This weekend the Warhawks traveled to Green Bay, WI to take on two extremely tough opponents, Kenyon College (Currently ranked #2 in D3) and UW-Green Bay (D1 and 2012 Horizon League winner). The Warhawks started off the year with three Division 1 schools, and so far they find themselves at 0-3. Obviously this isn't exactly how we wanted to start, but the guys know at this point in the season the record doesn't matter all that much. Right now they are concerned with getting better every match.
At the beginning of the Kenyon match we knew we were going to be in for a dog fight. At the start of doubles Kenyon came out on fire at 1 and 3 doubles. Ben Shklyar and Mitch Osborne found themselves down 0-5 at 1 doubles before making a mini-comeback, but it just wasn't enough to win the match and they fell 8-4. At 3 doubles Kenyon jumped out to an early break lead and never looked back. Just as with 1 doubles Andy McGlashen and Jake Humphreys at 3 worked their way into the match late to make things interesting, but they couldn't pull off the comeback and they lost 8-4. 2 doubles was a different story however, Byron Balkin and Andrew Bayliss jumped out to an early break, but eventually the opponents got that break back. Late in the match, at 6-5 Andrew and Byron broke their opponents again giving them a chance to serve for the match. Unfortunately they couldn't get the hold and the match was tied at 6-6. Another two breaks followed as Byron and Andrew broke again only to see match point after match point fade away. Eventually 2 doubles was in a tiebreaker, and Kenyon played their best when they needed it the most to take the match 9-8(4).
This put the 'Hawks in a very unfamiliar position. In the last few years there have only been a handful of times the 'Hawks have found themselves down 0-3 after doubles. Even though this was a foreign territory for the 'Hawks they looked forward to the challenge. As the first sets were transpiring across the 6 courts it wasn't looking good for the 'Hawks. The only two Warhawks to take their first sets were Andrew Byaliss at 5 singles and Mitch Osborne at 6 singles, but Andy McGlashen at 3 singles and Jake Humphreys at 4 singles jumped out to early leads in the second set trying to level their matches at 1 set apiece. Around this time Byron Balkin fell at 2 singles 6-2, 6-1. Even though the loss at 2 singles put us down 0-4 none of the 'Hawks felt the match was over. At 1 singles it looked like Ben Shklyar was on the verge of a break through after losing the first set 1-6 he was up a break at 4-3. Around this time Andrew Bayliss won his second set to notch the first victory for the 'Hawks. Right after Andrew's match was done Ben found himself serving to stay in the match at 4-5, but he couldn't pull it out and he fell 1-6, 4-6 at 1 singles. This officially put the match out of reach for the 'Hawks, but they were still fighting like their was a chance they could win it. Andy McGlashen had taken the second set at 3 singles 6-1, and he was in a tight battle for the third set, but eventually his opponent for Kenyon took the third set 7-5. As Andy lost his match Jake Humphreys took his second set, and began his third set match tiebreaker, and as Jake was beginning his third set breaker Mitch was entering a breaker for the second set at 6 singles. Mitch ended up winning his second set breaker 7-6(5) to win the match 6-3, 7-6(5). This meant the only match still on was Jake Humphreys at 4. After a rough first couple of point Jake found himself down 1-5 only to fight back and get the tiebreak to 6-6. After trading points back and forth eventually Kenyon broke through at 11-10 to win the third set breaker 12-10. This concluded the 2-7 loss for the 'Hawks, but it was a close 2-7 throughout.
Even though the 'Hawks didn't come out of the match with the win I feel they came out with something just as valuable, confidence. There wasn't any let down in our fight the whole way, and that is a very encouraging thing as we move through the season.
After the loss to Kenyon the 'Hawks had to turn around several hours later and play the always difficult UW- Green Bay. After several years of strugling (including two years, '06 and '07 where UWW notched victories over The Phoenix) UW-Green Bay has used strong international recruiting to gain position atop the Horizon League. Due to some wear and tear in the Kenyon match the line-up looked a little different, but this presented a good opprotunity to get some players in that normally don't get the chance. At 1(Ben Shklyar/Mitch Osborne) and 3 (Brian Klein/Kevin Friend) doubles again the 'Hawks found themselves down early, and they eventually fell 8-2 in both matches. Again 2 doubles(Byron Balkin/Andrew Bayliss) was close the whole way until UWGB broke it open to win 8-6. Even though they lost the doubles point UWW could still win the match if they pulled out 4 of the remaining 6 singles matches.
With Ben Shklyar resting an injury from the Kenyon match both Bryon Balkin and Andy McGlashen jumped up a spot in the line-up to 1 and 2 singles respectively. Jake Humphreys also had to sit out the match due to wear and tear vs. Kenyon and this bumped up Andrew Bayliss to 3 singles and Mitch Osborne to 4 singles. With Shklyar and Humphreys out this gave Brian Klein and Cam Laktash a line-up opportunity at 5 and 6 singles. Balkin and McGlashen both played well in the first set, but both found themselves on the losing end 4-6. Bayliss took his first set at 3, and Mitch walked away from the first set victorious at 4 singles taking the set in a tiebreaker. Klein struggled in his first set to fall 2-6, and Cam played great throughout his first set at 6 only to fall in a tiebreaker. At 1 and 2 singles Bryon and Andy we unable to take their second sets and both fell 4-6, 2-6. This would mean for a second time that day the Warhawks found themselves down, and the next match their opponent would win would secure them the match. The 'Hawks didn't wilt away though. They showed the same fight they showed against Kenyon, and even though they would need nothing short of a miracle to pull off the win you couldn't tell it in any of the 'Hawks demeanor. Brian Klein fought back to win his second set, and was in a dog fight for the third set. Andrew Bayliss eventually closed out his second set to notch the first win for the 'Hawks. Around the same time Cam Lkatash was dwon 1-4 in his second set, and he brought it back to 4-5 serving to stay in the match only to fall 6-7(4), 4-6. At 4 singles Mitch Osborne was involved in another set tiebreaker. If he could pull it out it would mean the second match win for the 'Hawks, but the cards weren't stacked in his favor and his match moved to a decisive third set breaker. Brian Klein eventually fell in a hard fought third set 4-6, and all eyes turned to Mitch to see if he could pull out his third set breaker. The points went back and forth until Mitch pulled away to win 10-6. This capped off the 2-5 loss for the 'Hawks.
Even though in these first 5 matches the 'Hawks walk away with no wins they walk way with a great deal of confidence. A lot of times a season can be made or broken after the first couple of matches. With such a tough schedule to open the season the 'Hawks knew they couldn't focus to much on the wins and losses. The guys know that these loses will help us to be a better team later in the season when it matters the most.
Up next for the 'Hawks is the The Warhawk Invite. UW-Oshkosh, Wheaton College, and Grinnell College will all be traveling up to Wisconsin next weekend for some great matches. The 'Hawks will play UW-Oshkosh and Wheaton College at Four Lakes Athletic Club in Elkhorn, WI on Friday 2/15 at 12:00pm and 3:00pm respectively. The 'Hawks last match of the Warhawk Invite will be against Grinnell College at 11:00am on Saturday 2/16 at Cheeroke Country Club in Madison, WI. If you are in the area I urge you to come out and support the 'Hawks.
No comments:
Post a Comment