First off, my senior year to a point and time had been very up and down. Senior year was a tough year emotionally on a lot of fronts. Many of my friendships had changed and I had a lot of big decisions to make with my life. Then of course there was the issue of what I was going to do after college. In short, a lot of things were going on in my life and it was difficult to sort it all out. About mid April, I started looking at my life a little bit differently. Instead of being upset at the way things had gone and trying to assess why, I finally found away to just let go. I knew all along I had a limited time left at Coe and something clicked in my brain to let me finally just enjoy it.
The most amazing part of the ending was the tennis season. After working incredibly hard all year as a team, we experienced a string of disappointing loses including losing 5-4 to Grinnel after taking a 3-0 lead after doubles; something that is incredibly rare. As the captain, I had been emphasizing tennis as an experience and trying to get everyone to look past results and grow as players and more importantly as young men. On one afternoon in Chicago, it finally settled in.
That afternoon, we defeated Elmhurst College 6-3 after being down 2-1 after doubles. The match was tied at 3-3 with 3 singles matches left to play. All 3 young men overcame the nerves that had plagued them previously and individually found a way to collectively win the match for us. It happened to be the first road win against a superior ranked opponent since 2003 for our program.
After losing to Luther 7-2 (which occurred on reading day which had a huge part to do with our effort and mental capacity), we played our final home meet against Wisconsin Whitewater. This team has a lot of talent, works hard, and was ranked very high in the nation. We fought in doubles but again went down 2-1. The rest of the team fought incredibly hard and suddenly the meet was 4-4 and I was the lone player left on the court. Immediately following the match was our annual tennis banquet which I organized. Because of this, both teams of men and women plus their friends and family were watching the meet meaning that watching the deciding match was over 150 people if you include the opponents. Needless to say there was a lot of pressure. I hadn't played 2 days before against Luther after hurting my hip in practice and got off to a very slow start going down 4-1. I had played for the meet numerous times before however and had won many big matches for the Kohawks and found my pride and confidence. I knew I had several things going for me. 1. It was a home meet. I have only lost once at home. 2. I had done this before, and could do it again. 3. It was my 3rd year as a lineup player, my opponent (also a senior) was in his first year. and 4. It was my senior meet and not his! I wasn't about to lose! After being down 4-1, I scrapped my way to a 6-5 lead. My opponent was very talented and hit the ball very hard and rarely missed. I knew I wasn't talented enough to play with him so I scrapped and ran for my life. At 6-5, I played a long game and fought off several points that would have sent us to a tiebreak. Finally, I earned a set point. After a long rally of at least 20 shots, my opponent approached the net. I was near the tarp and ran all the way across the court just to track the ball down. I gathered all the strength in my aging body and slapped a passing shot down the line for the set. As the crowd cheered and gave my a standing ovation, I let out one of my trademark fist pumps/war cries that I had been suppressing.
From there, I eventually won the second set 6-2. It was a long match (easily over 2 and a half hours) but I had broken my talented opponent down to nothing on sheer grit and will-power. On the last point, he doubled faulted into the net, no longer able to handle the pressure. The crowd was silent (you don't cheer on double faults out of respect) but as we shook hands, everyone cheered and I had done it. I did the airplane (required by my team when you win the deciding match) over to our crowd as my teammates mobbed me. After fearing momentarily for my safety, I disappeared into the mob and celebrated with my team. My last home meet, I had won it for my dad. It is every players dream in college to win the big meet for their team, and although I had done it 3 times before, this will be the most memorable.
After the banquet which consisted of many speeches from coaches and seniors, we were standing around talking and a man walked up to me. His name was Steve Eden and he worked out in our racket center several times a week. Previously, he had been a Gold Glove boxer and was highly respected in the athletic world. After talking to him for several minutes about the match, which he repeated told me how impressed he was with my effort and how I broke my superior opponent down to win, he told me the greatest compliment I had ever received in my life. He told me he saw in me the heart of a champion. Although I had not been blessed with the body of a champion, and thus the world will never see, he told me that I have what some of the greatest athletes and people in the world have inside of them. I have never been more humbled in my life. Although I have always thought highly of my own talents, especially my work effort, I never believed I would be compared to the greatest. Although I do not think myself even in the same world as them, just the mention gives me confidence for the next steps in my life.
After the banquet, I sat around trying to finish the keg instead of studying for my finals. Although we failed at finishing the keg (god it was huge!) I got through my finals unscathed and we arrived at the championship match. After a rough start in the semis, we secured the win. I was able to win the 5th point to halt the meet (we would have won more anyway) and thus my sister finally got to see me play a college tennis match.
Again in the finals we went down 2-1 after doubles (a reoccurring theme in case you haven't noticed). Before singles, I personally felt we likely had lost our chance. After 3 years of losing to Luther, I thought we were destined for a 4th. Regardless, I told the team you only play in 4 championship matches if you are lucky and to leave everything out there. I geared myself up for another monstrous battle and mentally prepared myself to play for the meet again.
Oddly enough, that is not at all what happened. I played a talented player but that day I was not to be denied. I jumped out to a 3-0 lead without missing a single shot and soon had the first set 6-0. The second set was tougher. Although I held serve and broke quickly, I had 3 tough games in a row where my opponent won 2. At 4-2, we had another long game. Eventually I had a game point and after a lengthy rally, I struck a passing shot to break serve and my opponent's spirit (another reoccurring theme) and take a 5-2 lead. Four serves later we were shaking hands and the match was level at 2-2. I was relieved to be done and finally defeat Luther in a dual match and happily walked off the court to get food and enjoy the rest of the meet. The other singles matches split, including 2 matches finishing at exactly the same moment, to level the match at 4-4 yet again. This time our other senior, resident Russian Victor Khristenko was playing for the meet. 3 years ago, our freshmen year, Victor, who had never been on a team before, played for the conference title at 4-4 vs Luther. That day Victor lost but 3 years later Victor had the chance to redeem himself. After an epic match, Victor finally watched a ball sail long and moments later we mobbed the court in celebration. We had done it! Conference champions!
A few days later, me and Victor had dinner with our coaches as we discussed our careers in review (although we still had the NCAA tournament to play). For me, the phrase "Written in the stars" seemed applicable. There was no better way for us to end our careers with the wins and the redeeming story lines. It was truly a magical year to top off a magical experience. Although soon I will move away and I have only played once since the season, I will always be a Kohawk tennis player.
The next day was graduation, which was not a big deal to me after the events of the previous day, but I had done it again. I had graduated college. On to bigger and better things. This post was long I will talk more later. To bed!
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