Twenty four shoes...one huge step

Hello, and welcome to my match recap from our 7-2 win over Lewis and Clark yesterday.  After last weeks exploration into photo journalism I'll get back to describing our experience in this tough conference tilt.

You CAN, however, check out some great photos by Conor Holton-Burke on the Whitman Athletics Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/WhitmanCollegeAthletics if you're into social media.  Conor, as well as being one our men's teams great players and current assistant coach, is working for the athletics department and has done an amazing job helping spread the love of WC athletics, thanks Conor!

Ok, back to LC.  The pios came in riding a dominating 8-1 win over Whitworth in Spokane and we knew this could be the toughest test of our conference season.  They are young, talented and well coached so it was an opportunity everyone was really excited for as our team loves to compete.  After a beautiful sunny week of outdoor practices, we were trying to avoid a chilly conclusion to our 2pm match with an early start that would finish outdoors before the sun goes down.  The plan was that our men were using our indoor and outdoor courts for singles vs Willamette so they would finish early, we'd start at 1pm outside and either play all outdoors or send 5,6 singles inside.  Ready for any situation, a long battle between Colton on our men's team and Josh Wong from Willamette combined with some ill timed rain showers sent everyone scurrying indoors.  So, we were back to a 2pm start and playing in Bratton where we've been so good this year.

At one doubles, Alyssa and Courtney were just outstanding.  They played a very talented team with almost ruthless efficiency and displayed wonderful teamwork and strong finishing.  This duo keeps getting better and better and they really set the tone for the doubles with an 8-2 win.  Speaking of tone, it actually started off at 4 doubles, where KKP and Maddy were absolutely dominant, playing well off of each other and using a mix of power and athleticism to cruise to an 8-1 exhibition win!  So, while Morgan and Jenna at 2 were locked in a tight battle, our freshman duo of Tree and Rubes (Katrina and Kate R) showed terrific poise in putting us up 2-0 with an 8-5 win at #3.  Knowing we'd be up after doubles, Mo and Jenna were down a break but playing really well.  They fought to hold for 6-7 and then down 40-15 got to deuce  earned several break points and in a game that could have gone either way, ended up losing 6-8.  It's a match I know they'll learn from, though LC was a great ballstriking team who deserve a lot of credit.

In singles, Jenna and Morgan bounced back to both take the first set 6-0.  Over the past two weeks, each of them has put in extra work on their singles plays and it really showed as Jenna executed her gameplan to perfection and Morgan seemed to do exactly what she wanted with every ball.  Alyssa and Courtney also got their first sets, but in a battle with a great baseliner it was a tougher road for Courtney and Alyssa traded many service breaks before pulling it out.  Both players continued their mental and physical toughness to win in straight sets.  By the time they were done, Jenna had rolled in the second set and Morgan fought off a comeback attempt, so Alyssa's match clinched the overall match and Courtney added on with a solid win, earning the Whittie of the Match as she not only competed tremendously, but she really executed her shots and her plays through singles and doubles which was great to see.

Up 6-1, Maddy and KKP embraced the challenge of playing tough opponents with the match decided and for Maddy it was absolutely wonderful to see her blend defense and offense playing some of the most intelligent and composed singles I've seen from her this year.  KKP was in a battle of tough seniors from the start and the first set could have gone either way and if she hadn't gotten down to start the second, it could have been a different story.  Still, it is so fun to see her game grow even as a senior and as always her fight and the team supporting her were brilliant.

Last but not least, we were able to get on two exhibitions with Rubes and Katrina.  Each of them started mentally tough but still searching for the shotmaking they had in doubles.  Unfazed, they both used the emotion of the match to raise their level and by the end Tree was booming aces and Rubes was controlling the baseline...awesome stuff for both of them.

I titled this post, 24 shoes, one huge step because the way that all 12 of our players communicate, support each other and work together allows us to play great matches and have so much fun doing it.  It's not always easy to work so hard and be watching your teammates through a long day of rain delays, moving courts and emotional matches and I'm so proud of Maggie, Erin, Liv and HP yesterday for doing the things that often go unnoticed but make a huge difference in our success.

So, obviously, we have a long way to go in both our conference and DIII season, but the start we've shown at home before a well deserved weekend off next weekend and our Washington and Oregon road trips leading into Spring Break puts us exactly where we want to be.

Special thanks to our Whitman students for making Bratton such a positive, loud and fun environment for college tennis.  And to Seana Minuth, Annie Kunkel and the Dobrin's for making the trip to support the team.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday weekend,
John