Spring Break 2013

The Warhawks entered their outdoor season with a Spring Break trip to California. This was the first time the program had gone to California for Spring Break, and the players were excited not only to see Cali but to play some great competition. 

The Men started their matches on Saturday against Amherst College. Amherst was ranked #1 for the majority of last year, and featured a deep and talented team. At the start of doubles the 'Hawks were a little sloppy and fell an early break in all 3 doubles matches. Their opponents were extremely tough, and held onto those breaks to go up 3-0 after doubles. In singles the 'Hawks fought well, but came up short in every match except 4 singles where after losing the first set Jake Humphreys came back to win in a third set tiebreaker. This capped off the 8-1 loss for the 'Hawks, but they couldn't hang their heads as they had another tough team to compete with. 

To see complete scores from the Men's match against Amherst click here

On Sunday both teams were in action as the Women took on #21 MIT and the both teams took on #3 Williams. In the Women's first match of the day both teams came out swinging to try and take the lead after doubles. Bayliss/Vitale, Ja. got a strong win at 1 doubles, but 2 and 3 doubles both lost 8-9 in a tiebreaker. this meant that the women would have to dig themselves out of a 1-2 hole. Unfortunately for the Lady 'Hawks MIT wasn't going to give the doubles lead away. MIT took all the singles except for 2 singles where Alexandra Bayliss escaped victorious. 

To see complete scores from the Women's match against MIT click here

After that tough loss against MIT the 'Hawks traveled 5 minutes to Chauilia Park for both teams to take on Williams College. On the Women's side Williams has won the last 5 national championships, and on the Men's side they finished 3rd in NCAA's last year. Needless to say this was not going to be easy.

On the Men's side Williams jumped out to an early 3-0 lead with strong wins at all 3 spots. Even though they were down 0-3 the 'Hawks continued to fight the whole match, but the consistentcy from Williams at every spot was too much to handle. Andrew Bayliss was able to force a third set tiebreak in his match, but his opponents won the big points when he needed to, and that finished the 9-0 win for Williams. 

On the Women's side Byaliss/Vitale, Ja. came out guns-blazing and took the 3-0 lead, but Williams slowly chipped away at that lead and eventually took the match 8-4. At 2 doubles Divelbiss/Aguilar made their opponents hit good shot after good shot to win the point, and they were victorious 8-6. At 3 doubles Kasten/Williams fell down early but they fought back, but they couldn't made the comeback official and they fell 8-6. 

In singles Williams dominated the first set at all 6 spots, but the Lady 'Hawks continued to fight. Eventually Williams won 1-5 singles with 6 singles the only match still on. Erika Williams had won her second set after losing the first, and eventually she won her third set tiebreaker to make the final of the match 7-2.

To see the complete scores from the Men's match against Williams click here

To see the complete scores from the Women's match against Williams click here

After two tough days of matches both teams had the day off. Some people decided to go to Disneyland, others decided to go on a sight seeing bus tour, and others decided to soak up some rays at the beach. Personally, I went to go watch the USC vs. Texas A&M tennis match. 

With this tough schedule it was nice to have a day off to relax and see the sights.

But as soon as the next morning came both teams were back to work. The men had a match against Williamette University while the women were taking on an NAIA school, Vanguard University. 

The doubles line-up in the Men's match against Williamette was a little different then our recent matches. Shklyar/Osborne stayed at 1 doubles, McGlashen/Bayliss teamed up again at 2 doubles and Balkin/Friend reunited at 3. Even though there were some shifts in the stops guys were playing everyone came out playing well. All 3 doubles won in great fashion surrendering no more than 4 games in each match. The 'Hawks knew they needed to close this one out though, and it showed in their singles play. The 'Hawks captured 2-6 singles without dropping a set, but 1 singles was not so kind to the 'Hawks. Byron Balkin dropped his match to finish the 8-1 victory for the 'Hawks. After that win the guys had to refocus because they had a match later that night against Pomona-Pitzer. 

To see complete scores from the Men's match against Williamette click here

40 miles away the Women were playing Vanguard University. Coach Barnes, being the dedicated coach that he is, left after singles began in the Men's match and made it in time to coach the Women. According to Coach Barnes the players from Vanguard were very talented, but the Lady 'Hawks won the big points at 2-6 singles. Since singles was played first in this match the Lady 'Hawks had the win and the 5-1 lead heading into doubles, but their great played continued as they won all 3 doubles.

