We played PP at the UC Santa Cruz West courts. Doubles started off pretty even. At #2 Quin and Christoph went up two breaks but at #3 Jeffrey and Jake were down two breaks 0-4. About midway through the doubles it appeared that the match would come down to Matt and ET at #1. Quin and Christoph were able to close out their match 8-4. On the heals of that #2 doubles victory, Matt and ET broke (4 great returns in a row) and held to win 8-5. At #3 Jeffrey and Jake dug themselves out of a monster hole and leveled the match at 6-6. At 6-6, with PP serving we had at least two break points to take the lead. Unfortunately we were unable to convert either of the break opportunities. At 6-7 Jeffrey was serving and had a very long game. At one point Jeffrey nailed a half-volley winner to stave off a match point. However in the end PP broke salvaging a point in doubles.
In singles things started off great for Whitman. One the top courts (#1-#4) we won the first set in all the matches. On the lower courts Jasper and Conor both dropped their first sets (#5 and #6). Chris Bailey (#4) got us on the board first with a 7-5, 6-3 victory. ET (#3) played his best tennis of the year winning 6-4, 6-2 giving us a solid 4-1 lead. This put all the pressure on the remaining PP players..they lose one more match and its over. To the Sage Hen's credit they battled hard and forced #1 (Matt Solomon) and #2 (Jeffrey Tolman) into third sets. In those third sets we were up breaks in both matches but couldn't close the deal as PP took both matches.
With the match score now 4-3 everyone rushed to the lower courts to watch the conclusion of #5 and #6. At #5 Jasper played a pretty solid 1st set but lost 2-6 even though he failed to convert game points in four different games. Jasper bounced back in the second to win 6-4. At #6 Conor dropped the 1st set 4-6. At the match change over I was giving Conor words of encouragement when he looked me square in the eyes and said "Coach don't worry, I have this match". Conor stayed true to his word winning the 2nd set 6-0! Conor was locked in a 3-3 battle when the upper courts came down to cheer on their teammates. I think Conor was saving his best tennis for last. At 3-3 Conor has an easy hold. At 3-4 Conor plays a great game -- he changes his tactics a bit and breaks to go up 5-3 (serving). With the team match on the line, Conor bombs a few serves and holds at 40-15. His victory clinched the match for us 5-3. In the last match on, Jasper (of course it would be Jasper -- team joke) goes up 5-2. However the PP player still has a ton of fight and breaks and then holds. I was very proud that Jasper served out his match 6-4.
Tomorrow we have the toughest day that any DIII team has ever faced. Today undefeated Cal Lutheran (#10) defeated #1 UC Santa. In the morning we face that red hot Cal Lutheran team. Later in the afternoon we take on #1 UC Santa Cruz. So basically tomorrow we play the #1 and the #2 teams in the nation! As usual I'll try to Twitter match updates.
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