Another Loss 5-4...

I am certainly sorry to report that we lost another close one at Rollins Tuesday 5-4. Just as versus ERAU, there were some good things to take away from the match but the bottom line is that this is a match we should have won and one we will have to start to win as we go forward.

Our doubles, although improved, seems not quite good enough to get the points that we need to be a success. Andy and David continue to win and really dominated their match. We were not able to secure a point at either #1 or #2 though. Benas and Tamasz are improving but still struggle with the doubles concepts. We also are having difficulty stepping up to seize the big points. They have been right there in every match but seem to blink in crunch time. At #2 we certainly expect to be successful with the talent and experience that we have. This has not yet translated into any wins however. Dani and Geza lost another tiebreaker and once again had match points. We are certainly beginning to understand what can make the difference between a win and a loss and that can be just one point in any of the 9 matches. As a result, we were down 2-1 after the doubles.

I fully expected that a 4 point singles rally was within reach. I really liked our chances at 4,5, and 6 and I was not wrong as we swept the lower spots in the lineup. However, we are still struggling at the top so far this season. Benas continues to play well but has run into very tough opponents. I believe that he will develop this season as he plays the top players in the country. Andreas had a very good match at #3 that went three sets but was unable to pull it out. Andy is playing well but has just not been able get wins yet. The real surprise for me was to see Dani get soundly defeated at #2. I thought that we were starting to see the real Dani and was expecting a good effort. We didn't see that on this day and that will be something to work on. If he can produce points for us in the top half of the lineup we will be ok this year.

The good news is that we have been able to play two good matches against two very good teams. This is great experience for us and will only help us to improve going forward. As I have said quite a few times, we just need to get better every day and we will be fine in May. That being said, we have played two winnable matches, matches that we were able to win last year and in the past. Lets hope that we can build something special in the near future.

We are off to Flagler at 2:30pm today. It is another windy one but I am sure that we are all accustomed to that at this point. We will need a big response today and I will be asking for nothing but maximum statement effort. I do not expect Flagler to give us the match as they have hit some hard times recently and will be looking to bounce back themselves. We shall see.

I will try to be back on twitter today as my phone battery allows. Either way, I hope to report a win later on today.

Nuff said...

Clippers Defeat #6 Rollins...

In another exciting college tennis match, your Clippers defeated/upset the Tars of Rollins College 6-3. Rollins is currently ranked #6 by the ITA among NCAA II teams.

We knew that we had to get the good start in the doubles and try to get out at least 2-1. However, we did not start strong anywhere. Perhaps there was some sort of hangover from the two exciting matches at ERAU and Flagler. In the blink of an eye we were down two breaks on courts 1 and 3. Luckily court 2 was hanging in there. We went on the win #2 doubles with a late match run 8-3. Down 6-2 on court 1, we turned the tide and won the next 6 games to capture the 8-6 win. On court 3, David and Andreas started to climb out of the huge hole that they created and did get back to 7-6. However, they were not able to break against the wind and lost 8-6. I certainly was happy with the two wins but we really could have taken all three. However, when you are playing a team as good as Rollins, you are happy with 2 points in doubles for sure.

We liked the match ups in singles and were not disappointed with the collective effort. Rollins is a great team and was in no way ready at any time to roll over and give us the match. Rather, they were fighting for each and every point on every court. I was very impressed with the Rollins team and they will be a force all season.

Andreas and Daniele at 6 an 2 were off to good starts and were able to win to get us to 4 points. Tamas was grinding as usual and took a tough first set at 4. Andrey, Felix and David all dropped first sets at 1, 5, ad 3 respectively. Clearly this was a battle. David and Andrey were able to fight back and take second sets but Felix was not as fortunate as he lost in straight sets. David lost his third making the score 4-3. However, needing only one more point to take the match, both Tamas and Andrey pulled out hotly contested matches to give us the 6-3 win.

In some ways, it is hard to believe the success we are having here in Florida against these great teams. We have a strong team for sure but to come here into these conditions and play such tough matches on consecutive days is quite impressive and maybe even a little surprising. In any case, we are very happy with the effort.

Today we will play #1 Barry at Flagler College at 12 noon. Clearly, we will need to be even better today. I think we have a chance if we bring the good tennis to the court but it will not be an easy task. One could argue that this is our toughest match of the year. I hope that the guys answer the bell again. I think that they will and hope to be reporting a win later today. Either way, I am so proud of the team and coaches for the success.

Wish us luck.

Nuff said...