This weekend is one of my favorite times of the year — the ITA Fall Regionals! This is my favorite college tennis event of the year. It is the only time all the singles players and doubles teams in the conference are put into one large draw. Doesn’t matter if a player is #1 or #10 on a team — everyone has a shot to win the event. I know the Whitman players really look forward to this opportunity. This is the only time that many of them get a shot at the top players from the other teams in the conference.
Sep 242010
Mar 132010
I must admit I was worried going into our match with PLU. Don’t get me wrong I always look forward to playing PLU because historically they produce some wonderful matches. Yesterday I worried about how the guys would play after a very tough academic week. The week before spring break (Whitman has a two-week break) is always one of the toughest weeks of the year. This year seemed worse than most: almost everyone on the team was staying up late studying, working on papers and/or preparing for tests. I doubt that anyone on the team had a good night’s sleep all week and I was worried how everyone would respond to the intense academic week.
Feb 142010
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!
Feb 122010
We open our conference play Saturday 10:30am against PLU and immediately follow with UPS. Both matches will be at the UPS indoor tennis courts.
Kind of interesting that we start off our conference schedule against the same team we played in last year’s conference finals — Pacific Lutheran University. In fact, the past six year’s conference finals have been a Whitman vs PLU affair with each team winning three. The past three years we have had a bit of a hot streak against PLU going 8-1 overall and winning the conference title in 2008 and 2009. Continue reading »
Oct 012009
Sorry for the delay in this post. What a great weekend of play for the Whitties at the Northwest Regional ITA tournament (which we hosted). Not only was the tennis incredible but we able to play under picture perfect blue skies!
On Monday the tournament got underway with the men’s semi-finals. As a team we were fortunate to get three of our players into the precious final four. One semi’s featured senior Matt Solomon vs Linfield’s talented #1 player Mark Magdaong. The other semi was an all-Whitman showdown between junior Chris Bailey and freshman Jeffrey Tolman. I should point out that both Chris and Jeffrey had incredible matches on Sunday. Chris battled past teammate Thomas Roston in a 3-hour 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 match. Not to be outdone Jeffrey pulled off the upset of the tournament when he defeated PLU’s #1 player Joel Trudel 4-6, 6-2, 6-2. Great win for Jeffrey, Joel was NWC player of the year last year (going undefeated in singles) and is DI transfer from U of Idaho.
In the semi’s Matt was locked in a tight 1st set battle with Magdoang. At 4-4 Matt kicked it up a notch winning 8 of the last 9 games posting a 6-4, 6-1 victory. Good win for Matt..Magdoang is one of the most talented players in our conference and was playing some sweet ball at the end of last year. On any given day he has the ability to knock off any DIII player. In the other semi’s Jeffrey and Chris had a slug fest and traded leads several times each set. In the end Jeffrey was able to gut out a 7-6, 7-6 victory over his teammate.
The first set of the finals was incredible. Jeffrey put on a display of shotmaking that has rarely, if ever, been seen on the Whitman courts. He was literally hitting winners from every position on the court (needless to say I was one happy coach)! Jeffrey ended up winning the first set 6-3. However the long weekend of tennis finally took its toll on Jeffrey and he simply ran out of gas. At the end of the match I wondered if he was going to be able to finish. In the end Matt’s won his third straight regional title by a score of 3-6, 6-2, 6-0.
Now the real excitement began. With only an hour break we had to get Jeffrey ready to play in the doubles finals with Matt against the #1 team from PLU. We had Jeffrey in the training room for most of the hour getting fluids in him, eating high energy foods (bagels and bananas) and in the cold hydrotherapy pool.
In the doubles final Matt and Jeffrey ran into a red hot PLU team. Gotta hand it to the PLU guys they really played well and served incredibly well. In fact I don’t think they ever faced a break point. They ended up winning the match 6-3, 7-5.
