Davidson Hosts South Carolina Upstate

I had my first chance to see the Davidson men's tennis team play on Saturday in a non-conference match versus South Carolina Upstate. I saw the USC Upstate Spartans about a month ago in Atlanta. They played a tough match against Georgia Tech before going down 5-2. I had a feeling they would be a tough opponent for Davidson and based on what I saw it might end up being a tough year for the Wildcats.

The doubles turned out to be a landslide win for the Spartans. Davidson seemed to play very carelessly on court three and were shut out 8-0. The court two duo for Davidson did not fare much better and lost 8-2. The Davidson ones got a few more games but went down 8-4 for the USC sweep. I was hoping it might be a little closer in singles, as it sometimes can be after a doubles rout.

When Davidson lost the first set of each match on one through four I thought this one would be over pretty quickly. Thanks to Eric Noble of Davidson, who regrouped on court three and came back for a 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 win, I did not see a shutout. But it was the match on court four that was the most entertaining of the day.

Calum Gee of Davidson went down a few breaks in the first set and battled back before dropping it 6-4. His opponent, Javier Tori, was in a zone and playing very good tennis. Tori has a great two-handed backhand and he used it very effectively in that first set. Gee got an early break on Tori in the second set and Tori seemed to be forcing his shots a little more. Gee went up 5-0 before Tori got two games back. Gee then closed out the set 6-2. Tori opened the third facing three break points and got them all back. The momentum swung his way when he won the first game. Tori broke Gee and regained his confidence in a big way. He went on to win the third set 6-3 and was very vocal as he closed it out. It was a nice comeback, as I wasn't sure he could rebound if he had dropped the first game.

With this win, USC Upstate moved to 5-2 on the season and I think they will be a leader in the Atlantic Sun conference. Davidson dropped to 2-5 and I think they are going to have a tough time in the Southern Conference.

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UW Great Northwest Shootout

While visiting my family in Seattle recently, I made a plan to bring two of my nephews to the Great Northwest Shootout at the University of Washington's Nordstrom Tennis Center. UW invited Oklahoma from the Big 12 and Boise State from the WAC for the three day event. The Huskies, who were ranked 39th, opened with a win over Oklahoma. On day two, the 30th ranked Broncos defeated the Sooners. On paper it looked like the day three matchup would be a good one. The Huskies and Broncos did not disappoint the the big crowd that turned out for the match.

There is great enthusiasm for the Washington tennis program. Matt Anger, one of the top coaches in the country, consistently has his team playing in the NCAA tournament. The Huskies have made the NCAA tournament the last 14 years. The Nordstrom Tennis Center is also a great place to watch a match, with six full courts and above court seating. And if you can't make the match, don't worry because you can catch it online as all home matches are streamed free on the internet. Nice.

As is the case with almost every college tennis match, the doubles point would be a big one. The Huskies were not able to get it done on courts one and two and lost both 8-5 to lose the doubles point. The number three team for the Huskies of Tobi Obenaus and Brad Bator defeated B. Shields and Freddy Walsh 8-5 to avoid the doubles sweep.

The singles looked to be pretty tight right from the start except on court six where David Chu of UW won in straight sets 6-2, 6-0. Courts three, four and five were tough to call and all three would go to three sets to decide a winner. UW won on court one when sophomore Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan upset # 22 Clancy Shields, 6-3, 6-4. The Huskies lost on court two and the match was tied at 2-2.

My nephews had a great time as they continued to go from court to court to follow the scores and report back to me what the Huskies chances were. It was good they moved around so much as they needed to burn off the all pizza and sodas they had, compliments of UW, between the doubles and singles matches. Pizza and sodas are a great tradition at UW matches.

When UW won on court three they took a 3-2 lead with courts four and five headed right to the wire. On five, Stanley Sarapanich of Boise State beat Tobi Obenaus, 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 to tie the match at 3-3. On four it looked like Derek Drabble from UW had control of the match, especially when his opponent Cristian Hodel complained to the official on more than one occasion about close line calls. Hodel played tough and was able to send the match to a tiebreak shortly after his teammate won it on court five. Drabble got the early mini-break but quickly gave it back and the match would end minutes later with Hodel winning it 7-4.

This was a very good early season matchup. I would expect that both teams will make the NCAA field of 64 later in the season. I was very impressed with how Boise State played and I expect Washington will bounce back quickly. The Huskies next match is later this week when they play Pac-10 rival Oregon in a non-conference match. The two teams will also play a conference match later in the season.

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