Today was play in day for the Northwest and Southwest regional winners. Not showing any nerves, Courtney came out solid going up 3-0, then 4-1 in her singles match against a senior transfer from University of Mary Hardin Baylor. Courtney was using the court really well and countering her opponents big hard groundstrokes with a beautiful all court game. After several really long well played deuce games, it was tied at 4-4 and her opponent stepped up to pull out the first. Always very responsive to adversity, Courtney gave it her all in the second jumping out 3-0 again. Then, with a fall where she was unable to perform her normal practice and fitness routines, the grinding of the long points took its toll and a very good opponent seized the opportunity. This would have been a very easy match to go away in as she was not feeling well and her opponent was heating up, but every point she fought hard and played so well. This was two great players going at it and aside from the score going the wrong way, I feel so good about Courtney's play, her tennis and her place as one of the top singles players in our region and all of D3.
Undaunted by a short turnaround between singles and doubles and buoyed by the energy of Alyssa, Courtney came back to play brilliant doubles. She was so solid on serve and was a force at the net. Wait, so was Alyssa as she served great and finished strong. It was truly a team effort in beating a really good team from Trinity. One of the best things about this match was the subtle adjustments that they made as a team. They've had terrific chemistry from day one as a doubles team and now they are really putting things together and maintaining terrific energy and confidence while executing quality doubles.
As soon as we finished, we had time to find a puppy to play with while we watched James and Andrew win their play in match on the men's side (also vs Trinity). I guess we were too much in sync with the guys as Colton lost his singles play in in what looked like a really close and well played match.
We play tomorrow at 3pm Central (1pm PST) vs Doyle and Bechich from Carleton College.