Some highlights from the tournament:
- Whitman places 9 players into the round of 16
- Whitman has 3 of the 4 semi-finalist in singles and doubles
- Freshman Matt Tesmond knocks off the #6 seed (#1 from Whitworth)
- Freshman Sam Sadeghi knocks off the #5 seed (#2 from PLU)
- Tesmond/Sadeghi play great doubles reaching the QTRS before losing to teammates Quin Miller/Conor Holton-Burke
- Conor Holton-Burke upsets a seed in the 1st round 7-6 in the 3rd. He continues through the draw losing to Solomon in the QTRS (6-4, 6-2)
- Conor and Quin upset the #3 seeds in doubles and lose in the semi’s to Matt/Jeffrey
- Senior Thomas Roston has his best regional showing knocking off the #11 seed and pushes #3 seed and teammate Bailey the distance losing 7-6 in the 3rd
- Jasper Follows and Chris Bailey make it to the semi’s of doubles and lose to the eventual champions
- Jasper played true to his seeding (#13) winning two matches before losing to #4 seed Magdoang of Linfield
- Junior Quin Miller (#16 seed) wins two matches before losing to #2 seed Trudel 6-2, 6-3
What makes the above accomplishments even more amazing is we played without four of our key players: Nadeem Kassam and Etienne Moshevich are both studying in London, senior Jake Cappel was out with a wrist injury, and senior Christoph Fuchs is taking the semester off. Man we are on track to have a great year!
Next weekend I’m traveling with a few Whitties to participate in the Boise State Invite. Will be great competition for the Whitman players as the tournament is primarily a DI event. In fact we will be the only non-scholarship school in the tournament.
Immediately following the Boise event, Matt and I will travel to Mobile, AL for the ITA Small College National Championship.
Apr 202009
Sorry about not getting this out yesterday. Weather was too nice to be inside and replacing a spring shackle on my Jeep became a major project that included cutting the frame, modifying brackets, and the removal of auxiliary parts.
This year’s NWC tournament certainly provided us some challenges both on and off the court. Even before our first match we had some funky issues to deal with. Since there are no warm-up courts at the Yakima Tennis Club we went off-site before our matches to get loosened up and hit a few balls. During this warm up Nadeem got hit in the head and broke his glasses. Luckily he was prepared and had an extra pair of glasses in the hotel. Unfortunately the van wouldn’t start! Now we are stuck at a public park with a broken pair of glasses and no way to get back to the hotel or even to the tournament site. Fortunately Coach Ann was driving six guys from Walla Walla that morning so we waited for her to arrive. Once she arrived, Nadeem and I jumped into the van to go back the hotel. However, Jake left his rackets and shoes in the van and didn’t have his equipment to warm-up with. What a crazy morning! In the end we were able to shuttle people to lunch and to the tournament site. Coach Ann had to do the dirty work and find a repair shop, tow-truck and shuttle all while being left with a broken van. For the record Brett Hall Chevelot is Yakima was AWESOME…they towed the van, provided a shuttle for Ann and provided a complimentary Enterprise van.
Because of morning rain the tournament was running a few hours behind schedule. The extra hours allowed us to get eye-glasses, everyone feed, equipment to the correct players and everyone shuttled to the Yakima Tennis Club. Without that delay it would have been an incredibly stressful morning.
The NWC conference is a six-team tournament with the #1 seeds (us) and the #2 seeds (PLU) getting byes. Our first match was against Willamette (#4 seed) who defeated #5 seed Whitworth. As great has the facility is at the Yakima Tennis Club it can be very windy. Friday was no exception — as my sailing friends would say it was “blowing like stink”.
Against Willamette we didn’t play our best doubles and they really brought their top game. In fact at one time we were down breaks at all three doubles! Last time we played Willamette we won the doubles by the scores of 8-1, 8-1, 8-0. What a change to be looking down the barrel of being swept. To use another sailing term (approriate because of the wind) we were able to “right our ship” and take #2 and #3 doubles. At #1 Justin and Dan played pretty nervous with the dual-pressure of an undefeated season on the line and playing at the #1 doubles spot. Even though they broke back at the end of the match to serve at 7-8 they were broke at love losing the match 9-7.
Singles wasn’t great but we started better in the wind and hitting our stride. Chris was down early in his match to the talented #1 from Willamette 2-6, but was able to win the second 6-3 and was up a break in the 3rd when the team match was finished. The junior trio of Dan Wilson, Nadeem Kassam and Jake Cappel all won in straight sets to clinch the match for us. Because of the tournament delay the match was stopped (normally we play out the matches).
