May 19, 2004
Dear Slug Tennis Fans,
We just returned from a fantastic NCAA tournament at
Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. The weather was wonderful, the
tournament beautifully administered, and the Bates and Slug fans were outstanding!
What a season....The Slugs finished the year with a 26-6 record and reached
the Final Four for the 16th time in the past 18 seasons! By beating Mary
Washington in the third round of the NCAA Team National Championship,
the Slugs faced rival Williams College for
the right to play for the title match. As has been the case for many years this
battle was a tight one. Since we had not lost a match all year when winning
the doubles point, we came out determined to establish an early lead. After
Shane Templeman and Matt Seeberger won at two doubles and Brian
and Kevin Casey had lost at three, the doubles point was decided at one
doubles where Matt Brunner and Kellen Ali-Christie held break
points in each of the last two Williams service games before falling 8-6. The
Slugs were far from finished as we won in straight sets at one and two singles
with Matt Seeberger winning 6-2,6-3 at one and Brian Casey winning
6-2,6-2 at two singles. Williams countered with wins at five singles over Matt
Brunner and six singles over Andrew Cohen to take a 3-2 match lead.
Shane Templeman got the Slugs to 3-3 with a third set victory at four
singles over Williams' John Haywood. The final deciding match pitted three singles
players Kevin Casey of UC Santa Cruz and Jeff Kivitz of Williams. After
splitting the first two sets, Kivitz broke early but Kevin broke back to get
even. Kivitz broke again late to serve for the match but Kevin again lifted
his game to break back to serve at 4-5. Kivitz was tiring and Kevin looked strong
going up 40-15. Kivitz's powerful forehand got too many good looks down the
stretch and he prevailed to send the Slugs down 4-3 to Williams for the 4th
straight year at Nationals. Our last National Championship came at Williams
against Williams in the final, but they have had the upper hand since then.
Our frustration was compounded as Middlebury defeated Emory in the other semifinal
match and went on to win their first National Team Title. We had beaten them
earlier in the season and felt we matched up quite well with them.
In the 3rd place playoff, we faced top seed and defending National Champion,
Emory University coached by former Slug
John Browning. Again we dropped the doubles point but won easily at one, two,
and five singles. Emory won at three and six singles setting up a battle with
Shane Templeman of UC Santa Cruz and Patrick Redman of Emory at four
singles with the match on the line. Shane won the first in a breaker and dropped
the second set 6-4. I give credit to Redman who started lighting up forehands
down the stretch to secure the 6-3 victory.
In the Individual
Tournament (May 15 - May 17), Kevin Casey drew top seed Evan
Tindel of MIT in the first round. Kevin played one of the greatest matches in
the tournament before falling 7-6 in the third. Tindel was so exhausted that
he went down easily in the second round with a huge assist from Kevin! I was
so proud to see Kevin's game open up and watch him play one of the top players
in the country down to the wire. Brian Casey lost a heartbreaker to an
Emory player that he had beaten the day before quite easily. Tyson Ramsey was
playing at the top of his gifted game and beat Brian 7-5, 6-2. It was a tough
ending for a totally brilliant career for our lone senior. Brian was recognized
as the West Region Senior Player of the Year and ends his playing career never
having lost a singles match in the NCAA tournament competition in his four years.
He was again recognized as a singles All-American for the third straight season.
In Doubles,
juniors Matt Brunner and Kellen Ali-Christie defeated the third
seeded team from Gustavus Adolphus to reach the quarter finals and be awarded
All-American status in doubles. They fell in three sets in the quarters
to the eventual winners from Mary Washington College.
Matt Seeberger, who was named the National ITA Rookie of the Year,
entered the tournament on a 17 match win streak and won all three of his team
matches in straight sets. In his first Singles
match, he mauled his opponent with a devastating barrage of winnners to win
6-1,6-1. In the second round, he was extended to three sets but rallied to win
6-1 in the third and be the only seed to reach the quarter finals. In the quarter
finals Matt defeated Dane Schmidgall of Carthage College by scores of 6-3,6-3
and defeated Brian Marden of Trinity University in the semifinals by scores
of 7-5,6-1. Matt looked strong throughout, and his combination of solid backcourt
play, brilliant passing shots and selective but effective approaches paved the
way to the finals. In the finals, Matt met Claremont's senior John Michael Cham-A-Koon
in a rematch of their team match in the West Region finals. Both players were
nervous in the initial stages of the match with Matt looking the more composed
and solid of the two while winning the first set 6-1. I told him to be prepared
for better play from Cham-A-Koon, and that is what he got as he trailed 0-3
in the second down two breaks. As he had all tournament, Matt responded by playing
more focused and more aggressively as he turned things around for a 6-1, 6-4
win. Matt ended the season with a 33-3 record, winning his last 25 straight
matches! In reflection, this has to be one of the finest seasons ever posted,
especially by a freshman.
It is now two days since we returned, and I could not be more proud of our group.
I was talking to my assistant coach Palmer Taylor prior to writing this, and
he said almost the entire team was on the courts practicing! That is truly a
first, and I am in awe of their courage and determination to get back after
it. I am blessed to have such a team!
Thanks so much to all the wonderful parents that made the effort to join
us in Maine. Your love and support is much appreciated. Thanks also to all our
wonderful alumni, parents, fans and boosters without whose help we could not
survive. Thanks also to Jerry Lynch for his wonderful support of our program.
Thanks to Denise for looking after our boys and all at OPERS for their wonderful
support. It is a pleasure to work with all of you! Please keep an eye out for
talented, bright, courageous student athletes for future generations of Slug
Tennis. We have proven once again that we have a wonderful environment for the
growth and development of our athletes.
Best Wishes,
Coach Hansen