Sunday, 04/03/2011

Double the pleasure, double the fun. There is no doubt that we are getting our share of competition.  If you have been reading my musings and philosophy in regards to tennis, I firmly believe that the best way to develop players (a team) is to throw them out into the wilds of competition and force them to survive. It is the same theory of throwing the baby into the water for them to learn how to swim.

We came out of our double header with Montana State and Weber State (two very good Big Sky Conference schools) with two very impressive 7-0 victotries. Our record is now 13-10 and I truly believe that we are on the right highway to get to the destination of winning the WAC and getting into the NCAA Team Championships.

Coach Shields and myself are great thrill seekers for once  again we pulled out two of our top players (Damian Hume and Scotty Sears) to let the incredible depth of our team take a slot into the hot seat.

Freddy Walsh (junior from Bellevue, WA), Erik Sheldon (junior from Phoenix, AZ) and Michael Gilliland (sophomore from Kansas City, MO) all came through with flying colors and won both the doubles and singles that they played.
I  have to remark about the incredible run of our newly turned 18 year old, Andy Bettles who is a new freshman and who entered school in January. In only three months he has made a powerful impact on our team. He has worked his way up to #3 on our team (he played #2 this Saturday). His record is an astonding 17-4 in singles and 13-5 in doubles. In the past 24 singles and doubles matches he is has won 23 out of 24 matches. He plays with the maturity of a veteran and he has the work ethic of a concert pianist who is pounding the keys daily.  I also have to commend that sophomore/freshman doubles combination of  Pogostkin and Bettles. The start of the season they were like two fish flopping on the deck.  Since the third week of February they haven't lost a doubles match and have won 10 doubles matches in a row.  (Their record was 3-5 and I was thinking of breaking them up, since then they are now 13-5. Thank God no one broke up the song writing tandem of McCartney and Lennon or there wouldn't be the Beatles).

We get two weeks of some serious practice and conditioning  before we go to Northern California on April 14th to play #12 Stanford. That will be followed up by some critical WAC matches with #41 Fresno State and #55 Hawaii (April 16 and 17). The season is may be winding down, but the guys on the team are cranking it up to be ready for the most important part of the season. We are entering crunch time!

(congratulations to Coach Roghaar and Schoeck's women's team. They shut out Conference member San Jose State (4-0) and Montana State (7-0).  The women are focused, confident, and absolutely incredible.  They are on route to repeat as WAC Champions if they keep this tennis up.