Oct. 14, 2004
The season is now over. It was a great learning experience for me. I took over at the beginning of September. We had our first match three days later on 9/11 at Holy Cross. The bus was an hour late and we didn't get there till after 3:30. The play was uninspiring and we lost our first match of the season 4-2. Julia didn't even get to play her first match because of darkness.
Next we traveled to Rider on 9/27. We played for about an hour and then encountered rain and had to sit on the bus for about an hour. Finally the courts were dry and we continued our match. Rali and Meghan both won their matches in three sets giving us a 5-0 win. As soon as they finished the rain came with full force and we headed back to Loudonville. This time Denisa and Betsy didn't get to play their singles.
On 10/2 we traveled to Staten Island to play Wagner. We won the doubles and five of the singles. The weather was cold and windy; another miserable day to play. Both Julia and Denisa won 6-0, 6-0.
On Sunday, 10/5 we got to play our first home match. It was a beautiful day and Vermont was a worthy opponent. We won two out of three doubles and five out of six singles. Julia finally lost a game; winning 6-1,6-1.
Two weeks later we were off to Binghamton for a double dual match on 10/18 against Buffalo and Binghamton. Buffalo defeated Binghamton in the morning match 6-1. We took the courts against Buffalo at 12:45. We lost the doubles point with only Betsy and Julia winning 9-7. But Rali and Denisa both won their singles matches in three sets along with Julia and Meghan to give us an impressive 4-3 win.
We immediately took the court against Binghamton. Anita, Andi and Molly got to play their first match of the season. In singles Rali, Julia, Betsy and Meghan had all won their first sets and we were well on our way to a win over Binghamton. But at about 6:45 it was simply too dangerous to play so we called the match because of darkness.
Our final fall outing was our trip to the "Big Green Invitational" at Dartmouth. Andrea, Betsy, Denisa and Rali played well. The biggest win was Denisa defeating the number one seed of the tournament in the consolation bracket. She then defeated the #3 girl from Syracuse and finally lost Sunday night to the #1 player from St. John's. We were all impressed with the facility and tournament.
We started our weight training the middle of October so that everyone would be familiar with the workouts prior to the beginning of "off season". Our next match would be in March.
Rali decide to return to the University of Sofia in November. We felt bad to loose such a good player but were happy for her that she made a decision that felt she had to make.
Spring Season 2004
We started our spring season on Monday Feb 2. The biggest change was the addition of conditioning drills. We started with only one set of three drills the first week with a goal to do three sets of four drills by the end of March. We were also introduced to using targets to practice driving the ball rather than simply hitting it deep by hitting higher over the net. I was pleased with the team's effort and felt that almost everyone gave 100% each practice. Maybe we'll get 100% from everyone next year!
We played Albany on 3/13 at TriCity Racquet Club in Latham. They had to default the sixth singles and lost three of the singles matches 6-0, 6-0.
I got a call from Paul Peck, the Army coach and was able to schedule a match for March 24. We arrived early and were able to get a 40 minute tour of West Point. We played in their new indoor facility. Though we lost the match 7-0, I felt that everyone played well and that Andrea and Denisa played exceptionally well. Sugam got to play a single exhibition match and played a good first set, losing 7-5.
On 3/30 we played a good team from Sacred Heart University. We won the double point and once again Denisa and Meghan came through for us in close singles matches. Andrea got her first 6-0, 6-0 of the season.
The next weekend we were off to Maryland with the men's team to play Loyola on Saturday and St. Peter's on Sunday. The all weekend was raining and cold. Denisa and Sugam got their doubles match completed but the drizzle forced us to reschedule the rest of the matches at 5PM indoors at two different locations. Only Andrea was able to win her singles match and we lost the match. Hopefully we would play them again in the MAAC Tournament.
We didn't get to Jersey City till 1:30AM and it was daylight savings day so it was really 2:30 and we had a 10AM match with St. Peter's. St. Peter's was last in the MAAC and we easily won 9-0. Anita got to play her first singles match of the year winning 6-0, 6-0. Our record at this point was 7-3.
Next was a lost to Marist on 4/7. Though we lost 5-2 Julia and Denisa both played well in winning their singles. Julia in a three set win and Denisa in a close 7-6, 7-6 win.
On Friday we headed to Manhattan with the men's team. We played in VanCortlandt Park in the Bronx on a beautiful Friday afternoon. In what turned out to be a close match we won 5-2. Betsy won both her doubles and a three set singles match to clinch the victory while Brooke and Meghan won a hard fought double match 9-7; giving us the doubles point. We were now 8-4.
On Saturday 4/17 we played Fairfield and had "Senior's Day" for Andrea and Betsy. Denisa made signs while Brooke got gifts and balloons. Unfortuantely that was the highlight of the day and we easily lost to Fairfield 7-0.
On Sunday we played Niagara, the current #1 in the MAAC. Though we lost 6-1 it was a tremendous day for Brooke; winning both a close doubles 8-6 and three set singles match.
Our final match of the season was home against the team we started - Holy Cross. Everyone played well and we defeated a team we previously lost to in September by a score of 6-1.
The MAAC Tournament
Our anticipated rematch against Loyola was our first match; the #4 vs #5. It was a good match which we lost 5-2. Once again, the two points were delivered by Denisa and Julia in singles. Andrea and Denisa easily won their doubles 8-1. The two other doubles match were both very close but unfortunately we lost both. This put us in the consolation bracket against St. Peter's. We won this match easily on Saturday. Molly was able to once again play doubles with Sugam and completed her season as the only undefeated player on the team with three doubles victories.
On Sunday, we finally found the Diner on Astoria Blvd and had a great Sunday breakfast before our match against Manhattan. We won the doubles point. The highlight of the doubles was Betsy serving out her match to win 9-7. Just as in the Binghamton match we had easily won the first set in four of the matches when the rain came ending the tournament for us.
Yearly Awards
We had our end of year picnic on May 7 and awards we're given to Betsy and Andrea for being selected to the 2004 New York Lottery Women's Tennis MAAC All-Academic Team. Sugam was named "Most Improved Player". Brooke received the "Sportmanship" award. Denisa received the "Most Valuable Player" award. Betsy and Andrea were also honored at the senior event prior to the picnic and received their Siena watches.
