Rock Hill match last night - I don't know

I really am confused as to why Rock Hill High did not show last night. I am working to get a new date set up to play them, but with next week being the last of season it is going to be tough. I have proposed Monday evening after 5:30 PM due to some of our boys conflicts. I'll update the boys and the site tonight once I know more.

Trojans suffer loss at hands of #9 Fort Mill

We traveled up I 77 to take on the Fort Mill Yellow Jackets for the second time in region play. Though we came up short, I must say that I was pleased with the effort that all the boys displayed. The defeat drops our overall record to 7-6 overall and 6-4 in region.

Zach Beaver's match at 5 singles was nearly a win for the Trojans. After dropping the first set 3-6, Zach came back to take a 6-1 second set win and force the 10-point tiebreak for the match. Though he fell behind early and founf himself down 3-9, Zach fought off three match points before dropping the tiebreak 6-10.

What I am most pleased with is that we improved greatly from the last math's result against Fort Mill. They are recognized as the #9 team in the state for a reason and their players work hard year round and started at early ages to develop their games. For us to be competitive with them at nearly every line, with two players in the lineup that had never played tennis until this year (Zach & Drayton) is a testament to how hard we have worked this year and how much potential we have.

We will be at home on Thursday to take on Rock Hill High in a crucial region match. I believe that we are sitting on the #4 spot in the region standings behind Fort Mill, Clover & Rock Hill. We have the match Thursday followed up with an away match Friday at Nation Ford as a make up from the Model UN conference before spring break. Both matches will be critical to the region rankings. If we are to win out our last four (RH, NF, York, Clover), I think we can fit into 3rd place and possibly even second with some help.

Box Score:

Location: Fort Mill HS
Result: Fort Mill def Northwestern 7-0
1S: Will Reigel def Jeff Zimmerman 6-1, 6-3
2S: Robbie Davis def Seth Russell 6-0, 6-3
3S: Kyle Osburn def Alex Atzberger 6-0, 6-1
4S: Chase Lee def Paul Sabisch 6-2, 6-2
5S: Jordan Lukens def Zach Beaver 6-3, 1-6, 10-6

1D: Reigel/Davis def Zimmerman/Russell 8-0
2D: Tyler Davis/Daniel Proctor def Brian Fitzpatrick/Drayton Wade 6-2, 6-1

Trojans Get 6-1 win over South Pointe

The Trojan tennis team secured a solid win tonight to improve to 7-5 overall and 6-3 in region. The win over South Pointe keeps us in the race for the playoffs. Tonights match was played slightly unique as South Pointe's coach agreed to play all 7 lines simultaneously. Therefore, neither team played any players twice and we were able to get 9 players into the action. We were in a bit of a time crunch with all of our Model UN participants needing to get back over to Winthrop by 7 PM so this helped to expedite the conclusion of the match.

Jeff Zimmerman, Seth Russell , and Zach Beaver played fine tennis and were the first three to clear the courts tonight respectively at 1, 2, and 4 singles. All three players secured wins by identical scores of 6-1, 6-0.

Drayton Wade again secured our fourth and clinching win at 5 singles with a win of 6-3, 7-5. Closely following the finish at 5 was our 2 doubles line of Eric Sabin & Jordan Beaver who won impressively 6-2, 6-1.

Our 1 doubles line of Brian Fitzpatrick & Sudeep Das were next to finish with a win by margin of 6-3, 7-5 against a much improved doubles line from South Pointe.

The marathon match of the day was played by Paul Sabisch at 3 singles. After dropping a close first set 4-6, Paul turned it around to win the second set 6-3 and force the 10-point tiebreak. Paul lead most of the way, but couldn't hold on in the end dropping the tiebreak 9-11.

After the match, I advised the boys that we will cancel practice the rest of the week going into spring break. Over spring break, we will not have any organized practice on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday. I will be on the courts on Thursday & Friday in the morning from 10AM - noon. Although these practices will not be mandatory, I would like for anyone that is in town on these dates to attend practice. Take a look at the schedule to the left of this article and you will see why I'd like this.

