Blankenship, Bowser going to states

By Brian Holtzapple
For The Danville News

May 13, 2008 10:55 am

— SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT -- Just consider what Danville's Peter Blankenship and Greg Bowser did in the District 4 Class AA doubles tournament over the past few days to be just the tip of the iceberg, because they aren't done yet.
Blankenship and Bowser came within a set of capturing Danville's first doubles title since 2004, as they fell to Loyalsock's top-seeded duo of Frankie Casale and Chris Wyshock 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 in the district finals Monday at the West Branch Tennis Club.
The day may have ended disappointingly for the third-seeded Ironmen duo in more ways than one, but Blankenship and Bowser will get a chance to redeem themselves as they advance to the PIAA championships along with Casale and Wyshock.
The championships are May 23 and 24 at the Hershey Racquet Club. Blankenship and Bowser are scheduled to play that Friday at 10:30 a.m.
"We attacked and we kept the ball in play for the most part, we served well, we volleyed well and we played well," Danville coach Jon Cook said. "I think the best part is that I think we are going to get even better.
"I will have two weeks to work with them until we get out there (for states). They've only been playing doubles for two weeks now," Cook added. "This is the tip of the iceberg, there's a lot of talent there that I'm going to try to tap and get out of them."
An uncharacteristic slow start by Blankenship and Bowser saw them fall behind 4-1 in the first set of the championship match.
Wins in three of the next four games made the set 5-4 in favor of Casale and Wyshock, who broke the Ironmen's serve in the next game to get the win after Bowser double faulted twice.
"Coach has really been great helping me (on my serve) this year, and it has gotten a lot better and I've been able to place it better," Bowser said. "It's a little bit unfortunate that I double faulted a little bit more than I wanted to today, and if I can fix it for states then we'll be in good shape."
In the second set, neither team was able to hold its serve, as there were a total of seven service breaks.
However, Blankenship and Bowser got the big service break. It came at the end of the set when they strung together three wins to come back and take a 6-4 win.
Any momentum that should've come from the win in the second set never came for the Ironmen in the third, as Casale and Wyshock opened with wins in the first four games en route to a 6-1 victory.
"I really thought we had them on the ropes coming out of the second set, where we picked up our game to come back and get it," Cook said. "We just never got it together in the third. (Casale-Wyshock) came out real strong. We got on our heels in the beginning and never really recovered."
Blankenship couldn't explain what happened in the third set either, saying, "We may just have been overconfident. I guess the intensity wasn't there, but I don't know why."
In the semifinals against Hughesville's No. 2-seeded team of Stephen James and Dan Fritz, Blankenship and Cook played perhaps their best tennis of the tournament.
After breezing to a 6-2 win in the first set, the Ironmen won the second set in a tie-breaker 7-6 (7-5).
Blankenship hit the winning shot from the baseline. He put just the right amount of spin on the ball to angle it beyond the reach of James' racket.
"We won a lot of big points in the second set. We lost games, but when we needed the points to stay in the set and then win it, we won those points," Blankenship said. "(Advancing to states) feels great because our season isn't over yet. There's more tennis to play."
In the day's other semifinal, Casale and Wyshock defeated Mansfield's No. 5-seeded team of brothers Andrew and Alex Makos, 7-5, 6-4.

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