Leaving Las Vegas...

Greetings fellow Clipper fans. Well, we have returned from fabulous Las Vegas with mixed results. However, we did get what we came for...competitive matches.

After what I would call a disappointing week of practice following a terrific Florida trip, we faced off versus the NAIA's #1 Fresno Pacific. I wasn't expecting to be at our best for a few reasons but we were able to take two doubles from a solid FPU team. However, the singles players from Fresno were very tough and beat us in spots 3-6 giving us our first loss of the season 5-4. We did win at the top two spots which included Andrey defeating the NAIA's #1 ranked player and defending superbowl champion from the fall. We did have a chance for the upset as the final match on court was at #5 with Felix. He was able to race to a 4-2 lead in the final set but he was not able to close to door on FPU's rock solid opponent. We lost a close one there 6-4 in the third.

The next day was perhaps our most important match of the trip versus Abilene Christian University. ACU was ranked just behind us in the NCAA II. Sadly, after the tough match the day before and perhaps a little over-confidence, we came out flat. ACU has always played good doubles and I was not surprised to see that continue on this day. They played with energy and desire and essentially gave us a beating. We lost quickly at #1 and #2. Luckily, we sneaked out #3 and that kept us in the match. Coach Neil and I strongly asked for more energy and focus in the singles sensing that we were in trouble in this match. However, our request was not honored right away. ACU continued their strong play and raced out to a 4-1 lead with fast wins at #5 and #6, two spots we have been wining mostly. In addition, we had lost first sets at #3 and #1. The only bright spots were at #2 and #4 where Tamas and Dani won first sets. Dani went on the win in straight sets but Tamas lost a bit of focus and had to go three to win the match. David was able to turn his match and outlast his opponent wining 6-4 in the third to tie the match score at 4-4. Andrey was last on and had turned his match as well. He won the second set and had jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the final set. We were starting to feel like we were going to steal this match on a day where we were outplayed and deserved to lose. Andrey lost focus and confidence and did not win another game and lost 6-4 and thus we lost the match 5-4. We didn't have it that day and ACU gave us a wake up call for sure.

Our final match in Vegas was a chance to bounce back versus HPU. The effort was much better and the opponent was not quite as strong as out first two of the trip. We did come out and play hard and smart which was nice to see. As a result, we swept the doubles 3-0. We kept up the strong play in the singles and took 4 out of the 6 matches losing only at #1 and #5. Dani continued his very strong play on the trip besting a tough player. David and Andreas had good efforts wining 6-0, 6-0 at positions 3 and 6. We took the match 7-2 and ended on a high note.

Next up will be CACC foe Chestnut Hill College this Tuesday in Bronxville @ 3:30pm. Stop in and support the Clippers.

Nuff said...