Topaz
Legend
Leading up to Districts, I wasn't sure what to expect. My foot hurt, my arm hurt, and because I stopped running to take some stress off of my foot, I felt fat(ter) and was a bit worried about my conditioning. Last year it was about a billion degrees!
Some background, VA districts is a USTA team tournament. A team 'match' consists of five individual matches, two singles and three doubles. Best of five wins the team match. This year there were 20 teams divided up into five round robins of four teams each. That way, we were assured at least three matches against the other teams in our round robin. The winner of each round robin would advance to the final round robin. Those five teams would duke it out (in four matches) to see who advances to sectionals.
I checked out our round robin, and saw that our opposing teams were a Richmond team, a Fredericksburg team, and a Tidewater team. I thought it looked like a pretty good draw, but our team was without some key players. We had two matches Friday and one Saturday morning. If we advanced, we'd have another Saturday, one Sunday (today), and two Monday. Now, if you're really sharp, you can figure out what happened.
Anyway, first up for us was the Richmond team. I was scheduled to play #2 singles. Now, I haven't played a USTA singles match in a few months and I have (had!) never, ever won a USTA singles match. I knew I had to take my lumps and play the match, though, because we were desperate for singles players. Because of the format, you can lose the singles, sweep the doubles, and still win the team match. So, I was a bit of a sacrifice, but my captain said this was the best match for me to play singles out of all the matches, so I knew I at least had a chance.
My opponent, Libby, was very nice, and very tall. Usually that is good for a tennis player, but at our level, I think it more than often means that the person won't move well, and will have trouble with low balls. Those of us with a lower center of gravity scamper around better, and don't have to bend as much because we're already down there!
On the court next to me was the #1 doubles of my team playing their match, so it comforted me a bit to know there were some people rooting for me nearby. One of the tough part about singles for me is that it is...singles. You're all on your own! Nobody to talk to or to help out!
We warmed up, and I concentrated on moving my feet, watching the ball, and hitting it deep into the court. And, in about 45 minutes, I wrapped up a 6-0, 6-1 win. IN SINGLES!!! AT DISTRICTS!!! Holy sh*t! Honestly, I did not have a strong opponent...all I had to do was keep hitting it over the net and keep it in the court and be patient. I'm not usually very patient, though! I did serve very well, and hit some nice winners, but for the most part, it was just patience. I was literally skipping after the match! Everyone else was still playing their matches, but when it was all said and done, we lost the team match 2-3 (I won, and our #3 doubles won). It was very close...the #1 doubles went into a 3rd set tiebreak, but didn't pull it out.
But, because we were in a round robin, we still had a chance!!! And another match in about a half hour! Originally, I think the plan was to sit me out for the next one (you need 8 for each match, and we had 9), but because I won and won quickly and wasn't even close to be tired, I teamed up with the other singles player, Kim, to play #3 doubles against the Fredericksburg team. Kim had lost her match, but had a very hard opponent...I watched a bit of her match and they had very, very long rallies and points. Kim and I played doubles together last year, but none since then. However, we felt pretty comfortable with each other on the court.
Our opponents were two of the nicest ladies I've ever played. Bo and Brenda....Brenda was hilarious! After one long point she shouted, "Alright ladies! We've got ourselves a tennis match!" Just some great enthusiasm that we're not used to seeing on the NOVA courts with our mostly very uptight population! And it was a great match!!! Kim and I won the first set 7-6 in a tiebreaker (9-7, I think, or it might have been 10-8). Then we had a bit of a let down, and faded a bit in the second set and lost 3-6. My legs were starting to not move. Instead of playing a third set, we play a super tiebreak, first one to 10 by 2 points. So, after a 2 minute break, Kim and I tore through the tiebreak and won it 10-3. I was serving at 9-3, and I HIT AN ACE!!!! ON MATCH POINT!!! WHOOT! Later we found out that our opponents had been undefeated. Not anymore!
My team won this match 3-2. So, after the first day, we were 1-1, Fredericksburg was 1-1, Tidewater was 0-2, and Richmond was 2-0. Richmond and Fredericksburg were playing Friday, and we got Tidewater, which were we expecting to win. We needed Frdericksburg to beat Richmond, but by a 3-2 score, and we needed to beat Tidewater by as much as possible!
