Tournament Update

Assistant Coach Kris Diehl just completed competing in the USTA Women's 30's at Forest Hills Country Club in New York City. Kris finished 3rd in the country in Singles and 2nd in the country in doubles earning bronze and silver tennis balls from the USTA. Maybe gold is next at the National Clay Courts in November?

Senior Captain Scott Stegemann captured the Quad States Men's Open Singles title as an unseeded entrant knocking off #2 seeded Coe alum Joey Lankelma and top-seeded Matt Tyler. Scott also finished as doubles runner-up teaming with Joey Lankelma.

Michelle Schupbach advanced to the Mixed Doubles Final in the Mississippi Valley Open, a prize money tournament held in Dubuque, Iowa. Teaming with Chris Sagers of Waterloo, they met Nick Crossley and Alexa Palen of Rochester, Minnesota in the Finals

Brand New(Sort of) Courts

After seven years, the Clark Racquet Center outdoor tennis courts had accumulated more than a bit of dirt and debris stuck amongst the grains of sand in the paint. Thus this Summer's facility upgrade project was the cleaning of the courts. Joe Hakes, doing 90% of the labor and all of the supervision, led the project of powerwashing approximately 45,000 square feet of tennis court. Three inches at a time......think about that for a moment!

Closing a Chapter

Today, July 8th 2010, marked the end of my selected term on the NCAA DIII Men's National Tennis Committee after four years, beginning in 2006. I also have "retired" from the Intercollegiate Tennis Association where I have served in various capacities on the the Central Region Ranking Committees since 1995. After 15 years it is time to step aside, let some of the other many capable coaches take over and administer the rankings.

I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed the past 15 years, especially having the opportunity to work with Ethan, Liz and Russ from the NCAA and serving under the leadership of Gary and Paul, and alongside Ben, John and Tracy during my time with the NCAA. I feel real confident about the direction of D3 Tennis and I fully expect the Division to continue to grow in a positive direction.

What's next?

Well, I really am looking forward to the opening of the 2010-11 seasons beginning with Fall Women's practice on August 23rd. I guess I am just very excited about working with Coach Kris and Coach Rob with our Teams and seeing just how good we can become both this year and in the coming years. I am expecting that the three of us can raise the level of performance of Kohawk Tennis.

I cannot wait to get underway!