March 7, 2008

Mason began the day with doubles action. Brian Fitzgerald and Dan Schneider began the day taking the first win of the day for Mason in the No. 1 doubles. Fitzgerald and Schneider played with a calm and cool head as towards the middle games it looked like they were unraveling with unforced errors, but came back to how they started the match, dominating. Fitzgerald's and Schneider's play forced a sudden urgency in the duo from Richmond, but they could not overcome the great team play of the Patriots #1 team. Unfortunately for the doubles teams of Jordan Lipstock/Matt Vaughn and Stas Budagov/Harwood Hoskins they could not pull out a win after losing the first game. For both pairs they were able to mount offensives and looked as they were going to take the lead, but could not sustain it long enough for them to do so.

The singles action followed the doubles action in all facets of the matches. Top singles player Fitzgerald was the only Patriot to come out with a win. He began the first set with a commanding lead of 4-1, then lost the next two sets, but just as it seemed to lose his composure, he focused in and started playing the way he always does, great. After taking the first set Fitzgerald seemed to have all control in the match with his calm head and his opponent, Doug Banker of Richmond, had lost all chance to win when he crumbled mentally.

Jordan Lipstock was the first Patriot to fall in singles as he took on Berry in the No. 5 singles spot. Then Dan Schneider lost to Sommer in the No. 3 spot followed by another loss with Hoskins in the No. 4 singles.

Martin Brown was the next to fall as he played in the No. 6 singles. During his match he played quite well and showed no signs of quit in him as he battled. He dropped the first set, 6-4, but the real treat was the second set. In the second set he dropped the first game, but battled from there on out splitting sets with Crank. His winning shots exuded the word win. After 10 games in the second set Brown had managed to bring the score to an even 5-5, but could not manage to pull out a win, dropping the next two games to bring the score to 7-5 and the match to a close.

Budagov played in the No.2 singles against Chris Louis and battled him to the last game. After losing the first game of the first set he responded by winning the next two games to give him the lead 2-1. The next two games were a split where each competitor took one game to bring the score to 3-2 with Budagov ahead one game, but after shots started missing their mark and weariness setting in, Budagov lost the first set. The second set was one of the best sets of the day as both, Budagov, and Louis, were exhausted battling each game with countless returns. As the second set came to a close it had not changed, Louis prevailed with a 6-3, 6-4 win.

The Patriots now look towards Barton on Monday, March 10th, where they attempt to reclaim their composure, at Barton.

Doubles
Fitzgerald/D.Schneider (MAS) def. Crank/Belakhlef (RICH) 8-3
Banker/Sommer (RICH) def. Lipstock/Vaughn (MAS) 8-4
Louis/Berry (RICH) def. Budagov/Hoskins (MAS) 8-2
Singles
No.1 - Brian Fitzgerald (MAS) def. Banker (RICH) 6-4, 6-0
No.2 - Louis (RICH) def.  Stas Budagov (MAS) 6-3, 6-4
No.3 - Sommer (RICH) def. Dan Schneider (MAS) 6-3, 6-4
No.4 - Belakhlef (RICH) def. Harwood Hoskins (MAS) 6-3, 6-1
No.5 - Berry (RICH) def. Jordan Lipstock (MAS) 6-0, 6-1
No.6 - Crank (RICH) def. Martin Brown (MAS) 6-4, 7-5