Slugs drop close decion to Wash U in ITA National Indoor Semi finals

In a rematch of last years ITA National Indoor final the Slugs lost a very close 4-5 match to Washington University that came down to the final set. We had a rough start at one and two doubles as we dropped both matches by 8-3 scores. Wash U out closed us and in general played more aggressive doubles which accounted for the final score. We continued to get a great effort from Erik Rosner and Ian Stanley at three doubles as they weathered some ups and downs prevailing 8-6 and getting us on the board. Playing on three courts in singles Brian Pybas bounced back to even the match at 2-2 with a 6-2,7-5 win over Isaac Stein at one singles playing some brilliant tennis. Brian's physical strength and movement were on display in the wonderful match. Down 2-5 two breaks at two singles, Erich Koening lifted his spirits and game to come back for a 7-6,7-6 win over Max Woods. I was very happy to see Erich refocus and regain his composure which translated into some great tennis. This knoted the match at 3-3 after Parker Larsen dropped a close 6-4,7-5 match at three singles. After Frosh Bryce Bettwy lost at six singles Sam Rodgers played an outstanding match at five singles to even the match at 4-4. During his best stretches Sam was taking the ball early and really controlling the match. After losing the first set in a breaker Andre Halabi won the second set to make is a one set match. With new balls against am more aggressive opponent he lost his grip on the match and ended up losing 7-6,2-6,6-1. I am proud of our effort and we took away many valuable lessons we will apply going forward. I look forward to seeing how we bounce back in our third place match against Carnege Mellow tomorrow morning. As usual these trip provide a wonderful oppotunity for our team to learn and grow and I feel strongly that this experience will make us much stonger going as the season progresses. Thanks for your support and Go Slugs! Sincerely, Coach Hansen and Coach Seeberger