Whitman 5 PLU 1
The victory over Willamette set up a show down against #2 seeds PLU. PLU played a great semi-final match against Linfield (#3 seed). I knew the PLU vs Linfield was going to be tight and I figured whomever had the lead after doubles would win the match. As usual Linfield played great doubles and took two of the doubles. However PLU swept all six singles match giving them the victory. What a great effort by PLU. Also gives a strong indication of how much better PLU is playing (we beat Linfield 5-4 and 7-2).
Weather wasn’t an issue in the finals…it was a beautiful day. It was also a beautiful day to have our full line-up playing for the first time all year. Because of injuries and illness we have never had our top singles and doubles line-up play a match. Nothing like the conference finals to finally have a full line-up!
In doubles we were able to quickly go up breaks at #2 and #3 doubles. At #1 Dan and Justin had their hands full against a very hot PLU team (on Friday they had beaten the #10 team in the region 8-0) and were down 1-4. At #3 Nadeem and ET fired up the entire team with a pretty quick 8-3 victory. #2 doubles Christoph and Quin won six of the final eight games posting a 8-4 victory. With everyone watching, Dan and Justin picked up their game playing aggressive doubles and bombing overheads. After being down 1-4 Justin had serve and broke at love putting the match back on serve. At 5-6 Justin had a quick hold and they broke the NWC Conference player of the Year (Joel Trudel) giving Dan the opportunity to serve for the match. Playing on the stadium court infront huge a crowd with the match on the line, I was so proud of how Dan and Justin embraced the moment and served out the match. One of the best proud coaching moments!
The sweep in doubles turned out to be huge. PLU continued their great singles play and put up an incredible match. I was really impressed with the PLU team. This is a team we had beaten 8-1 and 7-2 this season, we were up 3-0 after doubles and they didn’t bow their heads or have any negative energy on the court. They came after us…hard!
The key to the match came down to the experience of juniors Jake Cappel and Nadeem Kassam. Both of these young men have played in the conference finals and NCAA National tournament. They were also matched up against two players who had never played in a conference final. Both had solid first sets with Jake winning 6-1 and Nadeem coming back from 0-3 before reeling off 6 straight games. Those were the only 1st sets we won: #1 (ET), #2 (Chris), #3 (Dan) and #6 (Adriel) all dropped their 1st sets! The final match score doesn’t indicate the competitive nature of this match.
About 45 minutes into the singles we started to hit our stride. Jake finished out his match 6-1, 6-3 giving us a 4-0 lead. His quick victory really put the pressue squarely on every PLU player: they all had to win or the match was over. At #3 singles Dan had a great rally — after being down 0-4 in the first he came back to even the match 4-6, 6-2. At #2 Chris overcame a horrible start and gutted his way into a 3rd set 2-6, 7-6 (10-8). At #6 Adriel ran into a red hot Justin Peterson but was able to even the match 2-6, 6-2. For the record Justin is a great player who is capable of producing unbelievable tennis. In fact last year he played #3 for PLU. As all these matches were splitting sets ET was locked in a battle with PLU #1 player. ET ended up dropping the 1st set 7-5 but had a ton of break points that he couldn’t convert. Hats off to Joel Trudel. I’ve been around some high level tennis and I’ve never seen anyone serve themselves out of trouble the way Joel did on Saturday. Every break point he was able to bomb in a 1st serve. He certainly deserved to be named NWC Player of the Year.
As we were splitting sets at #2, #3 and #6, Nadeem clinched the match with a 6-3 6-3 victory. What a great win for Deem. In the past he has struggled closing out matches. Today Deem showed his maturity, composure and improved play. Once he got up in each set he was able to play his best tennis closing out each set! Very gratifying to see Deem clinch the match.
With the match over Dan and Chris won match breakers giving us a 7-0 lead. At #1 ET lost 6-4, 7-5 and at #6 Adriel lost 6-2, 2-6, 6-4. Even though ET lost it was unbelievable to have him back in the line-up. His fire, passion and love of the game (and competing) inspires the entire team.
We finished the year with undefeated conference season and repeat conference championships!
We now wait a couple weeks to see where we were be shipping off for the NCAA team tournament.
