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Jan. 23, 2013

Senior Chris Camillone restarts his blog by chronicling Texas' undefeated weekend in Tulsa against No. 25 Washington and No. 17 Tulsa. The 17th-ranked Horns are 3-0 this season and begin play in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend in Lexington, Ky., on Friday.

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I'm late again with the blog. Being a college student-athlete has demands. Not a lot, but they are there, so give me a break. First off - Washington. They had just come off an emotional victory over No. 17 Tulsa 4-3 on Friday. We had some new dubs (doubles) teams. Line two dubs (Holiner/Whitehead) played a really solid match, came up with a victory. Line three (Korinek/Hilliard) was scrapping from behind the whole match and eventually leveled the match, which helped line one (Camillone/Naumann) feel at ease as they eventually closed out their match, sealing the dubs point. Unfortunately line three didn't finish but I think we all know they would have won.

Singles gets rolling as Danny (Daniel Whitehead) and Naumy (Nick Naumann) put two more points on the board with solid singles victories; Horns up 3-0. Andy (Andrew Korinek) had a roller coaster of a first set but he squeaked it out, and controlled the second set, clinching the fourth point. Lloyd (Glasspool) and Suds (Sudanwa Sitaram) both played three-setters against some crafty dudes and pulled them out. Soren (Hess-Olesen) came up a little short, but given that it is his first match back, taking a really good player three sets, no disappointment.

Impromptu (Alex) Hilliard Interview:
Q: Where was your mind in your dubs match?
A: I knew line one was still close so we just wanted to stay out there so the pressure didn't get put all on one dubs, so thankfully we broke when we did.

Q: We got five first sets, how are you feeling watching what is going on?
A: I felt like we had control. We knew Washington won against Tulsa after having lost the dubs point so you are still locked in, but as the second sets progressed and it looked like we were going to take it, I was honestly just getting prepared for Tulsa.

Q: What stood out in that first dual match?
A: Probably Lloyds play. He is a reserved guy but he was pumping up Suds as they went into third sets. Showed some fist pumps and just really stayed mentally engaged the whole match. Really a good sign early on.

Tulsa. Dubs gets going. Danny and Dave (Holiner), at line two, throw a barrage of lethal darts and get a quick win. Line three (Hilliard/Sitaram) is behind again; unfortunately they can't pull the Houdini to break back. Comes down to one dubs (Camillone/Naumann), we missed some chances and the guy from Tulsa brought rain to hold for the point. DANGIT!

We split the first sets in singles, three apiece. First set wins came from Nick and Lloyd grinding to get theirs while Soren's was tight but he pulled away at the end. I'll do the math for you - that's Texas 0, Tulsa 1, and we split first sets. It's not ideal... cotton. Soren and Nick run away with their second sets to put us up 2-1. But Andy and Suds unfortunately come up just a tad short, now we are down 3-2. Lloyd was pushed to a breaker in his second set and at 5-5 and 6-5 in the breaker he came up with two incredibly smart and well-executed backhand passes. He wins the breaker.

Now we are tied 3-3 in matches coming down to Danny who is starting his third set. The level is absurdly high the whole set. Danny's opponent is dropping bomb serves and Daniel still barely missed a return. It was a farce. It was on serve until Danny returning at 6-5. Daniel got a match point but it got erased. His second match point comes. He hits a good return, rolls a forehand up the line, takes a backhand early and comes in, plays a backhand volley line, the guy gets there, the ball is floating......... its wide! Daniel slams his hat ad his racquet into the ground. We rush the court. There is a lethal video on Facebook. Pure filth.

Here is Rubio's take on the Tulsa match (Associate Head Coach Ricardo Rubio):
Q: Where is your focus after we lost the doubles point?
A: I'm trying to make sure Nick starts his match the right way because he has less experience in this situation than Soren and Danny. So I'm focused on Nick.

Q: As the match progressed, what were you thinking?
A: I had a feeling we would get at least two on my side. I saw Suds and Andy were struggling and then I thought it was coming down to Danny once I saw the chances Soren and Nick were getting. I eventually told Daniel it would be coming down to him, which you sometimes can't always do, but I knew Daniel could handle that truth.

Q: What was your feeling throughout the third set? And what were you telling Danny?
A: I thought that Daniel's opponent was playing well and was mentally ready to win the match. I told Daniel, don't even think about trying to approach to the forehand, and just to keep fighting. Once he got that second match point, I had a strong feeling he had the match.

Thanks for reading Horns!

-Chris