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Dear Slug Tennis Fans, What a weekend! We just returned for Walla Walla, WA where we played 4 matches in three day and went 40-1 in overall matches played! I am so proud of our effort I could burst. After a very demanding academic week of multiple mid-terms and papers we left Santa Cruz at 4:30 am to fly to Portland before making the 4 hour drive to Walla Walla. We opened the weekend against Pacific Lutheran University with an 8:00pm match. With four courts we played four doubles matches and 8 singles and won every match without dropping a set. Jared Kamel and Marc Vartabedian who dominated last year at three doubles showed their improved form to win at one doubles 8-3, Max Liberty-Point and Ilya Gendelman won 8-4 at two doubles, Max Ortiz and Colin Mark –Griffin won 8-2 at third doubles and Kian Fattahi and Ulrich Capaul won at four doubles 8-1. Our energy was great and we are moving much stronger at each spot. Our strong play continued in singles as we received straight set wins from Jared, Max O, Colin, Max LP, newcomer Silvio Chiba, Marc Vartabedian, Ilya and Kian. Each one of our players is playing higher in the lineup than last year and did not miss a beat. On Saturday we played Linfield College in our first match and played well enough in doubles to sit several key players from our singles while winning 9-0. In doubles Max Ortiz played his first match with Marc Vartabedian winning 8-3 at one doubles, Max LP and Ilya won 9-8 at two doubles, and Kian and Ulrich won 8-2 at three doubles. In singles we had only one set as close as 6-4 as we swept the singles with Colin at one, Max LP at two, Silvio at three, Ilya at four Kian at five and Ulrich at 6. I am very impressed with our depth which is substantially better than ever considering we have two potential starters that did not make the trip and still we were quite dominant. Saturday night we took the court in front of a packed house against host Whitman College. Playing our original doubles lineup we got off to a rough start behind inspired play from the Whitman team. Jared and Marc were down a break at 3-5 at one doubles, Max O and Colin were down 1-6 at three doubles and Max LP and Ilya were up a break at two doubles playing very well to a 5-3 advantage. Before long things looked much better as we battled back to take control at one and three doubles with great composure under pressure and key shot making to win 8-6 at three and 8-5 at one doubles! This remarkable turnaround was the result of great team chemistry, strong will and focus, and timely play. I was extremely proud of this effort. At two the match got away from us as we fell in the tiebreaker giving us a 2-1 advantage going into singles. Jared Kamel took control early in winning 6-3,6-1 to establish early momentum in singles. I am very proud of how Jared is adding layers of offense to his incredible consistent game which is allowing him to be successful in leading our lineup. Max Ortiz withstood a wonderful challenge at two singles winning a match tiebreaker in dominating fashion 10-3 hitting 7 clean winner to close out the match. At three singles Colin Mark-Griffin used his strength and athleticism to a 6-3,6-1 victory. Max Liberty-Point, playing in front of both parents, played well throughout to post a 6-3,6-4 win at four singles. Silvio Chiba played less than his best but stepped up when it counted to win the match tiebreaker against a Whitman freshmen and top ranked PNW player 10-3. At six singles Marc Vartabedian continues to develop his attacking singles style earning a 7-5, 6-1 victory. With the match ending well past midnight we faced a short night of sleep to face a top 15 ranked NAIA team of all foreign players in Lewis and Clark State College in our final match. Their team featured some great ball strikers with solid games and I was please to see our work at attacking pay dividends as we dominated this match. In doubles we took charge of the net and played both aggressively and consistently to win 8-4, 8-6, 8-4 to set the tone for the match. Jared played extremely well to win 6-3,6-4 against a very solid and talented French player at one. Max Ortiz played his best singles match of the weekend in defeating a strong, fast and athletic player 6-2,6-2 at two singles using his movement at the net to close out many key points. Colin came up big at key points to record a solid 7-6, 7-5 win at three singles again showing an ability to hit through his opponent off the ground. At four singles Max LP played brilliantly for stretches and played a wonderful match tiebreaker to win the final set 10-4 with a great display of firepower. Marc Vartabedian won 7-5, 3-6 1-0 (3) to give us a 4-0 record for the weekend in match tiebreakers ending his match with a booming forehand return winner. At six singles freshmen Silvio Chiba played his best match of the weekend to remain undefeated in singles for the season with a 6-2,6-1 victory. Thanks so much for the support of Michelle Point for her wonderful hospitality and to Slug Alum Jake Stevens for making the long drive to see us play. Truly a remarkable weekend for our team and I could not have been more proud of our effort. We play next on Monday February 18th in a double header against Fresno City College at 10:00am and Washington and Lee University at 2:00. Both matches will be played at the East Fieldhouse courts in front our wonderful Slug fans. Thanks again for all your support and special thanks for the wonderful job of hosting this event by Whitman College. Sincerely, Coach Hansen and Coach Farb