Long story here, but because of some 'personnel' issues, we ended up altering the line-up for our last match, and I believe it cost us a trip to the final round. We ended up pulling someone who was scheduled for singles and pairing her with this person to make her happy. Never. Again.
Kim and I got promoted to #1 doubles for this match. After a tight first set during which we were trailing most of the time, we evened it up at 5-5, then pulled ahead to win the set 7-5. The second set we blazed out to a 4-0 lead, then the last three games were some of the hardest I've ever played! First of all, the wind was really gusting, and at times just made things very tricky! Our opponents won one game, so we were 4-1, my serve. And I think it was the longest serving game I've ever had. But again, my serve was strong, and I was getting some cheap points off of it, including 2 more aces! We finally won that game, and we were up 5-1 with our opponents serving. Again, a long game, full of duece games! I had 2 chances on match point to put it away with an overhead, and both went into the net! (I'm sure it was the wind! )Kim also netted some volleys on match points, but we wouldn't give up, and sure enough, I get another overhead on match point and THIS time, I put it away!!!! We win, 7-5, 6-1.
When we finished, we found out we were 2-2 in the team match, but our #2 singles soon walked back with a win. We won 3-2, but we needed to win 5-0. Fredericksburg beat Richmond 4-1, and by one individual win, they advanced and we did not.
Considering we were missing two of our strongest players, we did well. However, our captain and I both told the team that if we return as captains for the team, that we will do line-ups and that is how it will be, NO QUESTION! No tantrum is going to cause the whole team to suffer EVER AGAIN! Sure, there's no guarantee that it would have worked, but a much stronger singles player got pulled that should have played, and could have brought a win where instead, we took a close loss.
Personally, of course, I'm very happy with how I played. I'm the only one of the team who won all of their matches. If you would have told me that before I left, I would have accused you of smoking lots of bad crack. I have a good chance of moving up to 3.5 next year, and if I don't, I am close enough to probably appeal. Or, I can just play 3.0 singles, and play up at 3.5 for doubles. We will see when the ratings come out in November.
I took lots of pictures, and will post them soon.
Some background, VA districts is a USTA team tournament. A team 'match' consists of five individual matches, two singles and three doubles. Best of five wins the team match. This year there were 20 teams divided up into five round robins of four teams each. That way, we were assured at least three matches against the other teams in our round robin. The winner of each round robin would advance to the final round robin. Those five teams would duke it out (in four matches) to see who advances to sectionals.
I checked out our round robin, and saw that our opposing teams were a Richmond team, a Fredericksburg team, and a Tidewater team. I thought it looked like a pretty good draw, but our team was without some key players. We had two matches Friday and one Saturday morning. If we advanced, we'd have another Saturday, one Sunday (today), and two Monday. Now, if you're really sharp, you can figure out what happened.
Anyway, first up for us was the Richmond team. I was scheduled to play #2 singles. Now, I haven't played a USTA singles match in a few months and I have (had!) never, ever won a USTA singles match. I knew I had to take my lumps and play the match, though, because we were desperate for singles players. Because of the format, you can lose the singles, sweep the doubles, and still win the team match. So, I was a bit of a sacrifice, but my captain said this was the best match for me to play singles out of all the matches, so I knew I at least had a chance.
My opponent, Libby, was very nice, and very tall. Usually that is good for a tennis player, but at our level, I think it more than often means that the person won't move well, and will have trouble with low balls. Those of us with a lower center of gravity scamper around better, and don't have to bend as much because we're already down there!
On the court next to me was the #1 doubles of my team playing their match, so it comforted me a bit to know there were some people rooting for me nearby. One of the tough part about singles for me is that it is...singles. You're all on your own! Nobody to talk to or to help out!We warmed up, and I concentrated on moving my feet, watching the ball, and hitting it deep into the court. And, in about 45 minutes, I wrapped up a 6-0, 6-1 win. IN SINGLES!!! AT DISTRICTS!!! Holy sh*t! Honestly, I did not have a strong opponent...all I had to do was keep hitting it over the net and keep it in the court and be patient. I'm not usually very patient, though! I did serve very well, and hit some nice winners, but for the most part, it was just patience. I was literally skipping after the match! Everyone else was still playing their matches, but when it was all said and done, we lost the team match 2-3 (I won, and our #3 doubles won). It was very close...the #1 doubles went into a 3rd set tiebreak, but didn't pull it out.
