Sports Update
Break Point: Goswami, Cohen, Bulger fall short in quest for state title
BY Kevin Hageland, khageland@starlocalnews.com
Plano West seniors Sanjay Goswami, Parker Cohen and Brian Bulger had aspirations of ending their varsity careers by jumping into the tennis racquet-shaped pool in Lakeway with gold medals around their necks.
Just advancing to the Class 5A State Tennis Tournament will have to be enough.
The West trio concluded their high school runs Monday at The World of Tennis at Lakeway with Goswami (boys singles) eliminated in the semifinals and Cohen and Bulger (boys doubles) out in the quarterfinals.
"I know the boys are disappointed and that's understandable," said Morgen Walker, West head coach, "but at the same time, I'm proud of them for getting to state."
Goswami, the first Wolves player to advance to state three times in the spring, had been thwarted during the first round of his prior two appearances, leading Goswami to say, "I'm just tired of losing in the quarterfinals," prior to the start of play Monday.
He didn't have to worry about a similar fate this year as Goswami defeated McKinney Boyd's Parker McGuiness (7-6, 6-4).
Goswami overcame deficits in both sets, trailing 5-3 in the first and 4-2 in the second.
"Parker was serving some bombs early on at a real good percentage," Walker said. "But Sanjay was able to get things squared away."
Goswami established a 3-0 lead in the first-set tiebreaker en route to a 7-5 win and parlayed that momentum into a 6-4 second-set triumph to advance to the semis.
"Sanjay played very well," Walker said.
Goswami had faced McGuiness several times prior to state and the same could be said about his next opponent as the West senior defeated San Antonio Churchill's Tito Moreiras in January before losing to him last week on the USTA circuit. Goswami controlled the rubber match early with a 2-0 lead and game point to make it 3-0, but Moreiras fought that off, taking the next six games and the set, 6-2.
"Moreiras was making a lot of shots and no mistakes," Walker said. "He played really clean and didn't leave any room for free points."
Goswami changed his attack in the second set, but to no avail.
"We went down 5-1 in a hurry," Walker said. "[Moreiras] is the real deal."
Another 6-2 result ensued, ending Goswami's run at West.
"Sanjay was disappointed because he felt like he could have and should have played better, but he had a great career," Walker said. "Now he is going to go off and play college tennis, and we expect big things out of him there."
Goswami teamed with Cohen last year to qualify for state in boys doubles. Cohen was back again in 2012, this time pairing with Bulger. The new duo's state debut was rough as they dropped the first three games in the quarterfinals against Katy Taylor's Peter Leung and Ricardo Corona.
"We missed a lot of first serves," Walker said. "That puts a lot of pressure on the second serve, which can result in extra double faults or returns that make you pay."
Cohen and Bulger lost the opening set, 6-2.
"We tried to climb back in it and had some good games," Walker said, "but we couldn't string enough points together."
West's seniors started the second set much better, taking a 2-1 lead.
"It looked like we were changing the momentum and then there were two really quick games and it seemed like we were down 3-2 about 30 seconds after we took the lead," Walker said. "It was the same situation as the first set; we had a couple loose games and couldn't really get anything going for a sustained amount of time."
That resulted in another 6-2 set loss and the elimination of Cohen and Bulger.
"I know those guys wanted to do better and prove some things," Walker said. "Unfortunately, things didn't go our way today."
Just advancing to the Class 5A State Tennis Tournament will have to be enough.
The West trio concluded their high school runs Monday at The World of Tennis at Lakeway with Goswami (boys singles) eliminated in the semifinals and Cohen and Bulger (boys doubles) out in the quarterfinals.
"I know the boys are disappointed and that's understandable," said Morgen Walker, West head coach, "but at the same time, I'm proud of them for getting to state."
Goswami, the first Wolves player to advance to state three times in the spring, had been thwarted during the first round of his prior two appearances, leading Goswami to say, "I'm just tired of losing in the quarterfinals," prior to the start of play Monday.
He didn't have to worry about a similar fate this year as Goswami defeated McKinney Boyd's Parker McGuiness (7-6, 6-4).
Goswami overcame deficits in both sets, trailing 5-3 in the first and 4-2 in the second.
"Parker was serving some bombs early on at a real good percentage," Walker said. "But Sanjay was able to get things squared away."
Goswami established a 3-0 lead in the first-set tiebreaker en route to a 7-5 win and parlayed that momentum into a 6-4 second-set triumph to advance to the semis.
"Sanjay played very well," Walker said.
Goswami had faced McGuiness several times prior to state and the same could be said about his next opponent as the West senior defeated San Antonio Churchill's Tito Moreiras in January before losing to him last week on the USTA circuit. Goswami controlled the rubber match early with a 2-0 lead and game point to make it 3-0, but Moreiras fought that off, taking the next six games and the set, 6-2.
"Moreiras was making a lot of shots and no mistakes," Walker said. "He played really clean and didn't leave any room for free points."
Goswami changed his attack in the second set, but to no avail.
"We went down 5-1 in a hurry," Walker said. "[Moreiras] is the real deal."
Another 6-2 result ensued, ending Goswami's run at West.
"Sanjay was disappointed because he felt like he could have and should have played better, but he had a great career," Walker said. "Now he is going to go off and play college tennis, and we expect big things out of him there."
Goswami teamed with Cohen last year to qualify for state in boys doubles. Cohen was back again in 2012, this time pairing with Bulger. The new duo's state debut was rough as they dropped the first three games in the quarterfinals against Katy Taylor's Peter Leung and Ricardo Corona.
"We missed a lot of first serves," Walker said. "That puts a lot of pressure on the second serve, which can result in extra double faults or returns that make you pay."
Cohen and Bulger lost the opening set, 6-2.
"We tried to climb back in it and had some good games," Walker said, "but we couldn't string enough points together."
West's seniors started the second set much better, taking a 2-1 lead.
"It looked like we were changing the momentum and then there were two really quick games and it seemed like we were down 3-2 about 30 seconds after we took the lead," Walker said. "It was the same situation as the first set; we had a couple loose games and couldn't really get anything going for a sustained amount of time."
That resulted in another 6-2 set loss and the elimination of Cohen and Bulger.
"I know those guys wanted to do better and prove some things," Walker said. "Unfortunately, things didn't go our way today."
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