Long day, good win...

Well, six hours in the van did not prevent the Clippers from defeating #8 NCAA III Amherst College 7-2 (click here for boxscore) on the campus of Hampshire College. Thankfully, the match was moved to the indoor facility, which usually favors our boys, so the cold and rainy conditions did not prevent the match from being played.

Amherst, coached by former ATP player Chris Garner, gave us exactly what we needed, a good fight. As we prepare for the NCAA tournament in a few weeks, we certainly appreciated good competition and some ability to gain match toughness. Most notably, Alex Grubin is starting to regain the good form in spite of some nagging tendinitis about the knee joint. We hope Alex will continue to find his good tennis and regain his rightful spot atop the D II rankings.

Unfortunately, we were without Andreas today as he was suffering from flu-like symptoms. As a result, Shaolin was called upon to step in and fill the #6 position as well as to team up with Tamas at 3rd doubles. Having never played together, they struggled and lost a tough 8-6 pro-set. However, Shao showed his continued improvement and won his match handily in the singles 6-4, 6-3.

The only tough spot of the day was #3 singles as Felix Missal dropped his match in a match tie-breaker, played in lieu of a third set, 11-9. Felix did experience the good side of the tie breaker earlier in the doubles as he and Raphael squeaked by at 2nd 9-8.

No rest again for the team as we will play two matches Sunday, which is now today, and I am running late for as a result of scripting this blog at this very moment. First up at 10:30am is our last CACC match vs. the University of the Sciences in PA followed by NCAA I Bryant University in the afternoon. Perhaps I will have some time later in the day to finish my laundry.

Stop by and spend some of this gorgeous day at the tennis center supporting the fellas. Feel free to visit with Coach Dano as well.

Nuff said...