Hopkins at Eden Prairie

Well, I knew the first loss of the season would come eventually. I'm glad it came today, rather than in a few weeks. On a warm and windy day today, we fell 4-3 to Eden Prairie.

Getting onto the bus today, we knew a very good team was awaiting us. EP won the state championship last year, and only lost one or two players from that team. Their lineup kind of baffled us, as they were missing their usual #2 singles player and decided to put their #3 and #4 singles players onto #1 and #3 doubles, respectively. After the lineups were announced and before everyone went out on the court, Ryan and I told the team to forget about lineups and matchups and just play your match. As I said to (the legendary) Ken Novak, Sr. after the match: "It is what it is." In other words, you can only play who you're playing.

Nevertheless, the first three matches done were reminiscent of the last few matches: I won at #2 singles, Manny won at #3, and Jackson lost at #4.

Normally, the matches are pretty easy to follow, because the scorecards on each court are flipped to show the score during each changeover. Today we had none. Nothing too major, but very inconvenient for everyone in attendance. My dad told me afterwards that an EP parent actually asked him to complain to the EP coach on his behalf. He said he would do it himself, but his son would get moved down in the lineup. Hmmm. Probably said jokingly, but that still doesn't hold the EP coach in a great light.

Due to the absence of the scorecards, it was difficult to follow all of the matches going on, but I gathered that Ryan had lost his first set, as had #1 doubles (Andy Novak/Zach) and #3 doubles (Andy Harris/Kenny). #2 doubles (Brandon/Rust) won their first.

All three doubles matches ended in straight sets. Eden Prairie 3, Hopkins 3.

Ryan's opponent today was Scott Elsass, who has unfortunately been struggling with a shoulder injury most of this season and has been able to play only on a limited basis. It certainly looked healthy today. Ryan battled in the first set, but lost it 6-4. After going down 4-1 in the second, Ryan again fought to get a break back and went into the changeover down 4-3. After Elsass held, Ryan's service game lasted for about fifteen minutes before finally being broken and lost the second, 6-3. I must add, though, that Ryan has not lost this year when he's worn his jersey the correct way. He played his entire match today with an inside-out shirt.

Final score: Eden Prairie 4, Hopkins 3.

EP is a great team, but we know we can beat them, and hopefully we'll get the opportunity later this month. As Coach Novak says, anytime you lose, you want to be able to play again right away. We've got that opportunity in a home match against Benilde St. Margaret's tomorrow.

Until then,
Michael