COLUMBUS - St. John's Jesuit tennis coach Jim Davis calls the atmosphere that surrounds the second day of the state tournament an experience filled with "electricity."
The Titans' doubles team of juniors Rollin Urrutia and Brian Meyer used an energy bred from urgency to build a 3-0 lead in the second set of their Division I state doubles semifinal yesterday after they lost the first set to Cincinnati St. Xavier sophomores Patrick Bandy and Jon Gaffney.
They couldn't sustain it, however.
Bandy and Gaffney broke Urrutia and Meyer to make it 3-1 and pulled away for a 6-3, 6-3 victory in Ohio State's Stickney Tennis Center.
Urrutia and Meyer beat Cincinnati Walnut Hills' Jason Stuckey and Brian Starr 6-2, 5-7, 7-6 (7-5) to finish third.
"I thought they did a great job of getting refocused [for the third-place match]," Davis said. "They were able to execute their patterns better than the other guys."
Bandy and Gaffney played John Drosick and Kris Mehan in a late all-St. Xavier doubles final.
"In the first set, St. Xavier started out strong, and their two young men are very solid doubles players," Davis said. "[Urrutia and Meyer] got it back to 6-3 to end the first set and got a little rhythm going, and then they shot out to a 3-0 lead.
"After St. Xavier held 3-1, we couldn't hold them. If we could have held them there, it would have been a much different match.''
It was just the third match Urrutia and Meyer have lost all season. They were partners last season as well and lost in the district tournament.They opened state with a 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Cincinnati Turpin's Conrad Ludwig and Will Knoll and then beat Upper Arlington's Emmett Bahnson and Doug Watson 6-4, 0-6, 6-4 in the second round.
Urrutia and Meyer seemed on the verge of setting up another three-set match after they went up a break early in the second set.
"They broke us early in the first set and we couldn't break back," Urrutia said. "Then we went up 3-0 in the second set and they came back on us."
"We knew we were as good as them if we made our shots," added Meyer, who along with Urrutia also lost to Bandy and Gaffney in a tournament April 8 at Lakewood St. Edward. "It was great being here. Our goal was to make it to the second day. We're going to have a lot of confidence going into next year."
The season for Urrutia and Meyer continues today when St. John's faces Upper Arlington in the Ohio Tennis Coaches Association state team tournament semifinals. If the Titans beat the Bears, they will face the St. Xavier-Hudson winner in the championship match.
First Published May 28, 2006, 3:33 p.m.
