March 5, 2008

The Patriots traveled to Baltimore to compete against UMBC yesterday and was forced to stop play because of rain. Coach Quam described the match as "one of our better performances against this strong team in recent years" and "We had particularly strong play at the No.1 and No.3 singles. In most of the other singles we had very competitive first sets." Coach had this to say about the team this season "As a young team we are still learning how to recover from losing the first set and how important it is to maintain mental toughness and emotional drive early in the second set."

Nonetheless UMBC still managed to win seven of the nine matches played, but in a dog fight. In every match the Netters fell in the first set after losing the lead. Some were able to come back in the second set, but most were not able to recapture the lead and lost the second set with the match.

In singles action Brian Fitzgerald played at the No.1 singles and battled Chris Meyer. After playing hard in the first set, but losing 6-2, Fitzgerald managed to rally back to take the second set, 7-6. In the Superbreaker Fitzgerald fought Meyer, but were forced to stop at 4-4 because of rain. Dan Schneider played at the No.3 singles and saw the same fate as Fitzgerald as he went and fought hard in the first set, losing 7-5, but rallied to take the second set 6-4 and forced the match to a Superbreaker and a tie of 4-4 before rain forced them to stop play. Stas Budagov came in at the No.2 singles. Budagov lost the first set 6-3 and gave up the early lead to Nick Savage-Pollock of UMBC in the second set, which led to Budagov losing 6-1 with the match.

Harwood Hoskins played at the No.4 singles where he was caught in a battle over the first set. After a couple of unlucky bounces Hoskins lost the first set 6-4 and couldn't battle back to take the second, where Hoskins fell 6-1 with the match. Jordan Lipstock got the No.5 singles and did all he could to win the sets. He battled in the first set, losing 6-4; it was the same thing in the second set as he just could not seem to turn the tide, falling 6-4 in the second set. Martin Brown rounded out the field at the No. 6 singles for the Netters as he was plagued by unforced errors. Brown lost the first set 6-3 and then the second set 6-1.

In doubles action Fitzgerald/D.Schneider teamed up, but fell to UMBC's team of Shamasdin/Jackson 8-4. It was much of the same thing with Lipstock/Vaughn as they too fell 8-4. Budagov/Hoskins played at the No.3 spot in doubles action and struggled in the match, where they fell 8-1.

Doubles
Shamasdin/Jackson (UMBC) def. Fitzgerald/D.Schneider(MAS) 8-4
Savage-Pollock/Ferreira (UMBC) def. Lipstock/Vaughn (MAS) 8-4
Meyer/Voorman (UMBC) def. Budagov/Hoskins (MAS) 8-1
Singles
No.1 - Brian Fitzgerald vs. Meyer (UMBC) 2-6, 7-6, 4-4    DNF
No.2 - Savage-Pollock (UMBC) def. Stas Budagov (MAS) 6-3 6-1
No.3 - Dan Schneider (MAS) vs. Shamasdin (UMBC) 5-7, 6-4, 4-4   DNF
No.4 - Jackson (UMBC) def. Harwood Hoskins (MAS) 6-4, 6-1
No.5 - Bricker (UMBC) def. Jordan Lipstock (MAS) 6-4, 6-4
No.6 - Ferreira (UMBC) def. Martin Brown (MAS) 6-3, 6-1