the lines are still good

Follow the happenings of an animated college tennis coach and his teams in their pursuit of an NCAA National Tennis Championship. It is always the impressive trophy that is displayed for all to admire that gets the attention, but it is the journey to claiming that trophy, the relationships built, the people served and the memories created, that live forever...and what I hope you will find interesting...

Wednesday, May 04, 2011

Finals week.

Hard to stay focused on the tasks at hand both tennis and academics.

Dani is back on the court!

Happy Birthday Andreas.

Will scrimmage Queens (NY) on Friday at home.

We stay #3 in the national rankings.

More later.

Nuff said...

Monday, May 02, 2011

Off to the Sweet 16...


Your Clippers defeated Philadelphia University for the third time this season, 5-0, to advance back to the "Sweet 16" of NCAA II college tennis. After a first round bye we traveled to out of way Lehigh University to face off against the Rams. PU defeated Merrimack in the first round 5-1.

We got off to a quick start and swept the doubles. Needing only two points to advance, the usual suspects, Tamas and Andreas, raced to singles victories which completed the shutout.

Philadelphia certainly had a great year once again and I look forward to their continued improvement next season. We always have to be on our toes when we play them for sure.

Next up will be Hawai'i Pacific and our friend coach Pampulov. We played earlier this season in Las Vegas and we were able to come out on top 7-2. Of course, both teams and circumstance's were quite different back in March and we expect a very tough opponent to show up in Orlando.

It is finals week at the college so the players will have to manage their time well to succeed in the classroom and squeeze in a quality week of practice on the court.

Wish us luck.

Nuff said...

Monday, April 25, 2011

Clippers Defeat Red Storm...


Today turned out to be a beautiful day in terms of the weather in spite of a rainy forecast. It also turned into a great day for tennis and a win over St. John's University 5-4 (click here for box score).

Playing once again without Dani and his lingering injury and Felix (flu) we still jumped out to a 2-1 lead after the doubles. A bit disappointed in the effort and intensity at #1 (Geza and Tamas) but #2 and #3 picked up the slack and pushed us to the lead. I was certainly pleased with Ricardo and Andrey at #2 playing together for the first time and beating a tough SJU team. Andreas and David continued their roll and won easily at #3.

The singles featured some pretty high quality and exciting tennis from both teams and we were able to win at 3 positions to clinch the match. Tamas was particularly solid today playing in his last home match as a Clipper. It has been a great career for Tamas and there are still a few more wins for him in the near future. It is too bad that Felix was not well enough to play in this one but I am sure he will be ready to contribute in the NCAA tournament and end his college tennis on a high note.

We now await the NCAA tournament bracket announcement tomorrow. We will be the #1 seed in the East region and have a bye in the first round. At this time, we are not sure where we will play and who our opponent will be but we will be ready regardless. Check back tomorrow and I will be sure to let you know the particulars.

Be well and nuff said...

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Happy Easter...

Wishing all of my readers and Clipper fans a very Happy and Blessed Easter. Enjoy the celebration. He is Risen!

Nuff said...

Saturday, April 23, 2011

CACC Champs...



Your Clippers have done it again! Back-to-back CACC Championships and back to back 5-0 wins vs. Philadelphia University in the finals (click here for the box score). Even more impressive is the 64-0 record in CACC individual match play this season. You just can't do better than that. Frankly, I hope we never do it again as I hope that the CACC gets even stronger in the near future. I know that there are some hungry coaches out there looking to challenge us and mirror our success. Of course, it's my job to see that we always stay just a little bit ahead.

In addition, the conference season ending awards were announced after the final match in a brief ceremony. Coach Neil was once again voted Coach of the Year, Andrey was voted Player of the Year, and Dani was voted Rookie of the Year. In addition, Tamas was named second team all CACC and Geza, Andrey, Dani and David were all named first team all CACC. I really believe that any and all of our players could have been named to the all conference squad so please join me and congratulating all of them on a great season.

Next up for us will be St. John's University and Concordia Tennis alum, Coach Eric Rebhuhn, on Monday, 4/25 at home at the Meyers Tennis Center on our campus. I am not sure that Dani will be back in uniform as his injury is still lingering. However, this match will provide some really solid competition for the team and I hope that they play well. We need to stay sharp for the upcoming NCAA tournament.

Hope to see you all soon and have a Happy and Blessed Easter.

Nuff said...

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Clippers Defeat Chestnut Hill (CACC Semis)


We are off to Philadelphia once again for the CACC Championship to be held at Chestnut Hill College 4/21 @ 3pm. We will play Philadelphia University.

In order to advance we defeated Chestnut Hill 5-0 bringing our CACC record to 7-0 and 59-0 in CACC individual matches.

Click here for more.

Nuff said...

Beat Queens...

