Yesterday’s rained-out contest between Miramonte and Acalanes took place earlier today.  It didn’t look so good this morning as it was raining pretty hard, but the sun came out and we ended up with a nice tennis day.  Our first match against Miramonte was rough to say the least.  We were missing #1 Sze Ting Chen and #6 Sammy Taylor and were routed 9-0.  Any questions about what would have happened if we were fully staffed that day were answered this afternoon.  Miramonte took us very seriously and brought their full roster.  On paper, chalkboards and in sand script, we did not match up well.  If you add up the UTR ratings of each team’s top ten players, Miramonte totals 68.12 against the 53.57 total of Acalanes.  Therefore, I tried a different strategy to see if we could pull off an upset.  By stacking the doubles with some of our stronger utility players, my thought was we could possibly sweep the doubles and find a way to win two of the six singles matches.  It looked promising at some points, but in the end, the Matadors left with an 8-1 win.

#1 Sze Ting Chen was our solo winner defeating sophomore Agarwal 6-2, 6-3.  This was Sze Ting’s second real challenge after recovering from his foot injury and he looks like he’s back in form.  He served well and was striking the ball cleanly, never letting Raunav into the match.  Though #2 Shah, #3 Hoeberechts and #4 Taylor lost, they all played well and were swinging out in their matches.  All three were happy with the way they played.  They were up against very experienced and talented opponents but made them work for their wins.  #5 Ammerman also played a very good match and pushed Mordy to a tiebreaker in the first set.  I was on the court behind James and thought he was going to pull this match out.  He threw everything he had at Mordy but came up just a little short losing 6-3 in the second set.  #6 Cortez needed the first set to settle into his match.  Though he lost it 6-2, he figured things out and turned the second set into a real dog fight.  He came up with the shot of the day in a long point where he was eventually lobbed.  While Grant chased down the ball towards the baseline, his opponent, Westin, charged the net.  With the court behind him and the ball in front of him, Grant grabbed his racket with both hands and shoveled the ball backwards over his head.  It also went over Westin’s head and landed in for an amazing winner.  It earned him a nice applause – and yes, coach saw the whole thing including Grant’s ear-to-ear smile.  Grant pushed Westin to a tiebreaker in the second set but was only able to get two points in the tiebreaker.  At this point, the Dons Squad was down 1-5 and mathematically eliminated.  But let’s talk about the doubles anyway.

The plan to stack the doubles was looking successful until the third set super tiebreakers.  #1 Sze You Chen/Shin jumped out to a great start.  They won the first set 6-4 and the doubles points were high quality stuff.  All four players were really going after the ball.  Richtenburg/Antman came back to win the second set 7-5, and the 10-point deciding tiebreaker was closely contested.  It was neck-and-neck until the last few points when Charles and Jonny came up with some incredible tennis and edged Yoyo and Kyle 10-7.  Right next door, #2 Fisher/Marshall also went to a third set, but the path was very different.  Cameron and Blake lost the first set 6-0.  They then clawed their way back into the match winning the second set in a tiebreaker.  Up to this point, all four were free swinging, but with the deciding super tiebreaker came some nervous play on both sides.  I counted at least six double faults between both teams and it came down to who could manage their nerves.  In the end, Austin and Alexander squeaked out a 12-10 win.  At one point in this match, in frustration, Blake hit his foot with his racket.  After the match, we looked at the racket and realized he had cracked it at the throat – and he continuing playing with this racket.  #3 Gorham and Roberts put up a good battle with some fun points to watch.  They went down 6-2, 6-2, but many of the games were close.

Overall, though we lost 1-8, I was not disappointed.  Though there was some tentative play, it was minimal and not why we lost the match.  Our freshmen and sophomore players gain valuable experience in these types of matches. In practices, I just can’t create these types of scenarios. This match sent a clear wake-up call to our younger players.  During introductions, we asked all of the seniors to step forward so we could recognize them.  Seven Acalanes seniors and only one Miramonte senior stepped forward.  So yes, the boys will see this same team next year.  If that’s not motivation to play during the off season, I don’t know what is.

Tomorrow we are away at Northgate.  We practice Monday and then host Bishop O’Dowd Tuesday.  We ask our families, if they can, to come out Tuesday and celebrate the last regular-season home match of our seniors.  I will say just a few words (to our seniors) and then there will be food served.  As is our tradition, all seniors will play in that match.  Thank you again for coming out to support us today.  Though we didn’t win, there was a lot of great tennis to watch.  Go Dons.  Coach Rick

Results: Miramonte defeated Acalanes 8-1

Singles

#1 Sze Ting Chen (A) defeated Raunav Agarwal (M) 6-2, 6-3

Riley Byrne (M) defeated #2 Saaj Shah (A) 6-1, 6-0

Michael Conway (M) defeated #3 Bora Hoeberechts (A) 6-1, 6-1

Blake Park (M) defeated #4 Sammy Taylor (A) 6-1, 6-1

Calvin Mordy (M) defeated #5 James Ammerman (A) 7-6 (4), 6-3

Hayes Westin (M) defeated #6 Grant Cortez (C) 6-2, 7-6 (2)

Doubles

Charles Richtenburg/Jonny Antman (M) defeated #1 Sze You Chen/Kyle Shin (A) 4-6, 7-5, 10-7

Austin Redmond/Alexander Chen (M) defeated #2 Cameron Fisher/Blake Marshall (A) 6-0, 6-7 (5), 12-10

Cole Krimmel/Jack Whitaker (M) defeated #3 Chris Gorham/Nolan Roberts (A) 6-2, 6-2