Whitman 7 PLU 2
Apr 122009
Yesterday was a great day for the Whitties. In beating rival PLU 7-2 we finished the conference season with an unblemished 16-0 record! This is the third constitutive year we have finished 16-0 in the conference and our 50th consecutive regular season conference victory!
Ending our season against PLU was especially gratifying since they have been one of the best teams in the conference and will go into the conference tournament as the #2 seed. Certainly nice going into the conference tournament as the #1 seed and just beaten the #2 seed 7-2.
We went into the match a bit off-balanced with our doubles. Doubles standout Christoph Fuchs has been sick the past two weeks and he stayed at home to rest and recover. I was also hoping to insert Etienne Moshevich into the doubles line-up but at the last minute decided to scratch him from the line-up. As a coach it can be a bit unsettling having new doubles combos and teams playing in different positions going into a big match. However one of beautiful aspects of our team is our tremendous depth and team spirit. We put about 14 players into the doubles line-up and not miss a beat. This was evident against PLU as Dan Wilson and Justin Hayashi moved up to #1 doubles, Nadeem Kassam and Chris Bailey played #2 and the relatively new team of Jasper Follows and Quin Miller filled in at #3.
Justin and Dan continued their unbelievable season gaining an early break and never looked back winning 8-5 against a very good PLU team. Justin and Dan have been incredible this season. They started the year at #3 doubles and the past few matches have been playing #1 — simply amazing that they haven’t lost a match all spring! Nadeem and Chris were in early control of their match going up 5-2. However the resilient PLU team won three straight games to even the match at 5-5. At this point Chris played some great doubles: getting in a high percentage of 1st serves, closing at the net and putting Nadeem in good position to finish off points. They won three games of the final four games taking the match 8-5. Number three doubles was a treat to watch as both Quin and Jasper played smart, aggressive doubles. They both were animals at the net crossing at the appropriate times against a team that tried to dictate play from the baseline.
Honestly I was hoping for a 2-1 lead going into doubles. Being up 3-0 was early Easter gift!
In singles Dan gave us a 4-1 lead with a 6-0, 6-4 victory at #2 singles. PLU’s #1 standout Joel Trudel, a DI transfer from University of Idaho, put PLU on the board with a 6-2, 6-4 over Chris Bailey. So far this year Trudel hasn’t lost a singles match in conference play. I know ET was disappointed not to get a shot at him on Saturday (ET is also undefeated). However if the conference seeding holds true the two might square off on Saturday in the conference finals. Junior Jake Cappel clinched the match with a 7-5, 6-2 victory at #5 singles. Nice to see Jake play solid tennis, he has been sick the past couple weeks and he is just starting to get his legs back (also happy birthday Jake). Quin Miller had a good 6-4, 6-3 victory at #6 over PLU’s Justin Peterson. Peterson played #3 on last year’s PLU team and is a very talented, dangerous player. Each week it is a amazing to watch the progress that Quin makes in his game — at the moment he is playing very solid ball. At #4 Adriel suffered his first defeat of the year 3-6, 6-3, 10-3. I felt that Adriel was in control of the match but at 3-3 in the 2nd the wheels fell off and he dropped three quick games and could never recover. In my eyes match of the day was #3 singles where Nadeem Kassam defeated Kevin Floyd 5-7, 6-1, 6-2. This was a great win for Nadeem — last year Floyd played #1 for PLU and for the past three years has been one of the best players in the conference. Great confidence booster for Nadeem heading into conference.
Next weekend is the NWC conference tournament in Yakima WA. As the #1 seed we get a bye and play the winner of #4/#5 (Whitworth and Willamette). If we make it through that match the finals will be at the Yakima Tennis Club around noon on Saturday.
Mar 232009
Long post incoming. Sorry for the length of the post but it has been a few days since I’ve been able to provide match recaps.
First off scores from yesterday:
What an unbelievable spring break trip! Two weeks on the road with an amazing group of guys (we are starting our second week). Many people have asked why we are taking a two-week trip. Whitman has a two-week break and traditionally we have taken the 1st week to travel and play matches. This year I decided to schedule most of our away conference matches the first week of break and use the second week to travel to Hilton Head Island.
So far the trip has been a blast. Our team is more a family than a team and we are the best vacation ever! Well its not exactly a vacation since we are playing something like 14 matches during our trip.
