After a great win on Friday the Warhawks regrouped to face Chicago and Green Bay Sunday. The 'Hawks left Whitewater on Saturday and stopped at the Bayliss's house on the way to Green Bay. We enjoyed some college basketball, pool, ping pong, and pizza. It was a great way to relax before the Sunday matches. Thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Bayliss for hosting us.
After our stop in Sheboygan we continued on to Green Bay. The next morning the guys woke up and were ready for a great match. As always against Chicago it was a very intense match with a lot of fireworks from both sides. The doubles started off great for the 'Hawks with 1, 2, and 3 doubles all winning very tough matches. After doubles both teams huddled together, and prepared for singles. We knew that this was Chicago's strength and the guys knew they were going to have to play great if they wanted the win. As the singles matches started Chicago showed that they weren't going to go down so easy. They ended up taking the first set at 2, 4, 5, and 6 singles including blowouts at 2 and 6 singles. McGlashen and Balkin were playing great in their matches as they both took the first set.
Scanlan and Osborne went down early breaks in their second sets, but at 3 singles McGlashen was up 3-0 in the second after winning the first set when he broke a string. He was out of rackets, so he borrowed a few from Scanlan, but he just wasn't the same. I rushed quickly to string his racket, but he lost 3 out of the 4 games before the racket was done, and more importantly lost his momentum. As this was happening at 3 singles, Bayliss and Klein were putting on comebacks of their own at 2 and 6 singles respectively. As McGlashen dropped his second set 6-4, Bayliss took his 7-6(3), and Klein took his 6-3. At one singles Balkin was involved in a slug fest, and as some of the matches were entering third sets he found himself knee deep in the second set.
Eventually Osborne and Scanlan fell to their opponents in two sets at 4 and 5 singles respectively. After these matches Whitewater lead the match 3-2, with 2, 3, and 6 singles heading into a decisive third set, and Balkin still fighting in his second set. We needed at least 2 of these matches for the win, and everyone of the players on the court was trying the hardest to be the player to help push us over the edge. With Klein up 3-0 at 6 singles his opponent was assessed a game penalty, and then at 4-0 the match was defaulted giving Whitewater the 4-2 lead. At this point McGlashen was down a break in his match, and showing signs of fatigue. Just two courts away Bayliss was on-serve in the third set with the momentum on his side. Right in the middle of the two courts was Balkin who had just forced his second set into a tie breaker. At this point the attention turned to him to see if he could close out the match for himself and the team. It was a great tiebreak as each player had match point after match point, and the other just wouldn't go away. In the end Balkin's opponent won the tiebreak 13-11, and forced that match into another third set. The attention then turned to Bayliss who was serving for the at 5-3 for not only his match but the team win. He unfortunately got broken as his opponent was not going to go away that easy. At 5-4 he started off strong winning the first three points to give him 3 matches points. His opponent saved the first, but on the second match point Bayliss was just too strong. His win pushed Whitewater over the edge 5-2. McGlashen and Balkin ended up falling in their third sets to make the final match score 5-4.
This is quite possibly one of our best victories since I joined the program 6 years ago. It was a total team effort from everyone playing, to the guys in the stand, even the fans helped us in this victory. This is a fine example of what I think this team can accomplish this year, as long as well go into all our matches with this attitude.
After the thrilling Chicago victory the men turned their attention to D-1 Green Bay. At the beginning of doubles it was obvious many of the guys were running on fumes, but that didn't stop them from turning in great efforts. 1 doubles and 2 doubles went down early breaks, and even though they fought hard the whole way they could never dig themselves out of those holes. At 3 doubles Whitewater played strong the whole match and took it in a tiebreaker 8-7(6). This was a great win for Scanlan and Friend against strong competition. The Warhawks then entered singles down 0-1 because of D-1 rules where the doubles only count for 1 point. Green Bay's heavily foreign team showed their strength against the Warhawks in singles taking all but one first set in every singles match. The lone Warhawk to go into the second set ahead was Mitch Osborne at 4 singles. Mitch was playing lights out and looked to continue his strong play in the second set. The only Warhawk to win his second set was McGlashen at 3 singles. 3 and 4 singles moved into decisive third set breakers. Both McGlashen and Osborne fell in their third set breaker leaving the 'Hawks with a 0-7 loss. Here are some videos of the doubles play.
Even with the loss on the weekend the 'Hawks are feeling pretty good. We have had great efforts against strong teams, and I am excited for the rest of the season. The next week the 'Hawks travel to Kalamzaoo, MI to take on Kalamazoo College and Monmouth College.
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