We were able to beat Queens College 5-4. I am always happy with a win but this time, not at all happy with some of the play. Sadly, we had three players who presented their matches with gift wrap to their opponents for some reason.

We got up quickly be sweeping the doubles and Andreas and Tamas sealed the win with rather quick work on the singles courts. However, those five points would be all that we amassed on the afternoon.

Dani sat out again with injury and we really need him back healthy to have any chance in May.

Next up is the CACC semifinal today vs. Chestnut Hill College @ 3pm. Stop on by the college today and witness the event.

Nuff said...

Monday, April 18, 2011

It's #1 vs. #2...


It's time to lay it on the line today Clipper fans. We are off to Queens College (NY) today to play the Knights. This is essentially the match of the year in the NCAA II Eastern Region. Well, honestly, it's the only match of the year...

I expect that coach Schwartz will have the boys motivated for the upset and we expect nothing less than a solid effort from QC. This is another test for our team and I really hope that we come out firing on all cylinders. We need to get into the habit of playing well right from the start of matches instead of easing our way into contests and finding ourselves down after the doubles.

Check in on twitter for live match updates.

Nuff said...

Friday, April 15, 2011

ASA Not Congruent To Clippers...


We moved to a record of 18-2 with a 9-0 win over ASA. I am sure that ASA is right at the tip of your tongue when it comes to the powerhouses of tennis in the East. However, all kidding aside, they are probably one of the better teams in the area.

Also, if anyone can tell me in the comment section without searching the internet what ASA stands for, I will be very impressed and will give you a much deserved shout out on this blog.

Have a nice spring day.

Nuff said...

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

9-0 Win Over Post...


Read the title and click here for the box score.

Nuff said...

Checking In...


Just checking in folks.

We have a conference match today versus Post at 3pm. Thankfully, due to rain, the match has been moved to Concordia and our indoor courts. Also, this is our last CACC regular season match. What a relief. Of course, we will have to play two post season matches next week in order to claim the championship. Not to sound down on the conference but the teams are so weak that it is hard to motivate the players and it hurts our preparation. We would rather have a practice day. Also, the CACC final is in Philadelphia and the travel takes away from player study time. I know that there a few coaches that are excited to build strong teams and I hope that they do just that.

I am heavy on the recruiting trail for next year. We have one player already admitted and cleared and am just looking for one additional player. The trick is to find the right young man to join us. I hope to locate the proper fit and be even better next season.

In other news, Andrey Boldarev was named CACC Player of the Week and David Tisserand was named CACC Rookie of the Week. Click here for the full press release.

Have a great day Clipper fans.

Nuff said...

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Tennis, Planes and Automobiles...


What a crazy few days. After our historic comeback versus Lander we took on Francis Marion, #14 in the Nation. We had a good day and swept all 9 matches. I certainly never expect to win all 9 points against a team like FMU. They really fought hard and played the good tennis. Also, I really appreciated the sportsmanship that they displayed.

Saturday we went back to work and played South Carolina Aiken #30. This was a morning match as we were scheduled to fly out of SC at 6pm. Keep in mind I wrote scheduled. In any case, we defeated Aiken 8-1 and continued to play the solid tennis. Pretty business-like on all courts. The only bad news is that Dani could not play due to a finger injury. We hope it gets better soon.

I am always pleasantly surprised when we display this sort of consistent effort when playing such tough matches on consecutive days. However, it has happened several times this season so I guess I should be accustomed to it now. This is what we will need to do to be successful in May. I think we just need to overcome or prevent the slow starts.

After the win, we were back to the luxury accommodations of the Econo Lodge to shower and pack for the flight. We arrived plenty early at the Florence airport, which is about the size of a tennis court. Sadly, significant weather had moved into the area and the flight was delayed, delayed and delayed some more until finally is was canceled at 1am. Much to our chagrin, no flights out to Charlotte for a few days. As a result, we were forced to take a 2:30am shuttle bus to Charlotte which is a 2.5 hour drive from Florence. So much fun...NOT. We arrived in Charlotte at 4:30am and decided not get hotel rooms and thus slept on the airport floor. So comfortable for the 3rd ranked team in the country. We have a 10am flight to Newark but that is now delayed as well. Isn't that swell.


Well, with any luck, I will be able to get home to Bronxville and get some sleep. Sleep has been hard to come by these last few days for reasons outlined earlier.

We are now 16-2 and the 2 were both losses of the closest 5-4 kind. Not too shabby. We will go back to work this week and have CACC Post on Wednesday, ASA on Thursday and St. John's on Sunday. Both ASA and SJU are at home so stop on by.

I am so tired so Nuff said...

I Feel Like Steve Martin...

Sorry for the lack of posts but I promise to update you all as soon as I get home. You see we have been stuck in South Carolina due to weather conditions and slept on the airport floor. Check back soon...