went. Now, I absolutely understand anyone out there wanting to follow live and be part of the action so Morgan has been tweeting scores diligently. But I apologize last night for my phone battery dying at 2-1 in the second set tie break! It took a while to get to the car, charge it and send the final update that we were moving on to today. To follow today's doubles match at 3:30pm EST you can check the Meredith college site for draws and scores at
http://www.goavengingangels.com/information/NCAAChampionships/2012Tennis and the NCAA has live streaming for some courts, which we may or may not be on to watch online live at ncaa.com under tennis, women and DIII.
So, how did we make it through to today? Our first round doubles match was a great win over a Wash U (St. Louis) team that has come on in late season play beating one of the top teams nationally at Carnegie Mellon in a dual match. They were really tough at closing the net hard and playing good doubles but also made some mistakes in the first set. Alyssa and Courtney's solid play and movement allowed them to stay ahead the whole set and they finished it off really strongly 7-5. They looked to take that momentum in the second set and got up 4-1 playing with intensity, joy and teamwork (and a lot of heart in pulling out a game with I don't know how many deuces). Still, serving 4-1, looking strong, give a ton of credit to Wash U for stepping up their game and fighting out a break and getting one of their best holds. Then it was an absolute battle with us up 5-4, then they won two games to make us hold to get to a breaker. And it was a brilliant hold. I can't remember exactly, but I know Alyssa made a huge move at the net and I'm pretty sure Courtney finished it with a touch volley winner and it was all Whitman through the tiebreak taking it 7-1. Our opponent today is the #2 seeded team from Emory, a very good team who has big shots and plays well together...we are FIRED UP.
Singles was a mixed bag. It's really hard not to just be so happy to be here among the top 32 players in the country and side by side in their first sets, these two Whitties just battled playing really high level tennis. Alyssa was probably more on her game but playing an intense competitor from Williams who had just finished her senior year at the #1 spot with 4 team national championships to her credit. Down a break, Shopo got it back and pushed it deep in the set, finally losing 7-5. At the same time, Courtney was playing smart tennis and executing pretty well to go up 4-3, then while her level remained steady, her opponent from Middlebury (one of the top teams and rising) really stepped up her execution on big points and hit some great winners and neutralized Courtney's offense well to take the first set and carry the momentum to a straight set win. Alyssa got down a quick 3-0 as her opponent came off of the set break fired up, then it was back and forth to 6-2. So, we made a great showing of ourselves and feel great about the level of tennis, but we're also learning what it will take to keep moving our tennis individually and as a team to the next level.
So, how did we make it through to today? Our first round doubles match was a great win over a Wash U (St. Louis) team that has come on in late season play beating one of the top teams nationally at Carnegie Mellon in a dual match. They were really tough at closing the net hard and playing good doubles but also made some mistakes in the first set. Alyssa and Courtney's solid play and movement allowed them to stay ahead the whole set and they finished it off really strongly 7-5. They looked to take that momentum in the second set and got up 4-1 playing with intensity, joy and teamwork (and a lot of heart in pulling out a game with I don't know how many deuces). Still, serving 4-1, looking strong, give a ton of credit to Wash U for stepping up their game and fighting out a break and getting one of their best holds. Then it was an absolute battle with us up 5-4, then they won two games to make us hold to get to a breaker. And it was a brilliant hold. I can't remember exactly, but I know Alyssa made a huge move at the net and I'm pretty sure Courtney finished it with a touch volley winner and it was all Whitman through the tiebreak taking it 7-1. Our opponent today is the #2 seeded team from Emory, a very good team who has big shots and plays well together...we are FIRED UP.
Singles was a mixed bag. It's really hard not to just be so happy to be here among the top 32 players in the country and side by side in their first sets, these two Whitties just battled playing really high level tennis. Alyssa was probably more on her game but playing an intense competitor from Williams who had just finished her senior year at the #1 spot with 4 team national championships to her credit. Down a break, Shopo got it back and pushed it deep in the set, finally losing 7-5. At the same time, Courtney was playing smart tennis and executing pretty well to go up 4-3, then while her level remained steady, her opponent from Middlebury (one of the top teams and rising) really stepped up her execution on big points and hit some great winners and neutralized Courtney's offense well to take the first set and carry the momentum to a straight set win. Alyssa got down a quick 3-0 as her opponent came off of the set break fired up, then it was back and forth to 6-2. So, we made a great showing of ourselves and feel great about the level of tennis, but we're also learning what it will take to keep moving our tennis individually and as a team to the next level.
I can't stop writing...this is so much fun to be here and play so well. It's almost time to warmup and soak in the heat and humidity. Here we go....
