The Davidson women's and men's teams were in action yesterday on a rainy day in Charlotte. The women were hosting the Boston University Terriers, a team they had not defeated in three previous tries. Later in the day, the men were matched up against South Carolina State University.
The Davidson indoor facility is very nice, with four courts and a small set of bleachers on both ends of the facility, so you are up close on courts one and four. The main lobby also serves as a great viewing area above the courts with big windows that the happy Wildcat fans pound on when they like what they see. For the women's match, I sat next to the families of Kelsey Linville, Davidson's number one and Virginia Berry, the Wildcat's number two. They also played number one doubles together. The Berry's were visiting from Spartanburg, SC and they enjoy the college tennis game very much. Mr. Berry shared some good stories about college tennis legend Dan Magill, former head coach of the Georgia Bulldogs and the main force behind what is now the NCAA tennis tournament. I've met the coach a number of times and Mr. Berry's stories were interesting and provided another perspective on what I know about the coach.
The match was a good one. BU started off by winning the doubles point with wins at number two and number three. In singles, BU's Francine Whu played a great match at number one versus Linville. Her serve really set her up well and kept Linville off balance. She also showed great control with her consistently deep groundstrokes and ended up taking the match, 6-4, 6-2. Linville's father also knew Whu was tough to beat on this day. I saw Whu play last season against the College of Charleston and at that time she was playing at the number three spot, so she has really stepped up her game in the last year. At number two, Berry played a solid match in beating Vanessa Steiner 6-4, 6-4.
The match came down to the six position. Meredith Skeeters of Davidson, a senior from Greensboro, NC who also has the second-most wins on the team, defeated Danielle Abraham 6-4, 6-1. It raised her singles record to 13-2 and really showed she could deliver when her team needed her. Skeeters and Abraham played many long rallies and you could see that Abraham started to rush her shots more as the match went on, while Skeeters stayed with her game. At one point, as the crowd was cheering a nice point won by Skeeters, Abraham looked at the crowd sternly, looking for everyone to be quiet while she prepared to serve. I thought it was a little much, especially after having attended so many NCAA tournament matches where crowd enthusiasm is such a great part of the sport, and sometimes it is a little noisy when you have to serve. Deal with it.
So the women get their first win over Boston U. and run their record to 15-4 and are 9-0 at home. I expect they will be very competitive in the Southern Conference tournament in a few weeks in Charleston, SC.
The Davidson men started off strong against South Carolina State. In doubles the teams looked fairly well matched and Davidson ended up sweeping SCS, 3-0 to win the doubles point. On court one, Ethan Jaffee and Flaviu Simihaian of Davidson were able to take advantage of a break opportunity to win it over Radek Pivonka and Gabriel Meana 8-6. It was a good match. Once the doubles ended, I headed out for the day, but I learned later that the Wildcats won five out of six singles matches and won it 6-1. Davidson moved to 13-5 on the season, while SC State fell to 11-3.
Davidson has been a big story lately in Charlotte and all over the country. Last week, the Davidson men's basketball team was making its great run in the NCAA tournament. While they ended up losing to Kansas by two in the Elite Eight, they really turned out to be one of the best, if not the best story in this year's tournament. Yesterday there was plenty of talk in the stands about the success of the team and what the visibility meant for the school. As I walked on campus, many students were wearing their Davidson merchandise and you could tell they were really proud of their school. A number of the players on the women's team were talking about Stephen Curry's interview on NBC the night before with Conan O'Brien. The bookstore has all kinds of NCAA basketball shirts featuring the Wildcats accomplishments in each round. It was great stuff! What a great treat the basketball team gave the school. It was great to be on campus so soon after the the team brought so much national exposure to the school that is recognized as one of the top schools academically in the country.
Time.
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