Friday, April 29, 2011

Hopkins v Spring Lake Park

Coming off yesterday's great victory, we were excited to have the chance to close out the week with another good performance. Today's opponent was Spring Lake Park. Not exactly a historic tennis powerhouse, but all smaller schools bring their 'A' game against Lake Coference teams.

With Jeremy Steinman out of town this weekend, we altered the lineup again today. Singles: Ryan, myself, Manny, Kenny. Doubles: Brandon/Rust, Andy Novak/Zach Miller, Andy Harris/Clay.

Ryan and I told the team in our pre-match pep talk that we needed to really attack, and not hope that the match would be handed to us. Some players seemed to take that mentality, others got off to a slow start.

Ryan, Manny, and I all won our first sets pretty quickly, as did #1 and #2 doubles. However, Kenny lost his first before I won mine, and #3 dubs was locked in a tight set. Our top two doubles teams finished first, followed by Manny, myself, and then Ryan.

It was obvious watching Kenny that he hadn't played a singles match in a while. He's practiced with us a little bit, but a match is very different. He actually didn't play too badly, but he got down on himself too quickly and lost in straight sets.

#3 doubes fought to a 7-5 first set win, and won their second comprehensively.

Final score: Hopkins 6, Spring Lake Park 1.

Coach Novak gave us the day off tomorrow, which I definitely welcomed after my three-hour marathon win yesterday. We've got four matches in a row next week, starting with St. Louis Park on Monday, followed by Wayzata, Mounds View, and Eden Prairie.

Until then,
Michael

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