B-U’s Pitts and Andrick both pick up wins at state tennis championships

CHARLESTON – Buckhannon-Upshur’s Caden Andrick and Aden Pitts both earned wins in the 2022 West Virginia State High School tennis championships last weekend at the Kanawha City Community Center Tennis Facility.

Andrick earned a berth in the state championships at No. 2 singles and then advanced to states with Pitts at No. 1 doubles in the recent Region 1 Tournament

In singles action last Thursday, Andrick earned an 8-4 victory over Washington’s Jack Schottler in the first round. He was eliminated from the tournament with an 8-0 setback to Aiden Cottrell of Cabell Midland, who was playing his first match of the day after earning a first-round bye.

“Washington has always been a solid tennis program from back when they were in our region years ago,” remarked Buckhannon-Upshur head coach Jason Rock. “The match with Schottler was back and forth at first and Caden had to adjust but he played really well and wore the kid down with his consistency. After a break of maybe 45 minutes, he played his second round match against Cottrell who was the top seed from Region IV, which is probably the toughest region in the state.”

“The sun and heat were in full force at this point (around noon) with 80+ degree temps and Caden had already played a match while Cottrell was resting because he had a bye,” Rock added. “I think you could tell the Cottrell had fresh legs but he was also really good. He was left-handed which gave Caden a little trouble when he hit slice serves because Caden hasn’t played a lefty in singles all year. Caden played really well and held his own.”

The duo of Andrick and Pitts defeated Cole Gore and Grayson Swisher of Jefferson in their opening round match by a 9-7 score on Thursday.

“After another short break for Caden on Thursday, Aden and Caden took the court for one round of doubles,” stated Rock. “Their opener was a very interesting match. The one kid from Jefferson was a really good player and by far the stronger player on his doubles team (I’m guessing about 6’2” and a senior). His teammate looked much younger and smaller but still had okay shots. The game plan for us honestly was to pick on the younger player and force him to make shots.”

“They adjusted though and got up on us 6-2 at one point,” he continued. “To be fair Aden was just getting over having the flu a few days before so he was a little rusty with his shots. The boys slowly but surely fought back and even fought off a couple of match points to pull out the win 9-7. I was really proud of how much fight and grit the boys showed. To fight off two match points and come back from being down multiple breaks shows how bad they wanted it and they deserved the win.”

In the second round on Friday, the duo lost to Aiden Cottrell and Ashton Cottrell of Cabell Midland by an 8-0 count.

“The day started with Aden and Caden being on the court first thing at 8 a.m. to play Cabell Midland,” stated Rock. “We’d already seen the Aiden Cottrell in Caden’s singles match but his partner was his younger brother who was the one seed. One brother was left-handed and one brother right-handed, and both boys were over six feet tall and heavy hitters. We had our work cut out for us. We played really solid, high-quality tennis but the other team was just a little better.”

Rock gave high praise to both of his state tournament players.

“Overall, I am really proud of Aden and Caden,” remarked Rock. “They represented themselves and our school well. Both those guys have put so much time and effort into their game and the team and I’m really happy they made it to states and we got some wins at states. I consider those guys the biggest leaders on our team and they both work hard to be the best they can be on and off the courts. For them to make it to states and get some wins on the state’s biggest stage for high school tennis was the cherry on top of a great season.”