To see complete scores from the Women's match against Vanguard click here

After the women's match was complete Coach Barnes hopped back into his van and made the 40 mile trek to coach the guys as they took on #22 Pomona Pitzer. In doubles, Shklyar/Osborne went down a break early. They fought game after game, but couldn't make up the deficit. Balkin/Bayliss played well from the beginning to capture 2 doubles for the 'Hawks, and Humphreys/McGlashen couldn't gather any momentum, and they lost the match. After doubles the 'Hawks found themselves down 1-2, but they knew they were still in it. 

Shklyar and Humphreys both claimed victories for the 'Hawks in straight sets at 1 and 4 respectively. Byron Balkin had one of the weirdest matches I've ever seen at 2 singles. After losing the first set 0-6, Byron stormed back in the second to win 6-0 and force the match into a third set. The first two sets were so quick in that match that as they were entering their third set Andy McGlashen had just captured his first set. Byron went down an early break and found himself down 1-4 at one point. Byron eventually came back to 4-4 only to get broken the next game. His opponent then closed things out to win 6-4. Around this time 5 and 6 singles were going on, and Andy's match was heading to a third set. The match was tied 3-3 and whichever team could capture 2 out of the last 3 matches would win. Andy eventually fell 6-4 in his third set, and Mitch Osborne won a strong match in straight sets at 6 singles. This made the match 4-4 and it would all come down to Byaliss at 5 singles. After dropping his first set 7-5, Byaliss was serving for the match at 5-4 when the lights on the courts went out. It was one of the weirdest moments I've seen at a college tennis match. Eventually the lights came back on and Bayliss forced the match into a third set. At the start of the third set Bayliss was on fire. He eventually took a 5-1 lead. After his opponent held Byaliss had the opprotunity to close out the match. At 40-30 he served and volleyed and his opponent came up with two amazing gets, the second too low for Bayliss to do anything with. After that his opponent got a second win, and stormed back to win the match 7-5 in the third set.

To see complete scores from the Pomona Pitzer match click here

After the Pomona match the 'Hawks traveled back to Newport Beach to rest up and enjoy their day off on Wednesday. Early Wednesday morning Brian Klein, Klevin Caiati, and myself made a short trip to Long Beach, CA to try the World Famous Roscoe's Chicken & Waffles. 

Needless to say it lived up to the hype. After our early morning breakfast excursion we caught up with the rest of the team heading out to spend the day at Laguna Beach. Some players walked the shops by the beach, some soaked up the rays, and some played volleyball.

Andy McGlashen and Tim Worley found another way to spend their day off... they dug a nearly 6 foot hole in the beach. Initially they were planning to tunnel to another hole they were planning on building, but since neither is an engineer the tunnel failed. Eventually they wound up burying Tim standing straight up in the hole (It took him a while to get out).

After the long day at the beach the teams headed back to the Hotel to get ready for our annual team dinner. 

Once everyone had a full stomach the players headed back to the Hotel to get some rest before their last match of the trip. The next morning the teams made their last trip out to Claremont, CA. The Women were taking on regional foe #11 Depauw, while the Men were taking on #9 Middlebury.

The Women had just played DePauw at Indoor Nationals not more than 3 weeks ago, and unfortunately for the Lady 'Hawks the result was the same. DePauw swept all three doubles, but 3 put up a fight before falling 7-9.

In singles DePauw took the first sets at 1, 3, 4, 5, and 6 singles before closing out the second set at every match. The lone singles victory of the day for the Lady 'Hawks came from Alexandra Bayliss at 2 singles 7-6(7), 6-0.

To see complete scores from the Women's match against DePauw click here

At the same time the Men were playing against Middlebury College. This is the first time in recent memory the 'Hawks have played Middlebury, but they are a strong team form the Northeast. The 'Hawks came away trailing 1-2 after doubles. Shklyar/Osborne teamed up at 1 singles to pull out the win over a strong team. Shklyar added a singles win at 1 singles, but he was the only one for the 'Hawks as they fell to Middlebury 2-7.

To see complete scores from the Men's match against Middlebury click here

Overall it was a long, great trip. Even though the results were not what we were hoping for they are a strong foundation to build off of. Overall, I feel the teams with walk away from this trip with some experiences that will help them down the road.

Up next for the Lady 'Hawks is the Midwest Invite in Madison, WI. The Lady 'Hawks play their first match on Friday at 8:30am. After that the times of the matches will depend on their result. The 'Hawks will host the University of Chicago and Carroll University at UWW on Saturday. The 'Hawks also have a match against Luther College Sunday.