Travel with the Team

Feb. 27, 2003

Journal #1:
Tallahasse, FL

Our trip to Florida State was definitely an interesting one. For the first time in my college career we had a rain delay that pushed the match back hours! We were scheduled to play at 2:00 pm. We got to the courts at NOON so that we could get treatment and relax a little bit before our warm-up. When we got to the Florida State tennis facility, the courts were wet and not playable. Right then and there I realized we were in for a long day…

We were debating whether to play the match or catch our flight that left Tallahassee at 7:45pm that evening. The coaches met and made the final decision to play the match at 6:15pm, which meant we were staying in Tallahassee another night. When we heard the news that we were going to play, we knew it was time to get focused on the match. We had been sitting around for hours in the visiting locker room playing dominos and just lying around so it wasn’t easy to start focusing. After grabbing a bite to eat we made it back to the courts and began our warm-up. Once the music came on, the energy and focus was there. There was something about the match being delayed and sitting around all day that brought a sense of urgency to the game. The tension between the two teams was at an all time high and I knew were in for a battle.

Once the match was under way we took control of #2 and #3 doubles while #1 struggled a bit. We ended up edging them out at #3 to win the doubles point. As a team we though that this would deflate them a bit going into singles, but it didn’t. They came out firing on all cylinders and once again the battle was on. The game eventually came to a 2-2 tie with 3 matches left on the court. We had won the first set on 2 of 3 matches remaining so we were in good shape. The only concern was that all three players left on the court were freshmen and it was an extremely hostile environment…we were about to find out what our freshmen we all about. After another hour of battling the ‘Noles, all three of our freshmen pulled through and we won 5-2. This was one of the most gratifying wins as a team in my college career: One, because this was my final match against Florida State and two, because our team fought so hard to win for each other. This match will stick out in my mind for a long, long time.