2012 ITA Tournament

Last weekend the men’s team competed in one of the nine regional ITA tournaments held across the country for Division III. The tournament was held in St. Peter, Minnesota, home of Gustavus Adolphus College. On Thursday afternoon we loaded up the van, I had a cup of hot chocolate, and we set out on the four hour drive to St. Peter. Now, since I’m from Texas and had never been to Iowa a day in my life before I moved here, it may surprise you to learn this was actually my third trip to St. Peter. Most people are probably wondering why in the world I would go to St. Peter twice in my lifetime willingly. I didn't.  Back in 2008 my college team was sent to Minnesota for the regional round of the NCAA tournament. The same thing happened again in 2009.

If you have ever looked at a map it’s pretty clear Texas is not near Minnesota, which makes that a long way to go for the first rounds of the postseason. Let me explain.  Most teams that make the postseason, like Coe, drive to their sites. However, my school was one of three teams that always fly since they are so far away from any of the regional sites (the other two are Trinity University and Whitman College).

If you’re wondering how my team did, in 2008 we lost to Gustavus in the Sweet 16. Afterwards we went to Godfathers Pizza and ate our sorrows away.

Behind those fake smiles we really hate everyone

In 2009 we were ranked 16^th nationally and were supposed to give Gustavus a tough run for the regional winner. Unfortunately, we forgot we had to play other teams to get to the regional final and were upset in the round of 32...by Luther. To this day, when I get together with my old teammates that loss always comes up – you could say we’re still a little upset about it. Afterwards we went to Buffalo Wild Wings and ate our sorrows away. We had a few days in Minnesota before our flight back to Texas since we kind of expected to still be playing. Luckily, we spent those days in Minneapolis right next to the Mall of America. In hindsight, perhaps getting a hotel right next to the biggest shopping buffet in America was a bad choice. Turns out, the best thing for a dispirited group of males to do is probably not go to a gigantic mall. That one turned out well.

I'll take one of everything

These thoughts were rolling through my head as I returned to St. Peter. When we got to the courts Friday morning I noticed everything looked…the same. No big differences since I had been there a few years ago, and I could still remember many of the matches that we had played out there previously. I saw court one, where in 2008 our top player was beating the then number 2 ranked player in the country like a redheaded step child.

Incidentally, that was also the same court where I saw him play the worst match of his career and lose the next year (I still love you Dustin!).

Day one of the 2012 ITA regional tournament started out well and we had 8 of our 10 guys win their first round matches. But it’s an unfortunate fact of tournaments that the number of players must be cut in half with every round (statistically this really reduces the chances of getting 8 people into the finals). By the end of the day Noah was through to the Round of 16. The other guys played well but weren't able to get through. Ryan Hickman played a great match but got worn down and ran out of gas. Curtis Newman played well in singles but got worn down and ran out of gas. Riley Galbraith also played well and had chances to make the Round of 16 but got worn down and ran out of gas. Mike Janssen made the 3^rd round and lost to the number 1 seed; on Saturday he could barely move.

The men's team after Day 1

The next day Noah made it to the quarterfinals before falling. He played well but – you  guessed it – got a little worn down and ran out of gas. This tournament is basically a three day fitness test and anyone who wants to win it needs to be in great shape, get a fantastic draw, and probably have a medical team on standby that would make Lance Armstrong proud.

Now, there is one observation I would like to make about this weekend. Tennis matches are obviously emotional affairs. Also, it’s very tiring being out there all day whether you strike a ball or not. Couple these things with the fact that I like food like the Texas Rangers like choking away a division lead (zing) and you can have a problem on your hands. I ate no less than 7 pumpkin muffins in a 30 hour span and more sandwiches than I care to count. My prodigious output (or input depending on your view) over the weekend caused Curtis Newman’s dad to comment, and I quote, “Brad, you’re just an eating machine aren't you?”

Yes I am

I also must give some credit here to Yasushi Inoue who entered the consolation bracket on Saturday, ran the gauntlet of 6 matches, and came away the consolation winner. Playing so much tennis in such a short amount of time does have its drawbacks as I have already noted. For Yasushi, that means he cramped up like a tightly wound spring.  The trainers worked his cramps out for over 20 minutes so we could finally leave for the trip back home. Since Yasushi could barely walk and was obviously in pain I did my part to help him and took pictures of the occasion.

Noah did his part as well

I left St. Peter for the 3^rd time. Although it will be another semester before we play again, I’m excited about the work we have to do and how the team is coming together. If we continue to improve like we did in these past few weeks, then the spring should be very exciting.