This is a very tough post. Besides playing two matches yesterday, we learned that a member of the Whitman community (and good friend to a member of the tennis team) died yesterday in a tragic skiing accident. My thoughts and emotions go out to the Whitman community and family.
Yesterday we had a very long day in the UPS fieldhouse as we took on rival PLU and host UPS. We arrived at the fieldhouse at 10am and didn’t leave until until 7pm! As readers of my blog know I have the greatest respect for the PLU team. They are an experienced team with enough talented players to give most any team trouble. Yesterday they were trouble for us….
While we ended up gutting out a tough 5-4 match I’m not happy with how the match played out and our team attitude. As a team we spend time talking about values — personal values, team values, core values, gratitude and competition. We work on how we want to look (individually and as a team). We have an expectation of how we want to compete on the court. As a group, as a family we know how we should compete in the face of adversity. Frankly we were a moody, angry group on court and it showed in our results. Is it possible to be disappointed in a 5-4 victory that came down to the last match? I believe I speak for our group when I say yes. Hopefully yesterday’s experience will serve to motivate us, inspire us and teach us. I truly believe we have all the tools to be a great team. However if yesterday’s performance and attitude is going to be the norm we are in for a long season.
Doubles. Doubles its so important in DIII tennis…not only is it three points but with the pro-set format it is over in a hour. Its a game of confidence and momentum. There is no second or third set to recoup, regroup or reset. Doubles sets the tone for the match. The energy, or lack thereof, carries over to singles. We are used to success in doubles, we are used to having good energy coming out of the doubles. The strength of our team should be doubles. I know we have the skill-set and players to stand toe-to-toe with any DIII team in the nation. So far this season we have aways been playing from behind. Even in our doubles sweep of LCSC we were behind and on the ropes the entire match. Against UC Santa Cruz we were behind but that had numerous opportunities to take a 2-1 or 3-0 lead.
Yesterday was more of the same. Our woes started at #1 doubles. Right out of the blocks Matt was broken — a couple bad mistakes and they are down after the first game. Later in the match they break back only to immediately get broke back. In their three matches this year Matt and Jeffrey have been down early (sometimes multiple breaks) and are forced to play from behind. Its bad flow and doesn’t produce good energy going into singles.
While one doubles was struggling we were rolling at two and three doubles. At number two Quin and Christoph have been playing solid doubles. So far this season they have been serving well and haven’t faced much pressure on their serve. In three matches I think they have only been broken once (against UC Santa Cruz). I have no explanation for what happened at three doubles yesterday. Unfortunately Jake re-injuried his wrist and was unable to go on Saturday. However with our team this shouldn’t be a problem, we have a plethora of people that can fill in three doubles. I opted to go with Jasper and Conor at that slot. Everything looked great as they raced out to a 5-0 lead in about 15 minutes. They get broken one time and the wheels started to fall off. Instead of shrugging off the break they got mopey and moody. Then they got broke again and they fall apart. The PLU team seized the momentum of the match winning 7-0 in a tie-break.
Not only do we go into the singles down 1-2 but we go into the doubles down 1-2 after falling apart in the doubles. Not a good way to start the singles.
In singles PLU’s #1 player showed everyone why he was 2009 NWC Player of the Year by dismantling Matt 6-0, 6-2. PLU’s Trudel played some incredible tennis and Matt certainly helped make him look good. Matt didn’t play well and is disappointed with his performance. At #6 Jasper shrugs off his doubles performance and wins 6-2, 6-1. At this point the match score is 2-3 and we have won the 1st sets at #2 (Moshevich) 6-1, #3 (Tolman) 7-5, and #4 Bailey (6-0) but lost the 1st at #5 (Fuchs) 4-6.
Moody players and the tide turns…Moshevich, Tolman, and Bailey all drop the 2nd set. Christoph isn’t playing well but wins the second set. Jeffrey drops his match 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 and now we are down 2-4 with 3 singles matches in the third set. Props to Moshevich, Bailey and Fuchs for overcoming some shaky tennis and pulling out third sets wins to give us the match 5-4. Moshevich got the ball rolling by winning 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 in the third. Fuchs was up 5-2 in the third but got broke before breaking to win 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. That put Bailey in the spot light in a very streaky match. I’m damn proud of how Bailey overcame a huge mental lapse (lets say he was way up in his match) and momentum shift to win his match. By virtue of Christoph’s win the match was tied at 4-4 and Chris was at 3-3 in the 3rd set. At three games all Chris breaks and quickly holds to go up 3-5. The PLU player is starting to cramp and needs a training time-out. At 3-5 Chris has 3 match points and nets a three backhands. PLU holds and regains energy. Hats off to Chris who bombs in three huge first serves and holds at 40-15 to clinch the team match 5-4.
Its days like yesterday that I’m grateful we have a deep roster. Immediately following the PLU match we start against host UPS. No team warm-up or talk just play. For the UPS match we used a completed new set of players (good thing because everyone was physically and emotionally strung out). After watching their teammates struggle through a close match against PLU the guys playing against UPS were fired up and ready to go. They swept through the UPS match without losing a set.
We don’t travel again until Spring Break and now have the luxury of time to get down to serious training. Its been a rough few weeks playing the #1 team in the nation, a top 20 NAIA team, and our conference rival. As a team we all felt like yesterday’s match gave us a second chance at the season. Yesterday we were a moody bear that just woke out of hibernation. Now we will see what the spring brings!