Go Trojans!

Box Score:

1S: Jeff Zimmerman (N) def Drew Carter (S) 6-1, 6-0
2S: Seth Russell (N) def Seth Cooke (S) 6-1, 6-0
3S: Rob Jolly (S) def Paul Sabisch (N) 6-4, 3-6, 11-9
4S: Zach Beaver (N) def Tyler Williamson (S) 6-1, 6-0
5S: Drayton Wade (N) def Ian Sanford (S) 6-3, 7-5

1D: Brian Fitzpatrick/Sudeep Das (N) def Matt Clamp/Josh Nguyen (S)6-3, 7-5
2D: Eric Sabin/Jordan Beaver (N) def Sam Gibbons/Ivey Smith (S) 6-2,6-1

South Point match rescheduled - again!

Well, so much for being proactive last week!

Due to inclement weather today that is expected to continue this afternoon, we will be cancelling tonight's match against South Pointe and rescheduling it for Wednesday 4/2. South Pointe's coach and I chose to avoid tomorrow since the forecast calls for showers again tomorrow afternoon. Also, I had to decide against tomorrow as we will be without Seth, Brian, and Jordan who have band competition tomorrow. We will still be short-handed as Alex has band competition on Wednesday, but I chose the day we will have more players. Sorry Alex, you will be with us in spirit!

We will practice indoors in the mini-gym today at 4:45 til 6:30 and most likely the same for tomorrow 4/1 if the rain continues. Bring your racquet both days to practice as I will attempt to secure the foam balls again to use after our workout each day.

Go Trojans!

Schedule Change - South Pointe match

Due to potential rain in the forecast for Tuesday 4/1 and the remainder of the week, we have moved the match with South Pointe to Monday 3/31 @ 4:30 PM at Northwestern.

I will update everyone on a make-up date if the rain comes to us early and rains us out Monday.

Trojans Get Back on Track With 6-1 Win Over Lancaster

The journey to Lancaster proved a success as we snapped our 3 match skid and chalked one up in the win column as a team. With the win, we now sit at 6-5 overall and 5-3 in Region 3-AAAA.

First off the court was Zach Beaver at 4 singles. Zach played a surprisingly quick match scoring the win by margin of 6-3, 6-1. Jeff Zimmerman was next to finish with a 6-3, 6-3 win at 1 singles.

Seth Russell was the third match to clear the courts which came as a surprise to me since I thought his might play it's way into a tiebreak 3rd set. Seth trailed 1-4 in the first set and stormed back to a 6-4 win. The second set played out almost in identical fashion as Seth fell behind 0-3 and turned it around to win the match with six straight game wins.

The next three matches all fell into tiebreak scenarios. Jordan Beaver made his debut in the lineup and played Beaver-ball to perfection in the first set to get a 6-4 first set advantage. The Lancaster opponent made some adjustments and turned around to claim the next set 1-6 and continued to play strong in the tiebreak 3rd and scored a 6-10 win for the Lancaster team. Regardless of the result, I was happy to see Jordan out there making some smart shots and competing at a high level.

At the same time that Jordan started his tiebreak, Drayton Wade & Brian Fitzpatrick were in the same situation on the 2 doubles match. After falling in the first set 4-6, they strategized a second set win 6-3 and kept the momentum going into the tiebreak to clinch the win for the Trojans with a 10-4 tiebreak result.

During this tiebreak, Alex Atzberger also came into a 3rd set tiebreaker with his Lancaster opponent. Alex won the first set 6-3 before dropping the second set with a set tiebreaker 6-7 (4-7). The tiebreak started close with the players making the first changeover tied at 3, but Alex came on strong to finish it out 10-6. As Alex finished his match, Jeff & Seth had teamed up to play 1 doubles and played a proset out to 8-6 that shouldn't have been that close as they dropped match point, no-ad dueces at 7-4 & 7-5.

