After months of anticipation, the 2009 tennis season has begun. Without wasting any time, we started our season off against the #13 ranked team in the country and a SCIAC opponent in Redlands. It's always a challenge to take on Redlands, especially early in the season when we're just getting our bearings. At the same time, it proved a perfect opportunity to gauge ourselves and see where we need to improve. As if a nationally-ranked opponent isn't challenge enough for one day, we were also scheduled to drive out to UC Riverside to take on D-I University of Navada in the afternoon.

The Redlands match began very much in the Bulldog's favor, as they jumped out to early leads in all three doubles matches. We looked tight and jittery early on, which, with three freshmen in the doubles lineup isn't much of a suprise. We lost 8-1 at number two doubles as sophomore Nick Tagliarino and freshman Alex Groth struggled to get comfortable in the match. Senior Cam Taylor and Freshman Tommy Meyer began to dig their claws into the match, coming back from down 4-1, but they weren't able to take control of the momentum and lost 8-4. At three doubles, after a slow start, junior Grant Friedman and frosh Uday Singh stormed back to get on serve at 6-7. Following a series of deuces, Uday and Grant eventually succumbed and fell 8-6. It's clear that we still have quite a bit of work to do in doubles, but we have all of the tools to succeed at the highest levels.

Things started off much better in singles, as Tommy Meyer (2 singles) and Nick Tag (3 singles) each captured their first sets without much struggle. Cam Taylor (1 singles) led 5-2 before pulling out a 7-6 (7-5) first set tiebreaker. At 4 singles, Alex Groth battled but fell 7-5, 6-1 to a guy who played one singles for Redlands in 2008. Sophomore Alden Williford played intelligently, but wasn't able to pull out the win at five singles. At six, Grant Friedman battled back to win the second set at 6-2 after losing the first set 6-4, but wasn't able to pull out the win, falling 6-2 in the third. After capturing the first set, Nick Tag never looked back and bageled his opponent in the second set for the win. Tommy Meyer rolled in the second set, cruising to a 6-2, 6-3 win at two. At one singles, after losing the second set, Cam Taylor pulled out a gutsy third set match tiebreaker, 12-10.

Overall, while we have a lot of work ahead of us, we were competitive and fought hard from beginning to end. As we grow more comfortable on the court and improve in doubles, we will have the opportunities to beat anyone in the country. Our journey began successfully today.