Despite lopsided loss, Berlin's Rombola wants another shot at state champion

Many will look at the 0-6, 1-6 score of Berlin High School's Dan Rombola's Class M state championship match loss to Bradley Orban of Foran High School and think he had no chance.

While Orban was dominant, Rombola actually had two game ponts in his first two service games but wasn't able to capitalize on either. 

His opponent will Orban, a junior like Rombola, has now won three straight Class M state championships, and is the defending State Open Champion, having been the finalist as a freshman.

"If people looked at the scores of my wins on the way to the finals they really didn't tell the story of how hard I had to play," said Rombola, who despite his loss in the finals will continue to play Tuesday at Yale. "I didn't have any walkthrough matches along the way even though it might have looked like that.

"He really crashed the ball today. It wasn't a good day for me but he played great. I had played him before so I knew what to expect. I think things could have been different if I could have won those two game points on my serve early. I lost them so quickly that I just wasn't able to get anything going after that."

While Rombola had goals at the beginning of the season, he said he tried to keep things simple.

"I just tried to take it one match at a time," he said. "I had a goal at the beginning of the season and that was to win the state championship. But, not winning it just will drive me harder. Stuff like this just makes me want to work harder and keep pushing. Maybe if we both keep winning we'll see each other at the State Open finals. I just want to keep playing and playing and playing so that I can be the best player I can be."

Rombola says that he has been contacted by several college coaches.

"I have talked to some coaches and gone to see some teams play," he said. "College tennis is a whole different world. So I'm not sure where I will go but I can't see going to college and not playing tennis because I love the sport so much."