ALBUQUERQUE — Everything you needed to know about the bottom line of Saturday’s Sate Team Tennis Tournament was the sight of Wade McDermott getting carried off the court and put into a golf cart before heading to an urgent care facility for an IV.

The St. Michael’s junior had just helped the Horsemen reach the finals of the Class 1A-4A tournament amid the triple-digit afternoon heat at Albuquerque Academy.

“By time we took the court that last time at 4 o’clock, it was definitely over 100 [degrees],” said Horsemen head coach Drew McDermott, Wade’s father.

The tournament’s No. 2 seed, St. Michael’s simply ran out of gas in the finals, losing 5-1 to top-seeded Academy. Three of the six Horsemen singles players were affected by either the elements or injury, most notably McDermott.

He beat the Chargers’ Joseph Braun in the first set and was playing well in the second before the cramps started to settle in. They started in his hamstring, hopped over to his other leg, then his hip and eventually to his torso.

Trailing after the first two games of the third set, he threw in the towel after a trainer did everything she could to keep him going. That included Braun giving him a shot of pickle juice with a water chaser; the triedand-true method for short-term relief from cramps caused by dehydration.

Braun won, 4-6, 6-3, 2-0 (retired).

Fellow Horseman Kameron Dunmar had cramps while McDermott’s doubles partner, Evan Bloodworth, dealt with a pulled muscle in his back suffered earlier in the day in a semifinal win over Lovington.

With a roster of just two seniors, St. Michael’s staked its claim to another potential run at state next year. On Saturday, however, the Horsemen did everything they could to push mighty Academy to the brink.

The duals match lasted nearly three and a half hours, a span that included a half-hour break for lightning. The match was pushed until 7:32 p.m. when Dunmar took Academy’s Conner Dils to a third set. Dils won, 6-3, 6-7 (7-4), 6-1, taking the third set when Dunmar needed an extended break to deal with cramps.

With daylight fading, tournament officials scrambled to make alternate plans to extend the match at another location because Academy’s facility doesn’t have lights. There was talk of moving it to a lighted court a few miles away, while other suggested coming back Sunday morning to play the three doubles matches.

Drew McDermott lamented the NMAA’s decision to play singles matches before doubles, but had a bigger issue with playing the finals at 4 p.m. when the temperature was hottest and both teams had been on the court all day.

It ended a solid but somewhat disappointing day for area teams. Santa Fe High’s boys were beaten 5-0 by Hobbs in the Class 5A semifinals across town at the Jerry Cline Tennis Complex while the St. Michael’s girls lost in the semifinals of 1A-4A to Los Alamos.

Los Alamos then lost to Academy, 5-0, in the finals as two Hilltoppers players retired because of heat issues.