When I returned home, I received an email from South Pointe's coach. She has looked ahead at the forecast for next week and noted that there is a chance of rain for Tuesday - Friday next week before spring break. She was hoping that we will agree to move our match ahead one day to Monday 3/31 to hopefully avoid a rain make-up match. I personally like the idea and will poll the boys at practice tomorrow to see if we can all work that out.

Go Trojans!

Box Score:

1S: Jeff Zimmerman (N) def Logan Catoe (L) 6-3, 6-3
2S: Seth Russell (N) def Miller DeVenney (L) 6-4, 6-3
3S: Alex Atzberger (N) def John Michael Catalano (L) 6-3, 6-7, 10-6
4S: Zach Beaver (N) def Kyle Kramer (L) 6-3, 6-1
5S: Gardo Lo (L) def Jordan Beaver (N) 4-6, 6-1, 10-6

1D: Zimmerman/Russell (N) def Catoe/Devenney 8-6
2D: Brian Fitzpatrick/Drayton Wade (N) def Devin Adams/Grayson Snipes4-6, 6-3, 10-4

Northwestern falls to Rock Hill High 1-6

We traveled over to rival Rock Hill High School last night to battle the Bearcats as well as some serious wind conditions. The Trojans are now 5-5 overall and 4-3 in region. Without scores being known from tonight, I am willing to bet that we stand in 4th place behind Fort Mill (7-0), Clover (6-1), and Rock Hill (5-2). These are the records I am predicting each to have if Fort Mill and Clover won their respective matches.

Thunder Beaver again proved to be a force to be reckoned with at 4 singles this year. Zach blitzed ahead to a 6-0 first set before falling behind 0-4 in the second set. I asked Zach what was going on and what had turned the match around. He replied that the wind had just really started to pick up, but felt that he had it under control now. Zach was correct. He went on to win another 6 games in a row and claim a victory for us by score of 6-0, 6-4.

Our two longest and entertaining matches came from Seth Russell and Jeff Zimmerman at the top two singles lines. Seth dropped his first set 5-7 at 2 singles, before storming back in the second set and winning 6-4 and thus force the tiebreak for the 2 singles match. It was interesting to watch this match unfold as the gusty wind seemed to take Seth's opponent out of his game, but Seth never seemed to be shaken by it. In the tiebreak, Seth played even through the first changeover and then fell behind to drop the line by tiebreak of 5-10.

Jeff's match at 1 singles was an all out slugfest with Glen Thomason from Rock Hill standing strong against Jeff's serves and playing some heat right back. Both players made hustle plays and dramatic shots throughout the match. Unfortunately, Jeff dropped the first set 3-6 before dropping the second set 6-7 with a close tiebreak score of 7-9 in Rock Hill's favor.

The remaining matches were all competitive for the most part. Drayton Wade fell behind big early, but made a push before fallin in a close second set. Alex Atzberger played a good opponent at 3 singles and competed well in the first set. Rock Hill High played remarkable doubles tonight. Their 2 doubles team was strong against Brian Fitzpatrick & Eric Sabin and the 1 doubles team played with fire that we seemed to be lacking after the match had already been decided.

We'll be back on the road Thursday as we travel to Lancaster to start round 2 of the region matches. Their matches are played at USC Lancaster for those unfamiliar and our bus will be loading up and ready to leave Northwestern at 4 PM.

Go Trojans!

Box Score:

1S: Glen Thomason (R) def Jeff Zimmerman (N) 6-3, 7-6
2S: Alic McGlauchlin (R) def Seth Russell (N) 7-5, 4-6, 10-5
3S: Austin Lee (R) def Alex Atzberger (N) 6-3, 6-1
4S: Zach Beaver (N) def Jared McCoy (R) 6-0, 6-4
5S: Kevin Gauldin (R) def Drayton Wade (N) 6-1, 6-4
1D: Thomason/Lee (R) def Zimmerman/Russell (N) 8-5
2D: Nihal Patel/Mitesh Patel (R) def Brian Fitzpatrick/Eric Sabin (N)6-1, 6-1