GoSlugs.com - Main Page

Dear Greatest Fans Ever, (Slug Fans!) Just returned from Bates College and the site of the 2008 NCAA Div lll Men’s Tennis Championships. Bittersweet to not be traveling with the entire team, but otherwise a wonderful experience. As most of you probably know by now, the team championship was won by Washington University who hosted the championships last year. We beat them in 07 in the quarterfinals of the team championship and then in 08 in the semi finals of the ITA National Indoor Championships. They are a very good team and were impressive in their championship run beating Emory University in this year’s final in a very close, well played match. In the singles competition Slug Jared Kamel, who was honored as the West Regions “Player to Watch”, drew the top seed and Washington University’s top player John Watts in the first round. Jared played a marvelous first set which had a great crowd on its feet for the fine quality of play for much of the first set. At 5-6 duce, Jared came in on a great approach shot only to be passed by a running crosscourt backhand. At add out following a great rally Jared again attacked but was greeted by a running forehand pass on the line to drop the first set. Jared could not have played these points any better and it was not hard to see why Watts was the top seed at this point. Frustration and jet lag took its toll as Jared dropped the second set at love. Max Ortiz, who was coming off singles and doubles titles at Ojai, drew David Maldow of John Hopkins as his first round opponent. Although Max played well he was defeated by this year’s National “Player to Watch” in straight sets. I was very impressed with Maldow’s game as well as the overall depth of the singles field. In doubles Jared and partner Marc Vartabedian entered the tournament as the top seeds. In the first round they defeated a team from the College of New Jersey in straight sets and followed it up with another straight set win over a team from Christopher Newport on day two. These wins created a final day semi-final showdown with familiar foes Larry Wang and Gui Schils of Claremont College. Having split the two previous matches this match featured the best doubles of the tournament! After a back and forth battle Jared and Marc had two sets points at 5-6 in the first. Jared put down a return and Marc poached, one of their patented plays, but a reflex slap shot by Schils save the first set point. On the second set point Jared crushed a forehand return down the ally but a great read by Wang saved the day and moved Claremont into a tiebreaker which they won. The second set was just like the first with both teams playing at a very high level. The first break came at 5 all where Jared and Marc put together a great game to break and serve to even the match at a set apiece. Jared served to 40-15, double set point, before a Wang return winner and a Schils on the line return winner erased our advantage. We lost a bit of focus and then lost the second set breaker to end the match. The good news was we made our plane flight with seconds to spare and knowing we were right there with the eventual champions. On another positive note, we hope to shatter our academic All-American record as we have as many as 6 players who could qualify with above 3.5 GPA's for the year. I am extremely proud of the team for this feat and will let you know when it is official. All in all a remarkable season with much to look forward to moving ahead. Jeff Fong is our only senior and we return all of our doubles teams. I feel very confident that our players will continue to grow and improve. One of the advantages of the type of players we seem to have the privilege of coaching is they have the motivation, athletic ability and room to grow. Assuming we hit the right training notes we will be a handful for any and all opponents next year. Thanks again so much for all your care and support. We are in recruiting and fundraising mode so if any of you have ideas or inspiration please send them my way. Best wishes to all of you from all of us in Slugville! Sincerely, Coach Hansen and the Slugs