It has begun! WC Fall Invite Kicks off Whitman's Season with Excitement

Our fall season always consists of great practices, team building and often one tournament, the Fall ITA Regional.  This year we hosted the first annual WC Fall Invite, a singles and doubles tournament with top 20 NAIA Lewis-Clark State (ID), and D1 Eastern Washington and Seattle University.  It was a fantastic weekend of tennis with all four teams very close and competitive, which is exactly what we needed to continue our growth.

We set up 2 flights of singles and 2 flights of doubles to get each player 3-4 singles matches and 2-3 doubles matches in 2 days.  Saturday, we had rain all day and enjoyed the brand new blue and yellow surface in Bratton and it was phenomenal!  Everyone played great with big wins, close losses and so much great intensity.  As we grow, we need these experiences to push us forward.

In the yellow flight, our depth shined on day one with Linds and Lori teaming up for a first round doubles win and a thrilling 5-7 no ad set loss to eventual champions from EWU.  Both players have worked so hard on doubles and Lindsey demonstrated tremendous leadership which will give us so many great doubles options this year!  On the singles side of the yellow flight, it was a first round Whittie sweep with both Lori and Linds rolling through their first round before intense tough nighttime losses that each will learn from and use for fuel going forward.  Our final player in the yellow draw was Hanna who worked hard over the summer and it showed as she rebounded from a 5-7 first set to win 6-3,10-6 in the super tie break over a D1 player from Eastern.  Not done, she faced EWU's top new player from Belgium and used her intensity and composure to make the right adjustments and pull out another three set victory in another 10-6 match tie break!  Overall, Hanna was 4-0 on the day joining with Mary in the Blue flight doubles to roll in the first round, then dominate the #1 seed in the semis to make the finals of the top flight.  What a day for Hanna to celebrate her off season commitment to her tennis!

In the Blue singles, Mary took on the #4 seed and fell in a super tie break for the third, also showing her improvements from last year and the summer.  She rebounded for a consolation win to go with her big time doubles with Hanna.  After a summer working and studying hard, Allie played great tennis in both singles and doubles and these matches will get her match fitness up for the fall ITA in two weeks.

Day two so early in the season is an important one for us.  We had some terrific performances and some places to learn and grow.  After a really long day indoors Saturday it was great to move outside and it was a fantastic day for each player to learn about how they compete and build as a tournament progresses.  Even matches we didn't play our best we were able to gut out wins and competitive scores - both terrific indicators of our character, talent and focus.

Along with our doubles and depth, a huge highlight of the weekend was our lone first year player, Andrea Gu.  Andrea fought her way through day one singles and in the semi's took the first set from the top seed, EWU's #1 player.  Despite being outplayed in the super tie break, Andrea came back in the third place match to battle and find her tennis to beat the #4 seed 8-5!  What an exciting start to her Whitman tennis career!

Read our web recap here

Now, as we learn and get back to work in the classroom, on the court and in the gym, I am so excited for our next tournament, also at Whitman!

We host the Fall Oracle ITA Regional Fri Sep 30-Sun Oct 2nd, welcoming the best singles and doubles players from our conference as we compete for the regional championships which bring all-American status and a trip to Fall Nationals.

Let us know if you'll be in Walla Walla in two weeks for the Oracle ITA Regional, and if we get live streaming up indoors I'll let you know!

Warmest wishes from Walla Walla,
Coach John