Last time I really updated the blog was on Monday after the Pacific and George Fox matches. On Tuesday I took part of the guys to Salem for a conference match against Willamette. Since we had a two hour drive to Salem we left about 10am to ensure we had plenty of warm-up time. Weather was actually perfect in Salem and we got to play the match outdoors. This is quite a rarity in Salem: they have only played two home matches at their outdoor courts in the last two years!
We played Willamette 5 days earlier in Walla Walla so we knew what to expect coming into the match. In our earlier meeting we had close matches at both #1 and #2 doubles (both were 8-6). In this match we came out firing and took control of the match from the start. In fact we only lost a combined 2 games in the matches! In singles the matches were much more competitive. Chris really struggled at the start of his match before settling down for 1-6, 6-1, 6-1 victory. Dan also had a close three set match 6-2, 4-6, 6-4. We were able to win the rest of the matches in straight sets. One of the highlights was Reid Bennett’s 6-0, 6-3 victory at #6. Reid was scheduled as the alternate but Justin’s shoulder didn’t feel right so I pulled Justin out of the singles and moved Reid to the #6 slot.
After a snack in Salem we drove to Lewis-Clark to watch Team B take on the Pioneers. Even though the two teams had only been apart for a day it seemed like forever since we had seen each other. We actually arrived after David “the clincher” Deming won the match with his 6-4, 6-2 victory at #6. However we able to watch Jake post a solid win over Vincent Groot (Vincent is top 30 in the region). When we arrived Jake was down 1-4 in the third. With the strong encouragement of his teammates, Jake was able to reel off 5 straight games for a 7-6, 1-6, 6-4 win. By the time we got to the Fuch’s house for dinner it was already around 10pm…talk about a long day!
Thursday was another early day as our Linfield match was moved indoors in Salem. So up at 6am and out the door at 7am for another two hour drive to Salem. We had played Linfield about three weeks ago in the comfort of our indoor tennis courts. Even though we escaped with a 5-4 match we felt terrible about the way ended (we were up 5-2 in team scoring and let #5 and #6 slip away). The kicker for this match with Linfield was we were playing without our #1 standout Etienne Moshevich (injury).
I was so proud of the way we stepped up and started the match. At #1 doubles Christoph and Quin broke the first game and never looked back winning 8-5 (they lost to this team 8-6 in our first meeting). At #2 doubles Dan and Justin where down a break at 2-4 and motored to a 8-5 win (they played #3 doubles the first time we played). At #3 doubles Nadeem and Chris were down from the first game and battled back for an 8-7 lead. Unfortunately they couldn’t convert a few match points and Linfield was able to send the match to a tiebreak. At this point Nadeem really showed his doubles skills and made it a personal point to take over the breaker…which he did. After the doubles we are up 3-0. In NCAA DIII tennis coming back from 0-3 in doubles is incredibly tough.
We only had four courts to play on so #5 (Quin) and #6 (Christoph) had to wait. We were able to take the 1st sets at #1 (Chris), #3 (Jake) and #4 (Nadeem). Unfortunately Dan ran into a red hot player and dropped his match 6-0, 7-5. Chris was able to close out the #1 match 6-4, 6-4 giving us a 4-1 lead. At this point Jake and Nadeem both drop the second set. I must say that this trip has been great for Jake. He has really stepped up his game and is becoming “clutch” in tight matches. He was up a break in the 2nd and let the set slip through his fingers. In the 3rd he was able to break at 4-4 and serve out the match 6-4. For the record at this point Jake has played 4 consecutive three-set matches and won them all! With the match over Nadeem played a 10 point breaker for the 3rd and ended up losing 6-7, 7-5, 10-5. Although Deem felt like he didn’t play his best tennis he competed hard and pushed a very good player to the limits.
For Christoph (#6) and Quin (#5) this match was about redemption. One great thing about tennis is you always get second chances. In our first meeting Christoph and Quin were both up 6-1 and a break in the 2nd set when the wheels fell off and they both ended up losing in a match breaker. I know this didn’t sit well with either of them and they were chomping for a rematch. To make a long story short (and this has been a long story) both were able to use the opportunity and reverse the outcome of the previous meeting — Quin won 6-4, 6-4 and Christoph won 6-2, 4-6, 10-8.