But, because we were in a round robin, we still had a chance!!! And another match in about a half hour! Originally, I think the plan was to sit me out for the next one (you need 8 for each match, and we had 9), but because I won and won quickly and wasn't even close to be tired, I teamed up with the other singles player, Kim, to play #3 doubles against the Fredericksburg team. Kim had lost her match, but had a very hard opponent...I watched a bit of her match and they had very, very long rallies and points. Kim and I played doubles together last year, but none since then. However, we felt pretty comfortable with each other on the court.
Our opponents were two of the nicest ladies I've ever played. Bo and Brenda....Brenda was hilarious! After one long point she shouted, "Alright ladies! We've got ourselves a tennis match!" Just some great enthusiasm that we're not used to seeing on the NOVA courts with our mostly very uptight population! And it was a great match!!! Kim and I won the first set 7-6 in a tiebreaker (9-7, I think, or it might have been 10-8). Then we had a bit of a let down, and faded a bit in the second set and lost 3-6. My legs were starting to not move. Instead of playing a third set, we play a super tiebreak, first one to 10 by 2 points. So, after a 2 minute break, Kim and I tore through the tiebreak and won it 10-3. I was serving at 9-3, and I HIT AN ACE!!!! ON MATCH POINT!!! WHOOT! Later we found out that our opponents had been undefeated. Not anymore!
My team won this match 3-2. So, after the first day, we were 1-1, Fredericksburg was 1-1, Tidewater was 0-2, and Richmond was 2-0. Richmond and Fredericksburg were playing Friday, and we got Tidewater, which were we expecting to win. We needed Frdericksburg to beat Richmond, but by a 3-2 score, and we needed to beat Tidewater by as much as possible!
Long story here, but because of some 'personnel' issues, we ended up altering the line-up for our last match, and I believe it cost us a trip to the final round. We ended up pulling someone who was scheduled for singles and pairing her with this person to make her happy. Never. Again.
Kim and I got promoted to #1 doubles for this match. After a tight first set during which we were trailing most of the time, we evened it up at 5-5, then pulled ahead to win the set 7-5. The second set we blazed out to a 4-0 lead, then the last three games were some of the hardest I've ever played! First of all, the wind was really gusting, and at times just made things very tricky! Our opponents won one game, so we were 4-1, my serve. And I think it was the longest serving game I've ever had. But again, my serve was strong, and I was getting some cheap points off of it, including 2 more aces! We finally won that game, and we were up 5-1 with our opponents serving. Again, a long game, full of duece games! I had 2 chances on match point to put it away with an overhead, and both went into the net! (I'm sure it was the wind!
)Kim also netted some volleys on match points, but we wouldn't give up, and sure enough, I get another overhead on match point and THIS time, I put it away!!!! We win, 7-5, 6-1. When we finished, we found out we were 2-2 in the team match, but our #2 singles soon walked back with a win. We won 3-2, but we needed to win 5-0. Fredericksburg beat Richmond 4-1, and by one individual win, they advanced and we did not.
Considering we were missing two of our strongest players, we did well. However, our captain and I both told the team that if we return as captains for the team, that we will do line-ups and that is how it will be, NO QUESTION! No tantrum is going to cause the whole team to suffer EVER AGAIN! Sure, there's no guarantee that it would have worked, but a much stronger singles player got pulled that should have played, and could have brought a win where instead, we took a close loss.
Personally, of course, I'm very happy with how I played. I'm the only one of the team who won all of their matches. If you would have told me that before I left, I would have accused you of smoking lots of bad crack. I have a good chance of moving up to 3.5 next year, and if I don't, I am close enough to probably appeal. Or, I can just play 3.0 singles, and play up at 3.5 for doubles. We will see when the ratings come out in November.
I took lots of pictures, and will post them soon.
