A long recap for a long and well fought match

Hi everyone,

Where to start? Today we were in Spokane for an absolutely huge test both for the progression of our program and for this years team that includes two wonderful seniors who are working super hard to make the future of Whitman tennis now.

If you're unfamiliar with the history, after Linfield clawed their way to 7 straight NWC titles, last season the entire conference got deeper, and Whitworth has a tremendous group of young players that gave them the depth to go undefeated in conference play last year. We lost to them 1-8 in Spokane and in a tight 3-6 match in Walla Walla.

Fast forward to today at 10am, we come out enthusiastic but very composed in doubles, going down a break early at 1 and 2 and playing solid at 3. Then, as happens so often in college matches, momentum came into play. While Hadley and Alyssa picked up more and more energy with spirited aggresive play at 2, Elise and Div stayed true to their gameplan and gained the upper hand through consistent execution and great teamwork. In the end, a super close #3 match slipped away 6-8 and we held our composure big time to win #1 8-4 and #2 8-5.

With energy and momentum on our side it did not take long to notch our third point of the day. Alyssa is capable of playing some amazing tennis and while I've been incredibly impressed with her improved strength and decision making, it was lights out power tennis in the first set as she blitzed a very good Alli Marshall 6-0. To Marshall's credit, the second set was much better, but very quickly we had a 3-1 lead as Alyssa won 6-0,6-2.

The #1 singles was a much different story, with the first two points ending in perfectly built points ended in clean winners, one by Elise, one by Rachel Burns of Whitworth. The two traded holds to 4-4 when Rachel finally broke and held to take the first. From there, Elise played tough and had moments of brilliance, but I'm sure she would not allow me to say that she played her best tennis. On the other hand, all credit to Rachel for completely stepping up and not letting Elise back in the match.

So, up 3-2 with Hadley winning a close first 7-5 and Div and Emily starting, we felt good, but knew that Whitworth's depth was lurking. Down 4-1 in the second, Hadley broke back and played such wonderful tennis but could not close the door at 5-4 and lost a tough tie break to send it to a third. Meanwhile, Div fought very hard, but had trouble establishing the right rhythm and went down bravely in straight sets. Kate followed with a straight set loss in a match she could have won but will teach her where her game needs to improve.

During all of this, Emily pulled off a huge first set tiebreak against Whitworth's Katie Stauginger, a super tough player who had never lost a NWC singles match. Staudinger lived up to her record by taking the second set. Before I describe the third, let me say that this #5 battle was so well played with hard hitting, lots of winners and tons of emotion, it could have been mistaken for a 1 or 2 match.

So, Emily and Hadley enter the third sets and Whitworth has taken a 4-3 lead so we need both of these. Hadley goes up 2-0, Em goes down 0-2. A few tough games later Em is down 2-3 and Had is up 3-2. Then, while Hadley battles point after point to 5-5, the cheers from yellow clad teammates turn to roars as Emily hits huge shot after huge shot, building points and finishing with incredible confidence to take the third set 6-3 and knot the match at 4-4 as Hadley's third set is at 5-5. The 5-5 game is super close with both players having chances and Whitworth's Mya Towne stepping up to go ahead 6-5. Finally, after an almost 4 hour singles match, Hadley sends a ball long and Whitworth wins 5-4.

Since you've made it this far, I have to say that while it was too cold to play outside to start the match, we did get in 2 doubles and 3 singles exhibitions outside, with Dena winning both singles and doubles with Charlotte and Lauren and Zoe also getting great matches in against this deep Whitworth team.

While upset to not pull off the upset today, our team can be proud of how our doubles is developing and also that we know up and down the lineup we have a shot to win at every spot. Our energy, compassion, support and sportsmanship were all tested today and all I can say is both how happy I am to be a part of this team and how much I look forward to learning from this match and moving on to next weeks home matches vs. Pacific and Linfield.

It was absolutely crucial to have the support of the Rolston's and Otto's there and we had no worries about being physically ready after a wonderful night's sleep and breakfast with the Otto's. Thanks so much!

Whew! This had to be a long post for such a long match, but if you see a Whittie, give her a hug because she deserves it.

-Coach Hein