Kenyon is coach by Scott Thiele. Scott has done an amazing job at Kenyon considering it's not the easiest of places to recruit. Scott's team always compete hard and are usually ranked among the top 8 teams in the country.
The night before the semi-final match against Kenyon, I was definitely a little concerned after our performance against Gustavus. I have had veteran teams that have played poorly in the early rounds of a tournament, but I knew, from past performances what they were capable of achieving. We had 5 new starters in the lineup for the match against Gustavus, so no one, including coaches and veterans, really knew what to expect. My hope and belief was that we would get stronger as the tournament progressed, but I was still concerned about our upcoming match against a feisty Kenyon team.
Once again, we started our slowly at 1 and 3 doubles, going down early breaks at each position. At one point Pottish and Goodwin were down 7-4, while 3 doubles was struggling to hold and still down a break. The only positive we had was the performance at 2 doubles. Kahler and Wagner continued their high level of play from the night before and seemed to be in control of the match.
At one point, it looked like we were going to be down 2-1 again after doubles. But, then the tide turned, and we got a little momentum. The energy across the 3 courts really is the reason why we got going, instead of panicking, our guys dug in, and started battling. Goodwin and Pottish stormed back and won. It was a remarkable win considering the circumstances, but I really shouldn't be surprised, considering what they accomplished in their tenure at Emory. Kahler and Wagner secured us the 2nd point and we were rolling. It's amazing how the tenor of a match change so quickly, at one point, it looked we were going down 2-1, and now, we were up 2-0. One match left, and I was feeling very confident, considering we were up 7-6, 40-15. The worst thing you can ever do as a coach, is assume a match is over when you have a match point. It's bad karma. Humphrey's and Kowalski, got broken, and instead of going up 3-0, we were now faced with the prospect of a comeback from Kenyon. Senior captain, Will Humphreys, is a great competitor, especially under pressure. Most teams, after squandering match points, would crumble, but Will kept freshman Kowalski focused, and they ended up winning in a tiebreaker. It was an absolutely huge lift for the team and it gave us the momentum we needed.
We started singles with a commanding 3-0 lead, and more importantly, we had the momentum at our backs. We sent out our top 3 singles matches and continued to apply the pressure. Pott was matched up with a very tough player, but his experience and talent was too much for Kenyon. Kowalski, at 2, was playing Kenyon's top freshman recruit, and grinded out a 3 set win. Wagner, at 3, was much more comfortable, and showcased his talent that he had displayed in practice, and against AUM. We now were up 6-0. Halpern was dominant at 4. Eric is one of our best spots in the lineup. Lavoie-Perusse, lost at 5, in 3rd set breaker. Ruderman, at 6, got a slow start, but he buckled down, and showed everyone why he is a major threat in our lineup.
It's amazing how your impressions of team change in 24 hours. We were much more relaxed and confident against Kenyon, and more importantly, we walked out of Swanson center feeling good about the win.
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