Slugs do Battle in Texas

Dear Slug Tennis Fans,

Nice to escape the rain we have had in California and play some great teams here in San Antonio, TX hosted by Trinity University. In our opener we lost a very close 5-4 match to Washington University of St Louis who also beat us by the same score in the semi finals of the ITA National Indoor Championships. After winning at two and three doubles to enter the singles up 2-1 we dropped three three set matches showing signs of rust and fatigue. Erik Rosner and Ian Stanley continued their great play winning at two doubles 8-3 and Erich Koenig and Sam Rodgers won 8-4 at three doubles. Erik Rosner was first off in singles winning 6-2,6-4 to put us up 3-1. Wash U stormed back with wins at three, one and five singles to put them up 4-3. Erich Koenig stepped up in the third to lock up the match at 4-4 playing super solid tennis. Andre Halabi battled back from a set and 2-5 down to force a third set but ended up falling 6-4 in the final set to decide the match. I was proud of how we battled and the match was great preparation for our annual battle with the Stags of Claremont.

Claremont recently beat Amherst College who was one of the top team in the country which puts them now near the top of the Div lll rankings. As a regional rival this is always a key match for determining who will host the West Regional NCAA first and second rounds. Twice we have played them when we were ranked one and two in the country so it is always on when we play the Stags. Senior Brain Pybas led the way in doubles as he and partner Parker Larsen won 8-5 after being down and early break. We dropped two and three doubles both by scores of 8-6 having chances in both. Claremont is extremely strong in singles and we faced a very uphill fight! Off first again was Erik Rosner who this time lost in straight sets to a very strong Claremont player at six singles. Erich Koenig responded by beating Alex Johnson 6-3,6-3 which was an amazing turnaround from their fall encounter that Johnson won 6-1,6-1. I was super proud of Erich for figuring out this challenging matchup and playing with great determination. Next off was Andre Halabi who beat a very talented senior in Ronald Wu by scores of 6-4,6-4. This was one of Andres best wins to date and shows his marked improvement. In and incredible high level match at one singles senior Brian Pybas beat CMS transfer Alex Lane 7-5,2-6,6-2 to put us within a point of victory. Alex played several years on the pro circuit and has played very well this season so Brian needed to be at his best and responded with an outstanding effort. With the match on the line Soph Parker Larsen came back from a set down to serve for the match at 5-4 in the third against another CMS senior named Russell Brockett. At 30-0 Parker got sick and vomited at the back of the courts before stepping up and icing the victory giving us a 5-3 lead! Great effort by Brian and Parker as they accounted for three of our victories. Sam Rodgers lost a close three setter with the match decided but joined his happy team mates in celebration. We have a very tough challenge tomorrow against host Trinity before heading home but we are very happy! Thanks to all of you for your amazing care and support. Best wishes, Coach Hansen and Seeberger and the men of Slug Tennis