Duck Diary
The Ducks finally snapped another drought. It has been a good amount of time since our program had won a Pac-10 dual, but last Sunday we snapped that streak. The last time we won a Pac-10 match was in the 2000 season, and we broke that streak with a 4-3 win over ASU. And for those of you who have followed us this season, you know that the doubles point was huge for us. I think it was the first time we had lost the doubles point and went out and won the match with just singles play.
Here is a short recap of the match for those of you who weren’t able to make it. In doubles Thomas wasn’t able to play so Manu and Markus teamed up at two and won very convincingly 8-3, Chris King and Vlad Pino teamed up and lost at No. 3 doubles and then Sven Swinnen and I lost at No. 1 doubles, 8-5, in a match that we really let slip out of our hands. In singles we turned it around though, Manu won easy at No. 2, Sven won in a three-set match No. 1, Markus won at No. 4 and then Bieri and I were left. Bieri was starting a third set and I was at the end of my second. I ended up wining the second set 7-6 to win the match with much thanks to the support of my team and all of the fans that were still around. After I was finished and the dual was decided, Beiri was down 0-4 in the third, and he showed what the spirit of the Ducks is, as he fought back to give himself numerous chances to win the match. Even though he lost 7-5, I was very impressed with how hard he fought. The amount of fight that he showedon the court is an inspiration to me and the rest of the team.
On Friday of last weekend we lost to Arizona, 5-2. Our two points came from none other than Swinnen and Kost, who have both been very solid this year. The doubles point was close, but we let it slip away at the end.
This week is going to be a quick one with UCLA and USC coming into town this Friday and Saturday. We have four days to make sure that school work caught up and we get our bodies as fresh before Friday rolls around. We have a great opportunity this weekend, with two of the top teams in the country coming play at the Ducks house. We are all excited and hope that you are there as well, we love all the support we have gotten this year and look forward the continued growth. At the last match we even had one of our very loyal fans out with a drum which was an awesome addition to the energy that is already established at our matches. So we look forward to seeing all of you this weekend
