Friday, 04/15/2011

Well, here it is:  Stanford is # 8 in the nation for a reason. They are good, very very good. Their top 3 singles players were all #1 in the USA  in the boys 18s at one time during their career.  But that didn't hold back our enthusiasm to upset them in Palo Alto . (nfortunately, enthusisam doesn't always win matches)
I have some good news about our match and some bad news with the Cardinals.

First the good news.
Our #3 doubles team of Andy Bettles/Filipp Pogostkin won  their 11th straight doubles match with a 8-7 victory over a tough Stanford duo. Our tandam of the sophomore (Pogo) and freshmen (Bettles) are like Batman and Robin. Keeping the doubles matches safe for the Broncos.
The other good news was the absolutely awesome play of Freshmen Scotty Sears at #4 and Nathan Sereke at # 5. Scotty lost a heartbreaker that went to 10-8 in the 3rd set. The loss doesn't diminish the fact that Scotty is deveoping into a great player and every time he goes on the court he gets better. He is like a moth whose game is blossoming into a butterfly.
Our tall lean Nathan (the Big Easy) was a young pony a few months ago but now he is a full fledge Bucking Bronco. He was attacking his Stanford opponent like a race horse pouncing on the finish line at the Kentucky Derby as he defeated his Stanford opponent in a three set humdinger of a match. (3-6, 6-4, 10-8).  This is the 6th straight singles match that Nathan has won.

Now for the Bad News.  
The rest of matches didn't go very  well, as a matter of fact, we got thumped.
But we are dusting off our clothes and getting ready to drive to Fresno to play WAC tennis powerhouses Fresno State and Hawaii. We play Fresno State (who is ranked 39) on Saturday at 2pm and top 60 Hawaii on Sunday at 10am.
These are Big matches which will determine the seeding for the WAC Championships at Boise State on April 29-May 1.
Age keeps marching on. I just discovered that our big match against Fresno State (who has been my nemisis and rival throughout my career will be my 1,000th career match as a collegiate coach (starting 30 years ago when I coached at UCSB.
My career record is now 682-317 (which adds up to 999 collegiate matches).  You can understand now why I have no hair since every match is always like going to an adventure/thriller/horror movie.

One thing about coaching 1,000 matches is that ......it just proves that I am getting older.
By the way, our team is now 13-11 and we are ranked 52 in the nation. The upcoming matches with Fresno State and Hawaii are bigger than big.  We are going to use the Stanford match to toughen us up, and to prepare us for these WAC battles.

I have to grab the team and drive to Fresno, so I will send more information on the team tonight.
Go Broncos  !!
Coach Patton