Whitties defeat #6 Santa Cruz 6-3

Feb 122012
 

Apologies for typos and grammatically errors with this post. As I write this post its almost 1am and its been a long day. First off big thanks to the 100′s of students who came out to watch the match. Playing in front of such a large crowd doesn’t happen often in tennis and it is experience that we will all savor for years to come.

In doubles we came out strong in all three doubles, but the play of Conor/Matt at #1 was special. How special..they defeated a very good #1 team from Santa Cruz 8-1! Number 2 and 3 were both close with Whitties taking early breaks in both matches only to have Santa Cruz break back. At #2 Jeff and Andrew came back from a late break to reel off 3 straight game to take the match 8-6. At #3 freshman James Rivers and junior Sam Sadeghi traded breaks back and forth with the Cruz team — James and Sam both returned great and I think they have break points in every game but one. In the end they broke to clinch the doubles sweep 9-7.

Before the singles we had a team meeting discussing how important it was to play with confidence and to expect a major battle. UC Santa Cruz has one of the finest traditions in DIII and we all knew they were going to compete hard. One thing I must add that we have had some terrific playing opportunities the past 5-6 years (for example the NCAA’s, Stag-Hen and great spring breaks) and those opportunities have let us gain valuable experience as a program. These lessons are passed down from player to player and indeed year to year. Its really a special experience to see these lessons lead to incredible growth as a person and player. I really feel it was the lessons of past years that allowed us gain a good victory tonight.

In singles James (#4) and Jeff (#2) both raced out to quick leads with Jeff winning the 1st set 6-3 and James 6-4. At #1 Andrew had his hands full with the talented DI transfer Deven Nerenberg and dropped the 1st set 6-3. At #3 Conor had a wail of a 1st set against a very tough Andre Halabi. Halabi is a warrior who makes you win ever point — he stays up close to the baseline and moves his opponent around the court. Conor was down a break at 3-4 but managed to break back and take the 1st set 7-6 — and it was a marathon first set. Jeff got the first singles point of the night defeated Erich Koenig 6-3, 6-4. It looked like the match was going to be decided mere moments later has James had a match point in the 2nd set tiebreak. James did exactly the right thing — followed a strong first serve to the net and had a volley to win the match. Unfortunately for James he didn’t make that volley. Fortunately for Conor it allowed him to shine and win his 2nd set 6-0. What a great experience for the senior who has worked harder than any player I have known. All his hard work paid off as he was the one to clinch the match.

I do have to give props to sophomore Andrew La Cava he was down a set and 1-4 and really pumped up himself and his teammates. He matched to break back to even the 2nd set and feed positive energy to his teammates. End the end his opponent was just too strong as Andrew dropped the match 6-3, 6-4. Also props to the Cruz #4 (Erik Rosner) who played great tennis to defeated James 4-6, 7-6 (6), 6-4. Great match from both James and Erik.

With the match decided we put on #5 and #6 (we have 4 indoor courts). At #5 Sam Sadeghi had a great battled but ended up dropping his match 5-7, 6-2, 10-7. At #6 Adriel completed the senior sweep with a solid 6-2, 6-4 victory.

Wonderful win for the team defeating Santa Cruz 6-3. I do have to add that the Santa Cruz team fought hard and brought the intensity the entire match. I’m sure in the anonymous blogosphere some will post negative comments directed to Santa Cruz and their new coach. This is a first rate program that is lead not only by a solid group of upperclassmen but a classy, smart and well versed coach. Absolutely a tough loss for the Slugs, but tonight would of been tough for any team to come into the Bratton Center Tennis and play.

Doubles

Singles

Tough double header!

Mar 232010
 

A bit of a late post but I didn’t have internet access yesterday so couldn’t provide an update of our matches. Our day on Sunday will go down as one of the toughest days in DIII tennis. Playing one top ranked team in a weekend is tough. Playing two top ranked teams in a weekend is a physical and mental grind. Playing three top teams is akin to playing at the national tournament. At least at the national tournament you only play 1 match per day. Not only did we play 3 top 20 teams in 24 hours we also played the #1 and #2 teams in the nation BACK-TO-BACK!

Great night, rough score

Jan 312010
 

What a great night of tennis! It was so gratifying to have a PACKED house supporting our team as we took on the defending national champions UC Santa Cruz. When I mean packed house we are talking over 200 people in the balcony of our indoor center. And boy were they treated to some great tennis.

Much like last night the doubles came down to the end. Bit of a topsy turvy affair. At #2 doubles (Quin and Christoph) we were close but never saw a break point and lost 8-6. At #3 doubles Jasper and Jake served well and were never broken. We had quite a few break points and at 7-8 had 2 matches points (15-40) but couldn’t put a return in play. Was nice to see the seniors really rally in win 7-4 in the breaker. Continue reading »

Slimed by the Slugs!

May 092009
 

Our season ended yesterday with a 5-0 loss at the hands of UCSanta Cruz. Certainly a tough National tournament draw — playing the #3 team in the nation, on their home courts, with their five seniors, and pretty large crowd.

We were hoping for a good start in doubles and instead the Slugs came to play and totally dominated the doubles. We certainly played hard and competed well, but honestly the Slugs were just too strong for us. Bright spot of the day was Dan Wilson who was up a set at #3 singles.
Funny story of the day: team score is 0-4 and ET is serving at match point down when an umpire runs over and assesses him a point penalty. Quin had just lost at #6 singles and kicked a ball that went over the fence (in Quin’s defense he was just trying to kick the ball to the back fence but it bounced over the fence). The point penalty not only causes ET to lose the match but puts us down 0-5 and the team match is over. Everyone shakes hands says good match, good luck etc and walk off the court. Well apparently carry over point penalties can not be assessed until the start of a new game. We have to round all the players up, get them dressed again and put them back on court to restart the match. ET ends up saving his match point and forcing a long deuce game. However during that time Nadeem ends up losing his match so the now the team match is finished. ET’s match goes into the history books as DNF and Nadeem gets the loss.
Great season 24-5, conference tournament berth, conference champions and an undefeated conference season!

At the NCAA’s

May 082009
 

We are currently at the NCAA’s Santa Cruz regional site. Later this afternoon we play host UC Santa Cruz (#3 in the nation). Currently its a beautiful day in Santa Cruz and we hoping for a large, loud crowd when we play the Slugs. As usual I will twitter match updates to the blog.

Think good thoughts and send positive energy our way!