With countless injuries plaguing the men's tennis team, a couple days off at the beginning of the week allowed the Bears to recuperate and prepare for an intense triple match weekend against No. 37 Virginia Tech, Binghamton University, and University of Rhode Island.
Overall, Bruno beat two out of its three opponenets, winning 7-0 and 6-1 against URI and Binghamton, respectively. The sole loss of the day came against Virgina Tech, to whom the Bears fell, 5-2. In the days leading up to the match, the Bears focused intensely on their doubles play, a Bruno specialty, in order to steal the first point of the match.
"We worked on sharpening our singles skills this week," Chris Lee '09 said. "But mainly we focused on our doubles play. The doubles point is the key to the entire match, and we wanted to start off with that momentum."
The match started off very loudly and the Bears came out with the fire and intensity they had been lacking in their past few matches. In order to take on highly ranked Virginia Tech on Saturday, they were going to need the increased energy. Even Basu Ratnam '09, a usually quiet and reserved player, was yelling, "Come on!" to fire himself up for his match.
"It was definitely a big match for us today," Ratnam said. "I was nervous going into it. There was a lot on the line and the doubles point is crucial - and unfortunately we came up a little short."
Whether missing the victory by a little or a lot, the Bears didn't capitalize on numerous opportunities in their matches. The first loss came at No. 3 doubles with the usual pairing of co-captain Noah Gardner '09 and Sam Garland '09 dropping their match quickly, 8-5. To tie up the doubles battle, the successful new pairing of No. 2 doubles Jon Pearlman '11 and co-captain Saurabh Kohli '08 grabbed an 8-4 easy victory.
But with the doubles point riding on the outcome of No. 1 doubles team Ratnam and Lee, the duo faltered. They were unable to close a lead against Virginia Tech and ultimately fell in a tiebreaker, 8-6. With so many opportunities, it wasn't a lack of talent that caused the loss, but rather an inability to capitalize on the moments needed to clinch the match.
"We let our level down and our opponents picked up theirs," Lee said. "We didn't take our opportunities and that's what (Head) Coach (Jay) Harris talked about during our huddle before singles - we need to take the opportunities given to us and grab the victory."
With that in mind, Lee came out on fire in his singles match, grabbing one of the only victories of the day at No. 2 singles, 6-4, 6-0. Pearlman followed with another victory at No. 3 singles, breezing through his opponent, 6-2, 6-2.
But the success stopped there, as the Hokies then dominated the Bears for the remaining matches. At No. 1 singles, Kohli dropped a close match in a tiebreaker at 6-4, 7-6 (7-2). Gardner posted numerous winners but an equal amount of unforced errors culminated in his 6-4, 6-4 loss.
The Bears, having already lost the match, seemed to step up play in No. 5 and No. 6 singles as though they were on a mission to prove their worth to a top team. But injuries and cramps plagued Garland at No. 5 singles, contributing to his loss at 6-7, 6-4, (10-6). Inexperience showed at the No. 6 singles with Kendrick Au '11 dropping his match in three sets, 6-2, 2-6, 6-0.
The team was definitely down, but not out yet. Sunday morning brought two new opponents, Binghamton and URI. Starting off extremely flat and sluggish, the Bears seemed to have lost the fire and intensity they exhibited against the Hokies only the night before. Harris let the team know that there was a silver lining to their loss against Virginia Tech. He emphasized the opportunity the Bears had to rebound from a tough loss and bounce back by claiming a victory, or two, less than 12 hours later.
"When we lost to Virginia Tech, we lost our energy with that match," said Charlie Posner '11. "Our priority against Binghamton and URI was to bounce back, bring a lot of energy and good play. There wouldn't be a lot of fans here today, so we had to focus on it ourselves, and I think we did a pretty good job with that."
Although a little flat, the Bears pulled off a doubles sweep against their first opponent for the day, Binghamton. At No. 1 doubles, Lee and Kohli played like true veterans, winning, 8-4. Ratnam and Garland showed no signs of struggle by pulling out a quick 8-2 win. At No. 3 doubles, the surprise pairing of Posner with Gardner was a closer match, winning in tiebreaker, 8-7 (7-0). The addition of Posner to today's lineup boosted the team's morale and energy back to necessary levels.
"We have a very diverse freshman class," Au said. "We all have something different to offer that coincides with the team really well - Charlie brings the effort and the energy this team needs to build us up on and off the court."
That energy was apparent when entering singles play, as the Bears quickly grabbed the win over Binghamton. At No. 1 singles, Lee took the first set, 6-4, and snatched the victory when Binghamton retired because of a medical injury. Kohli at No. 2 singles was finally on the victorious side of a close match, winning in tiebreaker 7-5, 7-6 (7-5).
To grab the victory for the Bears, Pearlman dominated his No. 3 singles match, winning, 6-0, 6-0. The only two losses of the day came at No. 4 and No. 6 singles, as Gardner dropped, 3-6, 3-6, and Posner fell in his first singles match of the season 5-7, 6-4, (10-8). Still on the court, Au didn't need the victory to aid in Brown's win, but he continued to play hard and pulled out the victory, 6-4, 6-0.
"In this program, Coach harps on the fact that every match counts," Au said. "We want to fight for every position, if it's already over or the deciding match is on you, we try to give our all every single point in every single match."
And they did, for one more match against URI. The Rams brought a large crowd to Brown, but the veteran Bears weren't fazed by opposing fan antics and quickly wrapped up the victory, 7-0.
In doubles play, the teaming of Ratnam and Lee marked the first win of the match in tiebreaker, 8-7 (7-4). Harris decided to give the veterans a well-deserved rest and allow the new class to grab experience in doubles play. At No. 2 doubles, Posner and Garland contributed a 8-6 win as Au and Cody Simmons '10 easily swept the doubles point with the victory, 8-3.
The Rams were no match for the Bears in singles play as Bruno only dropped one set in six matches. At No. 1 singles, Pearlman clinched a 6-2, 6-2 victory. At No. 2, Kohli won, 6-1, 6-1.
No. 3 and No. 5 singles followed as Au finished the victory for the Bears at 6-4, 6-4 and Posner won 6-2, 6-2. Ratnam marked his first singles match of the weekend with an easy victory, 6-4, 6-2. Simmons, at No. 6 singles, finished the sweep with a 6-3, 3-6, (10-6) win.
As 10 o'clock struck Sunday night, the Bears were tired and frozen from head to toe, with each player wrapped in ice packs around seemingly every muscle, joint and ligament in their bodies. As they trudged off to their respective homes and finally ate something more substantial than a granola bar, the Bears are already strategizing and thinking for their next match this weekend at No. 11 Wake Forest.
"We need to realize that we grabbed two wins this weekend, we played hard and should be proud," Garland said. "Virginia Tech came in with a lot of energy, and we need to respond by going to Wake Forest with that same energy and grab another win. They aren't going to be expecting much from us, so we need to go out, work them, energize them and pull off a big upset."
