SANTIAGO, Chile — On a blistering hot day in the dead sun, Team USA Wheelchair Tennis found itself on the victor’s side in two out of its three matches. 

In the first match, Andrew Bognadov fought hard against Colombia’s Daniel Campaz, but ultimately fell in two sets. Bognadov took slight control with a 3-2 lead in the first set, but couldn’t maintain it. In the second set, Campaz was more accurate serving and returning, leading him to a 6-2 victory and an overall match win 2-0. 

In the next two matches, Team USA bounced back by showing poise and prowess, beating Canada in each match. First, Conner Stroud beat Thomas Venos in two sets, 6-3 and 6-1 respectively. Following, the veteran-rookie duo of USA flag bearer Dana Mathewson and 17-year old Maylee Phelps dominated in two sets, 6-0 and 6-2.

Stroud faced off against his former college teammate, but didn’t hold back. Stroud was dominant throughout the first set, only giving up the occasional point to his own faults. In the second set, Stroud took a 5-1 lead. On the opening match point serve, he opened up with an ace, and then took control. On the final point, Venos returned Stroud’s serve with a lofty ball, and Stroud took advantage and rocketed it past him to win the set. After he shook his friend’s hand, he turned to the crowd which emphatically chanted “USA! USA! USA!” in support.

In the final match of the afternoon, Phelps and Mathewson faced off against Canada, but from the start it wasn’t a contest. Despite the experience level difference, the duo’s chemistry was evident as Phelps looked to Mathewson to lead and guide her, which directly resulted in aces and intelligent plays from both. 

It wasn’t until the second set when Team USA was up 3-0 when Canada got their first point, but continued pinpoint accuracy by Phelps and leadership from Mathewson kept the Canadians at bay. 

Here’s what each tennis player had to say about their matches today and what it meant to represent their country: 

Bognadov:

“To start with, it’s an honor to be here and represent Team USA. There’s no greater honor in my opinion.”

“It was a tough match. I felt like a lot of the balls (Campaz) was giving me were a little bit higher and out of my comfort zone so it was just a style of play that I’m not used to. But (it was) a good battle and congrats to (Campaz) he did great.”

“World Team Cup was my first time (representing Team USA). World Team Cup we did great and ended up finishing bronze for David and I, and being here is the same thing and same opportunity to represent your country. It’s just a different kind of energy around here, it’s not your typical tournament.”

Stroud:

“This is my first time playing in the Parapan Games and in Tokyo we had no crowd at all, so to have people watching and just when you represent your country you have a little pressure on your back.”

“The fans were amazing. That’s really the main disappointment in Tokyo was not having fans so to have them here was really cool so to hear most of the crowd behind me I told them it really helped me. The experience has been great.”

Mathewson:

“Playing with Maylee is fun. She is the first doubles player I’ve played with who wants me to tell her where to serve. With Maylee she just wants a directive and then she just goes and does it and it’s awesome to watch and I get to sit back and watch ace after ace.”

“I think it’s fun to have me be the person that mentors someone the same way that other people did to me when I was first starting on Team USA so as cheesy as it sounds I think it’s a privilege and an honor to get to do that but it’s also really fun.”

Phelps:

“Representing Team USA is really, really awesome. Very honorable too. It was also really cool to help Dana who was the flag bearer.”

“I didn’t have very many people watching yesterday or today, but Team USA is already loud enough.”

For more photos from this event, visit here.