Alex Jacobs

Past Entries

Entry 1

Entry 2

Entry 3

March 3, 2004

Last weekend my teammates and I captured the ITA Division III National Indoor Championships for the first time in Emory's athletics history. Sitting here now at my computer, writing this diary entry, reflecting on the adversity and challenges that we confronted and overcame in those glorious three days, the task of putting what we all underwent to words seems daunting and nearly impossible, but I shall try.

We all met early last Thursday morning outside the WoodPEC to leave for St. Peter, Minnesota. This would be the second consecutive year the indoor nationals would be held at Gustavus Adolphus College, the defending indoor champion and our most fierce adversary in the draw.

We ended up spending the entire day in the Atlanta airport as our flight was continuously delayed. Apparently, someone double-parked their jet in front of our plane and they couldn't find anyone with the keys to move it out of the way.

Typically when competing in these types of tournaments, we leave at least a day or so in advance so we have a little time to acclimate to the courts and settle ourselves in the home environment. This year we were denied this opportunity as we did not arrive in St. Peter until midnight Thursday night and our first round match was at 8 am the following day (Friday). Some of us were weary of this lack of preparation, others outright scared, but I had faith in our abilities and slept soundly until morning.

The next day we faced MIT. The match started off well, as we quickly captured the doubles point by winning all three doubles spots. However, when we put the singles on the court, the match became a different story.

Both Odgers and Ramsay were faced with brutal and fierce opposition. Odgers was to do battle with Evan Tindell, the No. 1 ranked player in the nation. And Tyson faced, well, I don't remember his name, but he was really good. Mark and Tyson both lost their matches in heartbreakers, putting us down 2-1. But then the trusty lower lineup cleaned house, sweeping the 3-6 singles spots to finish the match 5-2.

That evening we went out to celebrate at the local TGI Friday's for some hearty food and drink. Josh Rubens, a junior transfer from Penn State University with sophisticated and expensive taste, hadn't yet figured out the Emory travel budget decorum as he was accustomed to the lavish ways of the Penn State squad. He ordered a shrimp cocktail for starters, oriental chicken salad for his greens (suggested by teammate Yoji Masuoka), surf and turf for his entrée, and a baked Alaska for dessert. Needless to say, Coach Browning wasn't pleased with that bill as it burned half of this year's budget on one meal, but boy was it delicious.

The following day we faced off against Trinity University (Texas) in the semifinals. We dominated them all day long, winning the doubles point quickly, and dominating points at one, three, five, and six singles. Tyson once again faced another bruiser at No. 2 singles, Jordan Taillon, who dazzled us all with his impressive speed, agility, and athleticism.

The next day we were to do battle with Gustavus Adolphus, defending champs, who defeated us the year before in the finals. We all knew this year things would be different. We were hungry for the win, had worked hard to prepare, and were ready for anything.

We got off to a quick start by sweeping the doubles for the early point. The domination didn't stop there as we continued to win points from 3-6 singles. Emory rookie Rubens clinched the match for us at No. 5 singles, giving us our first-ever indoor championship.

All in all it was a marvelous weekend, the win itself second to the experience of teamwork and domination that we all shared. Loved it. I feel as though the weekend can be most accurately described with this quote from a spectator of the final match.

"I've never seen any kind of dominating like this before. It is incredible, domination from point one to the very last point. I've had dreams of watching domination like this before, and it finally came through. Thank you Emory men's tennis, I am forever in debt to you and your amazing dominating abilities."
--Unidentified Spectator.

Alex Jacobs is a junior from Westport, Conn. He would love to answer e-mail questions from Emory recruits and fans.