I have had many people come up to me before the start of the season and ask me if we have a good team. It's a difficult question to answer because we are a very young team that graduated 3 major contributors last season. We graduated our number 1, 2, and 4 players that were the last remnants of our 2012 NCAA championship team. We had a good showing the past weekend against some very difficult opponents, but, playing the top D-3 teams at a major event is a totally different animal.
I had no idea how we would perform, but, what I did know was that we have a great group of players who bought into a common purpose. Our guys worked really hard prior to the start of the event and were prepared for the tournament. One of the biggest cliche's in sports is all the talk about chemistry, a term that's very difficult to define. I have come to realize that over the years, even though it's a cliche, chemistry matters. Chemistry to me is a group of individuals who put the team before there own needs. Some years, players buy into this concept, and others years, not so much. This quote sums up what chemistry is all about, " A great team will be beat a team with great players." Roberto Bazzarella, a sophomore, came on the trip knowing that he would not play, but, decided to come so that he could support his teammates. His unselfishness and support helped us throughout the tournament.
I am going to give a broad overview of the tournament, rather than rehash each individual match. I have said many times that winning championships is all between the ears. Yes, talent matters, but handling adversity is much more important. For a young team, our guys played with the maturity like they were seasoned veterans. They faced many difficult situations throughout the tournament and with each tough moment, they refocused, and didn't panic. I give a lot of credit to their captain, Rafe Mosetick. Rafe has grown a great deal during his four years at Emory, and, his positive leadership helped everyone on the team.
Teams that win NCAA's get contributions from all spots in the lineup during the course of a tournament. If one player loses at 3 singles in the quarter-finals, he may pick us up with a win in the semi-finals. This was definitely the case this weekend. Everyone on the team contributed to winning the Indoor Title.
Rafe: was able to notch 2 big wins at 1 singles against quality opponents. Rafe and Jonathan also won a big match at 2 doubles against Chicago.
Jonathan: showed Division III tennis why he is one of the best players in the country winning all 3 of his singles matches and going to 2 for 3 in doubles with Rafe. Jonathan's match clinched the title.
Aman: was one of the unsung hero's of the tournament. He went 3-0 in the tournament beating some very good players.
Adrien: was also an unsung hero, going 3-0 at the number 4 singles spot. Adrien was the first singles point against Chicago, beating a very good player.
Josh: "the closer" went 2 for 3 over the weekend at 5 singles. The Carnegie match was very difficult and Josh like he did against Dalton State, clinched the match for us.
Andrew: had the hardest job, he had to wait each match for 2.5 hours before he went on court. His doubles play over the weekend, going 3-0 with Omsky was very critical in our success.
David: went 3-0 in doubles with Andrew and his leadership on court was much amazing. His win against Carnegie after being down 5-2 helped us from going down 0-3 in doubles.
Scotty: had the difficult task of playing number 1 doubles. He was a leader on the court and handled some very difficult situations. He and his partner, James Spaulding, went 2-1 over the weekend.
James: like Scotty, had a great weekend, beating the number 3 ranked Chicago team on the last day. Most importantly, he got some very good experience.
As good we played this weekend, we need to get a whole lot better. The worst thing we can do now is to be content, this has happened to us in the past, and we cannot let this happen again. It's only the first step.
I have been to many Indoor National Championships and Case Western did an amazing job hosting the event. They made it a real special deal for all of the athletes. Many thanks to all who put this tournament together!!!
Wednesday, February 24, 2016
Wednesday, February 17, 2016
THE 2016 JOURNEY BEGINS
The start of the season always feels like it's light years away. There is so much hard work and preparation that goes into getting ready for the first match. Everyone remembers the brutal 7am morning workouts, the countless number of balls that are hit during the fall and off-season, and lastly, the stressful challenge matches. The first match of the season is payoff of all the hard work.
This past weekend I scheduled three very talented teams. I was excited but definitely a little apprehensive scheduling this type of competition at the start of the season. After the weekend, I was happy with our boys effort, and despite the scores, it showed me that if were are mentally focused, we can compete with any team.
Our first match was against Dalton State, an NAIA team that had recently knocked off number 2 Auburn Montgomery. We have never played Dalton State so I had no idea what to expect from them. I was very curious to see how we would compete in doubles. Our number 1 doubles team of sophomore Scott Rubinstein and freshman James Spaulding got off to a quick start securing an early break and eventually getting us a point. At number 2 doubles the team of Senior Captain, Rafe Mosetick, and freshman Jonathan Jemison came out with energy and dominated there opponents for point number 2. At three doubles, the team of junior Aman Manji and sophomore David Omsky, got off to a slow start but staged a great comeback. Unfortunately, they could not hold off DSU and ended up losing. We went into singles with a 2-1 lead.
