Introduction
In recent years the Norcal USTA combo sectionals in Fresno has gained a reputation for cold temperatures, rain, and (in my case) poor playing conditions. What a difference a year can make. The sun was shining, the weather was warm, and we played at a really nice country club - Copper River. The schedule was really perfect for us. We had a match at 2:30 on friday, 1:00 on saturday, and 8:30 on sunday. We practiced diligently and thought we had the matchups all figured out. Not only we were wrong, but the outcome turned out to be the exact opposite of what we expected. But that's why we love sports and tennis in particular isn't it. There was no lack of excitement as the outcome was decided by the total sets lost.
Friday 2:30 - Santa Clara vs San Ramon
We thought this was going to be the match of the weekend. San Ramon has a very talented team with a lot of young players. The match didn't start well at all for us. #1 and #2 both dropped the first set. Fortunately they came on strong to take the second sets. Ultimately both teams kept it together to pull out the tie breakers. #3 actually started out well and faded in the second. The opponents had too much momentum and took the tiebreaker leaving us with a 2-1 victory for the first day.
Saturday 1:00 - Santa Clara vs PAC
We started off day with lots of confidence from the day before. We thought we had seen the worst of it. Oops, were we wrong. PAC had lost the day before, so we thought we could take them. The reality was they had a very strong lineup saturday and proceeded to sweep us. We could only manage to take a single set for the day. To be sure, we should have played better that day, but hats off to PAC for a big win.
Sunday 8:30 - Santa Clara vs Courtside
Well, sunday wasn't as cheery as saturday was. We mathematically were still in it, but some rather unlikely things had to happen. We may not have had a good chance to take it all, but we could still influence things, so we still fielded the best team we could with everyone's schedule for our final match. With the sounds of PAC players pleading with us to beat Courtside still ringing in our ears, we played our last match. Courtside need to win to take the crown, so they played their best doubles team, which included their pro Mark Roberts, at #3 to give them the best chance to win. They took #3, but their #1 and #2 doubles teams weren't quite as strong. We managed to take #1 and #2 doubles in close matches.
Conclusion
After all that tennis and the incredibly close matches, the top 3 mens 8.5 teams finished the weekend with 2-1 records and the fourth place team with an 0-3 record. Sets lost was the final deciding factor. We didn't take home the trophy, but we did get the nice t-shirt and the beers PAC bought for everyone on our team for taking out the tough Courtside team. All in all it was a great tennis weekend punctuated with eating too much steak for dinner at Tahoe Joes steak house. I have to say that I can't remember any district, sectional, or national tournaments with so little controversy and so much good sportsmanship. (Sorry Steve, I think you had the worst call of the weekend). Santa Clara will be back, especially if Fresno can guarantee the same weather and facilities for next year.