tournament on May 19-20. After clinching match point, the two jumped up and down in jubilation, putting their names in the San Benito boys tennis record books.
Balers coach Chris Yoder couldn’t remember the last time the school produced a singles or doubles champion.
“It was an epic moment,” said Hayes, a sophomore who was born and raised in Texarkana, Texas, and transferred to San Benito in January. “In the last 10 or 15 minutes of the match, all I could think about was being the top team coming out of the league and going to CCS. I was just trying to keep it all together.”
So was Francis, who said the match featured plenty of intensity and drama.
“There was definitely a lot of tension by that third set,” he said. “(When we won the final point) we kind of freaked out because it was pretty intense.”
The duo played five matches over two days—the first, second and quarterfinal rounds were played at Alvarez High and the semifinals and finals were played at Chamisal Tennis Club in Corral De Tierra—but didn’t receive a tussle until the semis, when they beat Monterey’s Josue Ruiz and Omar Kishk, 6-4, 6-4.
That’s why Francis and Hayes were downright jubilant after clinching the final point.
“It was definitely a kind of a moment of, ‘Oh dang, we just won it.’ It felt good because we definitely had some thoughts of maybe we weren’t going to pull it off,” Francis said. “There were some factors that were not working in our favor, but once we got the lead in the third set, we weren’t going to give it back.”
Having played singles all season, Francis and Hayes started playing doubles in practice about two weeks before the start of the tournament. They had some solid practice time against teammates Chris Godbout and Christian Grenados, who reached the semifinals.
Francis and Hayes were able to make a seamless transition from singles to doubles because both are comfortable at the net, where the majority of the points in doubles are won.
“We just clicked from the beginning,” Hayes said. “Where he’s strong, I’m weak, and where I’m strong, he’s weak. I’m a lefty and he’s a righty, so our games complement each other well.”
Said Francis: “We can calm each other down and help each other out, and we keep each other motivated. It worked out well.”
Both players said their high first serve percentage and return games were instrumental in the championship match. Plus, Yoder implored his two aces to constantly go to the net, which they did in the third set.
“We made every effort to get up to the net, especially in that last set,” Hayes said.
A match that was building in excitement got even more dramatic when Hayes had to play with a backup racket after popping the strings of his Babolat Aeropro Drive racket early in the second set.
“I was just out of it for the rest of the second set,” Hayes said. “I probably psyched myself out.”
After the Stevenson team won the second set, Hayes asked Yoder to go to the clubhouse to see if there was an Aeropro Drive available. Fortunately for Hayes, Oakwood’s No. 1 singles player, Will Knowlencamp, who was involved in singles action, let Hayes borrow his racket, an Aeropro Drive.
“I was super happy about it,” Hayes said. “I was having a hard time with my backup racket.”
For Francis, he’s ending his senior season in the best way possible: in the CCS tournament.
“We know the competition will be very tough, but we’ve got a couple more weeks of practice and we’re going for it. We want to win a match or two and just play the way we know we’re capable of playing.”
