Days 1 and 2 of the Fall USTA/ITA Regional at Whitman

Hello,

I will endeavor  to catch you up a bit as the tournament is still taking place and will provide more details after tomorrow. We've had beautiful weather in the low 80's and high 70's not to mention some gorgeous sunsets...and sunrises which could give you some idea of how amazing these student athletes are playing all day long, supporting each other and many of them find some time for schoolwork during breaks and at the end of the day.

I'll start with our returners, in singles Emily had a solid first round win which I didn't see as we were indoors and outdoors, and then she fell to #3 seed Rachel Burns and is getting a taste for how her game is growing and matching up with some of the top players in the conference.  Kate has also shown tremendous growth.  Many of you will remember her marathon three set victory of Sarah Watanabe of Linfield at conference last fall.  The first round provided a rematch and Kate's dilligent work showed as she played inspired tennis to win in straight sets this time.  She then took on Pacific's all-conference junior Megan Yoshimoto and pushed her to the limit in the first set losing a tie break 10-8.  Megan stepped up a bit in the second and Kate still played some great tennis, though did not sustain it losing 2-6.  In doubles, Sabertooth and Wolverine, as they are known around here, had a huge second round win over the seeded team from Lewis and Clark.  Casey Schein of LC was battling an illness that took her out of the singles earlier but it didn't show as tremendous tennis was played with our claw and fang Whitties winning 9-7.  In the Quarters it was again Megan Yoshimoto of Pacific, this time with her doubles partner Cat Goya as the #2 seed who Em and Kate were right with to 4-5 before dropping 3 straight games to lose 8-4.  It was a great showing from last year's #3 team.

Amanda had a solid first round win and ran into fellow Idaho native and Linfield first year Caroline Brigham, losing in straight sets with a great quality of tennis but just a few too many errors, but it is wonderful to see Amanda out on the courts again every day finding her old form and now reaching new heights with her game.
In doubles, Amanda teamed up with first year Hannah Palkowitz and I was unfortunate to not see much of their tennis, but they lost, won in the consolation and the lost 6-8 in the consolation quarterfinals.  More on Hannah and our other first year's next time...

Finally for today, the event of  the tournament in my mind happened in the first round.  After a building season last year with some great doubles wins, Dena has worked so hard on her overall game and her singles and in the first round she jumped on her opponent from Pacific 6-1 in the first.  All credit to Traci Mo from Pacific for cutting down her errors and lifting her focus to take the second set 6-3.  We were playing match tie breaks (tie break to 10) in lieu of the third set and Dena got down 3-0, then looked really good going ahead and battling back and forth to 6-6.  In an exciting match, it would end 10-8, or maybe even get to 13-11 or 14-12 for another changeover. NOT on this good day friends.  These two competitors would not give an inch and earned and fought off match point after match point after match point.  After 8, yes 8 changeovers in the super tiebreak, on the I don't know how manyth match point, Dena's iron focus and amazing willpower was rewarded with a 28-26 match tie break win.  I've never seen that in all my years of tennis and may not again.  It was thrilling and nerve racking and amazing but before the tie break, Dena, who as I said is pushing to make a run at the lineup this year, told me she wanted to stay in the main draw, not go into the consolation.  Well it was certainly well earned and I am still amazed by both her tremendous tennis but also her superb effort.

I'll post again once we're finished, but Charlotte and Leah are still in the doubles consolation and Elise and Alyssa are in the doubles final while Alyssa has played her way into the singles semifinal, all tomorrow at our outdoor courts.

Have a great start to your week and check online via the athletics webpage for updates.

Best,
John