It was great defeating 7-2 minus our #1 player! Certainly a good sign when we go into the conference tournament.
After the match we grabbed a quick lunch, raced back to our housing to pack-up, string a few rackets and hit the road for the Seattle airport. Ended up checking into the hotel at 10pm. After a quick dinner we hit the sack to grab a couple hours of sleep before our 6am flight (at the airport at 4am) to Charlotte NC.
On a personal note Charlotte was one of the highlights of the trip. Note only did my lovely wife join us for this stage of the trip but we stayed at the home of ex-Whitman professor, baseball coach and Athletic Director Travis Feezell and his family. For Jennifer and I it was wonderful catching up with our friends.
On Saturday we had a nice hit at a local high school, packed up the vans and hit the road. Its about a 4-hour drive from Charlotte to Hilton Head Island, SC. Reason we flew into Charlotte instead of closer airports was ticket price. Our tickets into Charlotte were less than half some teams paid to fly into Savannah, GA. I figured the $300 savings per ticket (16 tickets) was worth the the 4-hour drive.
Hilton Head is a wonderful place for matches. We are staying at the Hilton Head Island Beach and Tennis Resort and staying in condos. The condos are great since they have full kitchens, living rooms and separate bedrooms. Plus three of our matches this week are right outside of of the condos!
Yesterday we played a double header/split squad match against Colby and Westminster. In the morning the top players took on a tough Colby squad. It was really hard to gauge the Colby team. They are ranked #8 in the tough NE region but haven’t played any matches (we were their first match). As I mentioned in an earlier post this marked the return of our best player Etienne Moshevich — we decided to have him only play doubles to see how he responded to competitive play.
For the past two-weeks I’ve been preaching to the team that we need to be in close matches and look forward to the battle and intensity in close matches. Winning matches 9-0 with half a squad doesn’t prepare us for tough national level competition. Well Colby provided our first test. We didn’t play well in doubles and found ourselves in a 1-2 hole. Plus after watching the doubles it was clear that Colby had two very good players at #1 and #2. Everyone knew they needed to step up play in singles. And step up play did they ever. We won 6-0 first sets at #3, #4, #6 and 6-2 at #5. Talk about a momentum swing! The entire team was supporting everyone and playing with positive enthusiasm. We ended up rolling to 6-0, 6-1 victories #6, #4, and #3. With the match score 4-3 (Dan lost at #2) we only needed one more win to clinch the match. Chris lost an incredibly long set at #1 so the “clincher” appeared to come down to Quin’s match. Quin was absolutely rolling in his match he won the first set 6-2 (didn’t lose a point on serve) and was up 5-2 serving with a match point. At this point Quin thinks the team match is over and is wondering why his teammates are hanging on the fence screaming and yelling for each point he won. At 5-2 match point Quin hits a wall losing about 8 straight points — he can’t find the court with anything! From that match point Quin doesn’t win another point until 4-5. It is one of the most incredible turn arounds I have seen in a match. At 5-4 Quin starts to get his focus back and earns a couple match points only to get broke. At 5-5 things are really tight and the entire team is squirming on the sideline. Of course Quin is blissfully ignorant to the match situation. Quin finally breaks after a long duece game. Serving 5-4, Quin loses 3 more match points (6 match points lost); lucky for us Quin finally wins the match on his 7th match point…whew!
We immediately started our second match against Westminster. Kind of funny since Chris was still playing his singles match when we started singles against Westminster (because of courts we started with singles). Team “B” looked incredibly sharp mowing through a team that has been to the NCAA team tournament the past 2 years. Adriel looked incredibly sharp in his 6-1, 6-2 victory at #1 (over a very solid player). Based on his strong play he is going to play #6 against Chicago later today. Thomas also played very thoughtful tennis and posted another routine win. So far this trip he has yet to drop more than 2 games in a match!
Later today (noon) we play a very loaded Chicago team. We are both ranked in the 20′s but Chicago is one of the most talented teams in the nation. Their roster is loaded with 4 and 3 star recruits. On paper they are the better team. However, matches aren’t played on paper and it is impossible to measure a team’s work ethic and competitive spirit. We are certainly looking forward to today’s challenge. We are also looking forward to having ET back in the line-up. At 6pm Team “B” takes on St Thomas.
