Oct. 15, 2007

Friday and Saturday - The tournament started out on Friday with a 10 hour rain delay, finally pushing all the Friday matches to start early Saturday morning. To make up for Friday, each player had two doubles matches and two singles matches on Saturday. We played at Saint Mary's starting at 7 am and our last match of the day ended at 9:30 pm.. It was the best showing from our women's tennis team at any fall tournament we have ever participated in. Highlights of the first day included the duo of Heinser and Gratian (playing together for the first time) winning their first round of doubles against a solid UOP team and then taking out the #1 seeded Fresno State team in the second round. The duo of Taylor and Dixit pegged their opponents a few times to close out their first round easily over San Jose State and then fell in the second round. In singles, Emma Taylor beat a highly respectable player from Cal in the first round in a very close battle. Then Mylene Martin, Cecilia Gratian, Jenni Heinser, and Jenny Sperry all won both of their singles matches on the day, taking out top players from Fresno State, Loyola Marymount, UC Davis, UOP, Santa Clara and Portland. Cecilia, our freshman "energizer bunny" had the comeback of the day in her second singles match when she lost her first set against the Fresno State player, 6-0 and then came back to win the next two sets. Sperry had a tough comeback as well at 9 pm at night when she lost her first set in a tiebreaker and then came back to win the next two sets. Mylene Martin beat a top player from Fresno State in a furious two hour battle. Heinser was in fine fashion on the court with her disciplined game, running her opponents to death and then finding the opening on the court every time to take two solid singles wins on the day.

At the end of the night it was quite a fulfilling sight to check out the draw sheets and see USF advancing in four of the brackets to the quarterfinals.

Quote of the Day: the French girls yelling "look at the Bambi!" as the deer roamed on by the tennis courts at night.

Sunday - We were back on the courts nice and early again on Sunday morning. Heinser and Gratian beat a team from UC Davis, 8-1 in the semifinals. You could see them get stronger and more confident each match they played together over the weekend. They were in the finals on center court against the Stanford Cardinal team. Once Cecilia got over their red "S" hats and being from Stanford we were able to capitalize on our serving and impeccable ball placement to win the match 8-5.

We WON the tournament!! This was our first time EVER winning the entire tournament!!! Oh my gosh, it was so exciting for the entire team. Go Dons!

We were back on the courts 20 minutes after the doubles was over for two more rounds of singles matches. Heinser went out with her beautiful game once again and frazzled her strong Saint Mary's opponent, 6-2, 6-0. Heinser works so hard for very single point and never gives up a free one. Heinser then had to retire in her next round against the LMU player as her back acted up, after getting a cortisone shot only two weeks ago. I guess the 8 matches in two days caught up with her...

Sperry had a great come from behind victory against a player from Portland, downed her sandwich, and then turned around and played a player from LMU and lost a heartbreaker first set 7-6 and played so hard she couldn't quite feel her legs at the end of the match. She really competed well all weekend closing out 3 very close matches.

Slogan of the weekend: "It isn't over until it's over." The girls had many comebacks all weekend long. They never gave up. Oh, how the momentum of a tennis match can change...

The weekend was full of great wins, great competitors, and great sportsmanship. I was so pleased with how we competed all weekend long. The girls really put their heart into every match and supported their teammates throughout the competition.

Fans?

Our dedicated sports psychologist, Kristen Waugh Rivers (luckily no one threw their racquet)

My parents, who want to be coaches

Nisha's mom and dog (Nisha's dog might take over for our present mascot Flubba - it is a tight race right now)

What's on Tap?

Recovering this week for ITA West Regionals at Stanford University, Oct 19-21. This weekend!!!!! Come on out. It will be tough competition and of course, Stanford is a great venue to come watch some tennis. It might even top Golden Gate Park. This will conclude our fall competitions. We hope to see you there!