In doubles The 'Hawks jumped out to a big lead at 2 doubles, and Gustavus did the same at 3. 1 doubles was more of a heated match with both teams staying close until Whitewater broke open the match at 4-4. Around the time 1 doubles was starting to pull away 3 doubles fell 8-3. 1 doubles did not allow their Gustavus counterparts to win another game, and won the match 8-4. On the number 2 doubles court after being up 6-1 Andy McGlashen and Andrew Bayliss saw their opponents win 6 of the next 7 games. The Gusties were not going to go away easy and after trading service holds 2 doubles went into a deciding tiebreaker. The tension in the building was strong as both teams knew whoever would take that match would have momentum heading into singles. As the tiebreaker went on the stress continued to mount until UWW took the match 9-8(6). This meant that the Warhawks would head into singles with the momentum and a 2-1 lead. However we knew that Gustavus would not go away that easy.
As singles started it was obvious that the players from Gustavus were not going to just lay down and give up. Byron Balkin, Andy McGlashen, and Mitch Osborne at 1, 3, and 4 respectively all took leads early in their first sets, and did not relinquish them. At 2 singles Andrew Bayliss was involved in a tight first set, but ended up falling in a tiebreaker. Erik Scanlan at 5 found himself in a tough situation as his opponent took the first set clicking on all cylinders. At 6 singles Brady Porter started out slow, but was working his way in the match. After losing the first set he was confident of his chances in the second.
As the second sets started to unfold Whitewater held on to leads at 1, 3, and 4 singles. Scanlan's opponent was just too tough and took him down 1-6, 2-6. To make the overall match 2-2. Shortly after Balkin secured a huge win over his opponent from Gustavus to make the match score 3-2. At this time Bayliss was down a break in the second set, and Porter at 6 was in a dog fight. All eyes turned to McGlashen who was up a set and serving for the match at 6-5. Unfortunately his opponent was extremely mentally tough, and forced the set into a breaker. Andy played well, but couldn't come up with the goods. His match would head to a deciding third set. Around this time Mitch won his match, and made the overall match score 4-2. This would mean the Warhawks needed one more match to secure the first win over Gustavus in program history. Porter fought hard, but fell in a second set tiebreaker. Around the same time Bayliss' match was coming to a close, and he lost in a close second set. This meant the match was tied 4-4, and the winner of the 3 singles match would win the team match. Around the time all the other matches were done McGlashen was up 5-3 in the third and had 3 match points. After a few shaky service points he found himself back at deuce. After trading points back and forth Andy won the last two points to secure the match win for the 'Hawks. After his match had completed he threw his racket up in the air almost 40ft.
It was a great match from both teams, and I think ours guys will use this as an example of what we can accomplish if we continue to work hard, and try to get better everyday. Here are some pictures from the match:
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