This picture doesn't have anything to do with the Stag-Hen classic but it is a very unique picture that I simply had to put on my blog.
The Stag-Hen, hosted by Claremont and Pomona, is one of the few DIII team tournaments (outside the NCAA tournament and National Indoors) and features top teams from across the country. This year's field included #5 CMS, #7 Trinity, #11 Bowdoin, #12 Kenyon, #16 Whitman, #25 The College of New Jersey, #30 Pomona Pitzer, and UT Tyler.
Unfortunately for us we drew the very hot Kenyon team in the first round. Coming into the tournament "The Lords" were undefeated this season and might have the best player in the nation in transfer Michael Greenberg. I don't know how else to put it but in doubles we got rolled. At #1 and #2 doubles we lost by identical 8-2 scores. Our only doubles bright spot was #3 Justin and Jasper who had numerous match points. Unfortunately we couldn't convert any of those key points and dropped the match 9-8.
In singles we faired a bit better. At #2 singles Dan played well (and smart) winning 6-2, 6-4. Our only other victory was at #3 singles with Chris taking the honors 6-3, 6-4. However all but one of the singles were very competitive. In fact we lost at #1 (Matt), #4 (Jake), and #5 (Dan) in three sets. Unfortunately for Jasper his very bad week continued and he lost in straight sets at #6.
In retrospect the 7-2 loss at the hands of Kenyon wasn't such a bad loss (although after the match I was pretty upset about losing 3 3-set matches). Honestly we should of won at #3 doubles and could of picked up one of the singles we lost in three. Under that scenario the match would be tied at 4-4 and anything can happen. In the next round Kenyon defeated host CMS (#5 in nation) on the Stags home court. Another highlight of the match was Matt proving to be on tough competitor taking Greenberg three sets. As an FYI Greenberg won his next matches against the #1's from CMS and Trinity without losing more than two games a match!
Whitman 2 Kenyon 7
The following day we squared at 8:30am off against a very tough UT Tyler team. One of the things I dread as a coach is playing an earlier morning match against a team from a mid to eastern time zone. Lets face it 99% of college students HATE getting up early and typically don't perform well in the morning. The 8:30am match for us is like a 10:30am match for the Tyler team.
In doubles we again got off to a slow start at #1 and #2. At #1 doubles Matt and Dan were down two breaks before coming back to win 8-6. At #2 Jake and Nadeem played a poor match losing 8-2. Jasper and Justin were up an early break but couldn't maintain their momentum losing 8-5.
Going down 2-1 put us in the difficult position of having to win 4 of the 6 singles to take the match. This is always a tough proposition and even more difficult because the UT Tyler team was fired up sensing a potential upset.
Coaching is a such a wonderful calling (as my good friend Greg Patton says) -- it is a thrill to be on the court hours each day with so many outstanding young men. It is a great feeling to watch your team, the men you coach, compete hard and battle tooth-and-nail for each and every point. However there is absolutely not better feeling in coaching that watching your players grow before your eyes. I felt like a proud father watching our three sophomores Matt, Dan and Jake (each of whom lost in three sets the prior day) play their hearts to lead us to a 5-4 victory. One thing I should mention about this tournament is all the dual-matches are played on 4 courts. Because of the court situation we rotated which two players would go on in the 2nd rotation of matches (so #5 and #6 weren't the players always the last on). In singles first off for Whitman was Jake (#4) with a solid 6-2, 6-3 win. Dan (#5) quickly followed Jake blasting his opponent off the court winning 6-3, 6-4. As Dan was finishing Jasper (#6) lost 6-3, 6-2 tying the team score 3-3. At #3 singles Chris Bailey was locked in a tough three set battle as both Matt (#1) and Dan (#2) took the courts. Chris played his heart out in the 3rd set but his 1st serve let him down and he ended up dropping the match to a very talented UTT player 1-6, 6-2, 7-6. Down 3-4 we needed to pick up both #1 and #2 to win the match.
At #2 Daniel overcame an early break and was able to stick with his "Natalie" and post a big 6-4, 6-2 win. I have to add that Daniel has been such a great addition to the team. Besides being a big boost in our line-up he is a great influence on the members of the team. His maturity and quick wit are an absolute pleasure to be around. Additionally it is a thrill to watch the brothers Solomon play doubles. They compliment each other well and are incredibly supportive of each other (both on and off the court.)
With the match tied at 4-4 our fate would be decided by #1 singles. Going into this match we knew this was going to be a battle because the UTT player had defeated the #17 player in the nation (Larry Wang of CMS) the previous day. The first set was a see-saw battle with Matt going up early but then had to face down a set point before taking the opening set 7-6. The second set was close all the way through until Matt dropped serve late in the set and the UTT player served out the set 6-4. With all eyes on the match and both teams trying to will their player to victory Matt proved victorious 6-3 giving us a thrilling 5-4 victory. As I told Matt after the match -- last year he was like a moody Momma Bear (we call Matt the Bear) but this year he is more like a Papa Bear who aggressively defenses his family and turf.
Whitman 5 UT Tyler 4
Big kudos to Coach Chris Bizot and the UT Tyler team, they are damn good and compete hard. If they don't crack the top 25 in the next ranking period something is wrong. Later in the day UT Tyler beat host and #30 ranked Pomona 5-0.
Following the UT Tyler match we faced off against #25 The College of New Jersey. Since this was the last match of the tournament and rain was impending it was decided to play the match to decision (i.e., stop all the matches when a team reached 5 points). The only match we lost was #2 doubles were the new combo of Jake Cappel and Robert Rye lost 8-6. We were actually a bit lucky (Matt was unlucky) to finish the match as it started to sprinkle about an hour into the singles. We were able to post quick victories at #2 (Dan), #4 (Jake), and #6 (Justin) to seal the 5-1 win. At #3 Chris was serving for the match at 5-3 and at #1 Matt was up a set against the #7 player in the nation (he really wanted to finish this match).
Whitman 5 TCNJ 1
We finished our spring break trip with a 2-2 record. Interestingly enough the two teams we lost two have a combined 24-1 record!
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