A Solid Start...

Welcome to college tennis Mr. Tisserand! In as an exciting college tennis match as you can have, we edged ERAU, #3 NAIA, 5-4 (click here for boxscore). From start to finish, it was a five hour contest that would be best described as a battle. Hotly contested matches on most, if not all, courts, a questionable official, competitive spirit from all involved, 30 mph wind gusts, chili temperatures all coupled with a flat tire on I-95 and the way down to the match...it was a heck of a day for sure.

As a result, I am quite proud of the effort. I expected that ERAU would be a tough match to win being that it was our first outdoor match of the season and with limited preparation time. ERAU is stronger this year and with so many new players, I was unsure of how we would show in this match.

Well, the answer is...we played pretty darn well as a whole, and most importantly we competed and battled about as well as any coach could expect.

Highlighting the doubles was a back and forth 9-8 win at #2 by Geza and Tamas. The point of the day may have been a fairly lucky slash highly skilled top spin lob by Geza at 5-5 in the tie-breaker. We went on to win the next point and thus the match, giving us the advantage going into the singles.

You have to tip your hat to David today. He was up against a very good player who was also a senior with plenty of experience. In addition, this player had beaten former Clipper Alex Grubin last year, so you know that this guy could really ball for sure. David lost the first in a one and a half hour set ending in the tiebreaker so his work was cut out for him going forward. However, he continued to battle unfazed and won the second 6-4. The third set went to another breaker and this time David showed incredible composure, solid fitness and tremendous shot making and was able to win 8-6 to give the match to your Clippers. David really showed us something today. As I mentioned. he was very composed and played terrific tennis under difficult conditions. What was also great was the support from the team on the sidelines watching the match. Even though we were the road team, we were more of a presence out there and I think that helped David come through with a win.

All in all, it was a great college tennis match and why we all do this. Of course, it is much better to win these than lose them but still a great match for both teams. We gained a lot of confidence from this one that will help us going forward. The only drawback is that the match was so long and so physical and emotional for the team. We have a long week of tennis versus top teams ahead of us and will need to bounce back right away today as we play a strong Flagler team. In fact, the next three matches are the more important as they are against NCAA II ranked teams. We have an opportunity to move closer to #1 in the country if we can win them. However, this will be no small task, especially after yesterday. We will learn more about the team today when we see how well we compete.


Thanks for all of your comments and emails and also the love on facebook. I appreciate your support. You can find me on facebook, twitter and also reach me at danabolics@aol.com if you would like to get me a message.

Wish us luck today and see you soon.

Nuff said...