We got off to a good start in singles securing a point at 1 and 3 singles. With point left on the board to obtain, DSU staged a comeback. They earned at points at 4 and 5 singles. At 2 singles, Jonathan, was in a very difficult match with a player that number 4 ranked player in NAIA. There was no guarantee that Jonathan would be able to secure the last point. Junior Josh Goodman, at 6 singles had the burden of securing the last point. The pressure was definitely building, but, Josh locked in and dominated his opponent to give us the 5th point. Meanwhile at 2 singles, Jonathan, found himself in a 3rd set tiebreak. The match was 3 sets of physical tennis and by the tiebreaker, both players were beat up. Jonathan, mentally, stayed focused and ended up grinding out an 11-9, 3rd set tiebreak win. It was nice to start with a 6-3 win.
We turned around the next day to face to 2 very good opponents. The morning match I rested some of the starters against Georgia Gwinett College which has won the NAIA national championship the past two seasons. There team is one of the most talented teams we have ever played and could be a very competitive Division I team if given the opportunity. We lost all 3 doubles matches but had some good performances at 1 and 3 doubles. We definitely had an uphill battle in singles, but our guys competed and did not back down from the level of competition. Sophomore transfer, Andrew Harrington, was able to secure a point a 6 singles.
We turned around after a 3 hour rest to play Division 1 Georgia State. We got down an early break at 1 dubs and 2 dubs. At 3 dubs, we put a new team of Omsky and Harrington together. They had never played together but came and with great energy and secured and early break. 1 dubs broke back and played a very good match but ended up losing the point. 2 dubs could not find the energy they had the first day and ended up losing. 3 dubs battled the entire match and secured us a very important point.
We end up losing 7-2 but the match was much closer than the score. At 1 singles, Rafe, played an opponent who had just beat Alabama's number 1 player. He was a very disciplined player and ended up beating Rafe in straight sets, but, Rafe had opportunities in the first and proved that he can play at this level. At 3 singles, Aman Manji, played a strong match losing in 3 sets. Andrew Harrington lost in 3 sets at six singles. Our singles point came from freshman Jonathan Jemison at 2 singles.
The Georgia State match proved to me that we can hang with good teams as long as we keep working hard and focus on getting better.
Off to Indoors!!!
This past weekend I scheduled three very talented teams. I was excited but definitely a little apprehensive scheduling this type of competition at the start of the season. After the weekend, I was happy with our boys effort, and despite the scores, it showed me that if were are mentally focused, we can compete with any team.
Our first match was against Dalton State, an NAIA team that had recently knocked off number 2 Auburn Montgomery. We have never played Dalton State so I had no idea what to expect from them. I was very curious to see how we would compete in doubles. Our number 1 doubles team of sophomore Scott Rubinstein and freshman James Spaulding got off to a quick start securing an early break and eventually getting us a point. At number 2 doubles the team of Senior Captain, Rafe Mosetick, and freshman Jonathan Jemison came out with energy and dominated there opponents for point number 2. At three doubles, the team of junior Aman Manji and sophomore David Omsky, got off to a slow start but staged a great comeback. Unfortunately, they could not hold off DSU and ended up losing. We went into singles with a 2-1 lead.
We got off to a good start in singles securing a point at 1 and 3 singles. With point left on the board to obtain, DSU staged a comeback. They earned at points at 4 and 5 singles. At 2 singles, Jonathan, was in a very difficult match with a player that number 4 ranked player in NAIA. There was no guarantee that Jonathan would be able to secure the last point. Junior Josh Goodman, at 6 singles had the burden of securing the last point. The pressure was definitely building, but, Josh locked in and dominated his opponent to give us the 5th point. Meanwhile at 2 singles, Jonathan, found himself in a 3rd set tiebreak. The match was 3 sets of physical tennis and by the tiebreaker, both players were beat up. Jonathan, mentally, stayed focused and ended up grinding out an 11-9, 3rd set tiebreak win. It was nice to start with a 6-3 win.
We turned around the next day to face to 2 very good opponents. The morning match I rested some of the starters against Georgia Gwinett College which has won the NAIA national championship the past two seasons. There team is one of the most talented teams we have ever played and could be a very competitive Division I team if given the opportunity. We lost all 3 doubles matches but had some good performances at 1 and 3 doubles. We definitely had an uphill battle in singles, but our guys competed and did not back down from the level of competition. Sophomore transfer, Andrew Harrington, was able to secure a point a 6 singles.
We turned around after a 3 hour rest to play Division 1 Georgia State. We got down an early break at 1 dubs and 2 dubs. At 3 dubs, we put a new team of Omsky and Harrington together. They had never played together but came and with great energy and secured and early break. 1 dubs broke back and played a very good match but ended up losing the point. 2 dubs could not find the energy they had the first day and ended up losing. 3 dubs battled the entire match and secured us a very important point.
We end up losing 7-2 but the match was much closer than the score. At 1 singles, Rafe, played an opponent who had just beat Alabama's number 1 player. He was a very disciplined player and ended up beating Rafe in straight sets, but, Rafe had opportunities in the first and proved that he can play at this level. At 3 singles, Aman Manji, played a strong match losing in 3 sets. Andrew Harrington lost in 3 sets at six singles. Our singles point came from freshman Jonathan Jemison at 2 singles.
The Georgia State match proved to me that we can hang with good teams as long as we keep working hard and focus on getting better.
Off to Indoors!!!
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