Since I have a coaches meeting in 15 minutes this will be a short post (please forgive any typos and/or bad grammar.) Yesterday we ran into a fired up and hungry Redlands team (#15 in nation). One thing I knew going into the match was the Bulldogs were going to fired up to play us. Last year we were able to sneak out a 5-4 over Redlands on their home courts and I'm sure they have been looking forward to a rematch for the better part of a year. Also Redlands does much of its recruiting in our backyard (the Pacific Northwest) and a victory over #16 Whitman would be a feather in their hat.
Even though Redlands was our first match of Spring Break I already feel like our team is the walking wounded. Its a good thing we have such a deep roster with players that are willing and able to fill at a moments notice. Yesterday doubles standout Nadeem Kassam couldn't go because of a sore achilles. Instead of juggle doubles teams I moved Chris Bailey and Robert Rye into the #3 slot and bumped Jasper Follows and Justin Hayashi up to #2. As an FYI all 4 of my Canadians are now hurt: ET with his lingering shoulder problems, Nadeem with an achilles, Thomas (heck I think Thomas has 3 different injuries, and Jasper's bad week continues has he is now sick.
In doubles brothers Solomon posted a great win at #1 doubles with an 8-4 victory. We spend a fair bit of time talking about momentum in practice and how quickly doubles matches can change. Yesterdays #1 doubles match was a classic example of switch momentum. The brothers were broke at 4-3 giving the big serving Redlands team the early lead. However, for whatever reason, Matt and Dan rallied to win the next 5 games.
At #2 doubles Justin and Jasper were getting their feet wet in their new position. The J's didn't play as they are capable of losing 8-4. With the match tied at 1-1 our new #3 doubles team of Robert Rye and Chris Bailey were unable to capitalize on their many opportunities and dropped the match 8-6.
In singles the match of the day goes to Matt who posted a 7-6, 7-5 victory over Redlands #1 player. Earlier in the week the Redlands player had defeated the #7 player in the nation in straight sets. Kudos to Matt for playing a very mature match in a difficult situation.
We were close in most of the other matches but couldn't win the critical points that often determine a set (or a match). After the match the team all agreed we would like to play them again. Who knows if we can win the NWC perhaps we will get another chance at them.
We are off to play #12 Kenyon at the Stag-Hen tournament.
PS Big shout out to Kelsey from Colorado College who keeps up with friend Daniel Solomon via my blog!
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