Big shout out to former Whittie Dan Solomon who is finishing his college career at Colorado College. Over the weekend he defeated PLU #1 Joel Trudel in straight sets. He told me it was a very sweet victory:)
Feb 092009
On Friday the “Fighting Squirrels” kicked off conference play with a 9-0 victory over University of Puget Sound. The #2 doubles combo of Justin “Hiyo” Hayashi and Dan “Mr ATT” Wilson got us rolling with a quick 8-0 win. We struggled a bit in the other doubles matches but pulled through with a 8-5 win at #1 (ET and Nadeem) and 8-4 at #3 (Jake and Chris).
In singles Mr ATT (aka Dan) played like a man who had to make an important call cruising through a 6-0, 6-0 victory at #3 singles. Not to be outdone Chris Bailey posted a 6-0, 6-0 victory at #1 singles. This victory was especially sweet for Chris since his opponent was a NWC 1st Team All-Conference selection from 2008. In other singles Jake battled through a case of nerves posting a 6-3, 6-3 victory at #2, Quin held on for a 6-0, 6-4 win at #4, Nadeem worked hard for a 6-2, 6-4 win at #5 and Christoph completed the sweep with a 6-1, 6-2 win at #6.
Saturday morning was the “BIG” morning — a match with our rival PLU. College football has their rivalry weekend the NWC conference has Whitman VS PLU tennis shootout. Make no doubt about it, this was a big match for both teams. A early season victory by either team sets the tone for the rest of the year. Last year we were able to get the Lutes 3 times (6-3, 9-0, 8-1). However this year the Lutes picked-up another DI transfer giving them one of the best #1, #2 tandems in the conference. To make matters worse we lost our #1 and #2 players from last year. In a sport of match-ups losing or gaining a player at the top positions can have a huge impact on the outcome.
Doubles was a see-saw affair with Whitman gaining early breaks at #2 and #3 doubles. #1 doubles was a battle with neither game gaining any break points until mid-way through the match. Unlike #1 doubles, #3 doubles was a regular feast for the returners. In fact at one-time that match saw 7 consecutive breaks of serve! In all my years of coaching I don’t think I’ve seen that many breaks of serves. Nadeem/ET were the first off at #1 doubles winning 8-5, the early morning break feast at #3 doubles ended with Justin/Dan pulling out a 8-6 victory, and Christoph/Quin never looked back at #2 doubles winning 8-5.
Going up 3-0 after doubles is HUGE. However we know from past experience that the match was far from over. Two years ago we dug ourselves into a 0-4 hole against PLU and managed to win the final 5 matches. Knowing anything can happen everyone took to the courts knowing that each individual singles match was important.
The top two singles matches were outright slug fests. All 4 players were absolutely crushing the ball. Normally we use the match balls for practice. However the balls from these matches were so worn out we just threw them away! At #1 singles ET showed the heart of lion pulling at 4-6, 6-3, 10-6 victory. After recovering from a shoulder injury ET is playing with passion, intensity and most importantly a renewed love of the game. At #2 singles Chris had the task of playing PLU’s new DI transfer Joel Trudel. Chris picked up where he left off on Friday winning the first set 6-2. However Mr Trudel showed he is the real deal battling back for a 6-1, 10-5 victory (PLU’s only point of the day).
If I had to pick an “MVP” for the day it would be Jake. Against UPS the previous night, Jake struggled with his serve and played very tentative. I was worried how he would react to a very good PLU opponent (another DI transfer). I was proud of how hard he competed, his attitude and intensity on court. In fact Jake was the first singles off the court with a 6-3, 6-3 victory giving us a 4-0 lead. Mr ATT (Dan) overcame an early break clinching the team match with 7-5, 6-2 victory. Numbers 5 and 6 stayed true to form with Quin and Christoph picking up straight set victories.
Also getting in the action was Conor Holton-Burke playing an exhibition against another new PLU transfer. It was great to see Conor battle through a major case of the nerves beating a very good PLU player in 3 though sets.
We now take two weeks off before returning to competition against Pacific and George Fox.