ITA wrap-up

Matt finished up at the ITA's 2-2 finishing 7th place. Yesterday Matt started the day with a very rough backdraw match versus Mike Greenberg of Kenyon. Normally one wouldn't expect to the 2008 NCAA III singles champion in the backdraw but that was Matt's opponent. As with his previous matches Matt started off smoking! He quickly went up 3-0 and had several break points to take a 4-0 lead. Unfortunately he wasn't able to convert any of the break points and Greenberg started clawing his way back into the match. Matt served for the 1st set at 5-3 but was broken after a long game. The rest of the 1st set was a battle with Greenberg prevailing 7-6. In the second set Greenberg broke early and held on winning a tight 7-6, 6-4 match.

Because of our flight schedule today we moved the 7th/8th place match to Saturday afternoon (originally was scheduled for Sunday morning). Matt finished the tournament with a very solid 6-3, 6-4 win over the #1 player from Vassar.

For Matt the tournament was bitter sweet. In all of his matches he was up a break in the 1st set and had break points to go up 4-0 (Trinity, Middlebury, and Kenyon). With the high heat and humidity winning the 1st set is a huge advantage. Honestly Matt played some of the best tennis in the DIII draw; unfortunately he was unable to maintain his high level of play through the middle parts of the first set. However the tournament was good for Matt in that he knows he can compete with the very best in DIII and he is excited for the spring.

Also Matt hasn't been at his best this fall. Earlier in the summer he torn a stomach muscle and has been playing in pain all fall. This is really evident on his overhead motions..he hasn't been able to serve close to 100% and his overhead is really tentative. We are hoping that an extended break from tennis will allow his stomach to naturally heal.