Ojai Recap, Slugs off to the NCAA’s…

Slug Tennis Family,

Last weekend the Slugs played the annual invitational Ojai tennis tournament. It is an amazing event, including draws for all collegiate divisions, with a strong history of success for the Slugs. Highlights of the tournament:

-Erik Rosner beat Mac Cahill from CMS 6-3, 6-0 in the first round, soon after playing a great match losing to the number one seed Nick Ballou 6-4, 6-3. Later that day Eli Scandalis and Erik Rosner lost a very close first round playing some fantastic doubles.

-Erich Koenig had a tough round of 16 loss in singles, but bounced back to play some strong doubles with partner Chris Goetz before losing in the semi-finals of the doubles draw to the number one team from CMS.

-Chris Goetz also reached the semi-finals of the independent singles draw, losing in a close 6-3, 7-5, battle to the eventual winner of the tournament.

-Freshman Jimmy Soper also won his first round in the independent singles draw by a score of 6-1, 6-2.

-Both Sam Rodgers and Andre Halabi won their first rounds before losing to very tough opponents later that afternoon.

-The biggest highlight of the tournament was the singles effort made by sophomore Max Littlejohn. After losing the first set to a strong Anish Nanda from Redlands, Max came back to win the next two sets 6-2, 6-2, playing amazingly aggressive and consistent tennis. Next round he played the number five seed Joe Dorn of CMS, it was a match for the ages. Max won the first set 7-5 and lost the second 2-6, again playing consistently aggressive tennis, ripping forehands through the court over and over again. At 1-0 in the third Max started to cramp, not a good sign, but with an injury timeout managed to hang strong. With a score of 6-3 in the third set Max pulled out the upset, playing the best tennis he has played all year, showing amazing grit and heart all the way through the finish.

The NCAA Team Championship Bracket has been posted! 

http://www.ncaa.com/interactive-bracket/tennis-men/d3

All information regarding the tournament (match times and locations, live scoring, video, results, etc.) can be found at the host schools athletic website: http://www.cmsathletics.org/sports/mten/2012-13/2013_MT_Regionals/championship_central

We are scheduled to rematch Cal Lutheran at 10am on Saturday May 11^th at the CMS courts. I am aware of all the friends and family that are coming to support and must say how much we all appreciate it. If we win this match, there is a good chance we will have a rematch with CMS on Sunday May 12^th at high noon.

We had a small team meeting in Ojai after our second day of competition. It wasn’t the best tournament for us overall, mixed results throughout the event, tough competition within. The key point of the meeting was a group discussion on how we wanted to finish this very special 2013 season. As the boys went around to articulate their thoughts a common theme arose:

         -We want to feel good about how we finish

         -We want to fight with everything we have

         -We want to use each other as we know we are one of the most connected and united teams in the country

         -We want to prepare as thoroughly as we have all season

         -We want to embrace and enjoy this amazing opportunity that awaits us

 

We leave this Thursday to head to Los Angeles for the last time this season. We are the underdogs this weekend, but then again the Slugs are always the underdogs. We have always accomplished what others considered impossible; grit, heart, and connection leading the charge.We are excited, we are prepared, and we will fight like we have all season. We are Champions...

Sincerely,

Coach Parmelly