National Indoors Day 1: Running/RetroDiary

2:57 CT: Chicago stunned everyone by taking two out of three doubles. It looked like Wash U was going to bounce back and dominate the singles, but Jan Stefanski, perhaps the only Maroon with any leadership ability at all, bounced back from a 1-6 first set to win, turning the tide in Chicago’s favor. Stefanski has been a great leader for the past two years, and now he has the Maroons back in the match. They’re up a set on 5, but down a set on 4. Lord help them if it comes down to 6 singles. At least, they have someone else in there. Could it happen again? Match tied 3-3

Meanwhile, Trinity took the lead after doubles, but Halabi lead the charge in singles with an easy win over DelaFuente. Nurenberg took care of business, as expected, and Koenig finally got a good win this season, bouncing back from losing the first set in a tiebreaker to win 6-0 in the third. They just need one more match, but Haugen took the first set for Trinity at 4. The good news is Cruz has a break at 5. Cruz up 4-2

Get the popcorn because these matches could come down to wire, especially with the questionable mental fortitude of Rogers at 6 for Cruz. Let’s all hope the scoreboard operator for Gustavus can solve some of the technical difficulties he or she has apparently been running into.

3:33 CT: The scoreboard operator messed up again, and the score momentarily read “Santa Cruz 5, Trinity 2.” That has massive jinxing potential. They are currently in 3-set battles at 4 and 5, with 6 just getting underway.

In the Wash U/Chicago match, Wash U is up 4-3, but Chicago has the first set in the other two matches. I don’t know if I can live in a world where Whitewater has an indirect win over Wash U.

3:54 CT: Rosner clinches the victory for Cruz. Jinx averted. 5-2 Cruz

Haywood takes the second set in a tiebreaker for Wash U, but Chicago is closing in on the victory at 6. I’m hoping for a third-set tiebreaker with the match score at 4-4, personally.

4:20 CT: Bryan Haywood clinches a 5-4 victory for Wash U with a 2-6, 7-6, 6-1 come from behind victory. I believe he was down 2-5 in the second set and came back. I can’t wait to hear more about how the match transpired. Incredible guts from both teams. I never thought I would say that I admired Chicago’s fight in a match, but I do. They got the routine 6-2, 6-4 victory at #6, and I hope that the team is headed in the right direction. We’ll see if they continue to compete well tomorrow against Trinity or if they go in the tank.

For Wash U, they absorbed Chicago’s best shot and came out with the victory. I’ll make more detailed predictions tonight, but I like their chances of making it to the finals. Well done, Bears.

The live scoring for Trinity shows them winning at #5 singles 3-1 in the third. I wonder if that’s another technical error. Regardless, I’m going to take a break as that match finished up, and come back when Kenyon/Pomona doubles gets started. Good fight from Trinity, but now they desperately need a win against Chicago tomorrow. Great job from Cruz to bounce back after a rough start to their season.

5:23 CT: Pomona’s playing good doubles, as expected. The Lords are going to be screwed if they can’t get one of these. 1-0 P-P

There’s the emotional doubles win for Gustavus… Good for them. Time for Emory to crank up the intensity at 3, and it’s off to the races from there. 1-1

5:37 CT: Razumovsky and Williams just saved the match for Kenyon. 2-1 P-P

Emory having a little trouble closing out three doubles. 1-1

5:41 CT: Ummm… What just happened? This is madness. 2-1 Gustavus

5:57 CT: It’s alright. Emory will turn it on in singles. There’s no way Gustavus gets a singles match in this one. They’re already up a break on all three. Plus, Pottish is unstoppable. I wonder why they played 4 singles before 3. 2-1 GAC

Meanwhile, that doubles went pretty much exactly as I expected, but now, Kenyon will start picking off singles matches. Just watch these 1st sets. 2-1 P-P

6:47 CT: This could be another rough prediction day for me. Pomona just took the first sets at 2 and 3. The 1’s are in a battle. Emory got an easy win at 4… and Pottish just lost the second set… Madness? THIS IS SPARTA!!!! 2-2

7:23 CT: Burgin continues to bring the pain at #1 singles. Nice win over Meyer. Gutsy second set performance by the freshman for Kenyon. C.J. Williams: clutch as always. Let’s see if they run away with the 3rd sets. 2-2

Pottish recovered nicely, and Kowalski filled in very capably for Goodwin. Wagner lost the first, but he’s dominating the second. No looking back for Emory now. To the cliffs! 4-2 Emory.

7:58 CT: Huh… 4-3 Emory. They got the first set at 5, though. Gustavus is putting up a good fight at 6, but 5 is in the bag.

Well done by Kenyon to close those two out. A match is finally going exactly as I predicted!!!! 4-2 Kenyon.

8:45 CT: Split at 5 and 6… Ashton? You can come out now

9:21 CT: The freshman, Heerboth, puts it away for Kenyon. 5-2 Lords.

10:00 CT: Emory finally put a stop to all this madness and won, 6-3, but the Gusties put up one helluva fight. They might be able to win a match in this tournament after all. I guess the Eagles figured they could get away with just not showing up for this one. They won the match, but it may have come at a price. The world now knows that even a god-king can bleed. They’re really missing Goodwin.

Kenyon split the last to matches to win, 6-3. Brilliant response to the upset from the Lords, especially after losing two doubles and two first sets. Pomona competed extremely hard, and I like their chances of finishing 5th. They’ll be on notice against Gustavus, and I don’t see them losing that one. I have to say that I’m impressed by the way the Hens played in their first trip to Indoors. It was 6-3, like I predicted, but this match could have gone either way.

I don’t think anyone could have asked for a crazier first day at Indoors. Let’s all hope these teams keep it up tomorrow!