Diary

Josh
Rubens

Past Entries

April 26, 2004

The Emory men's tennis team departed for the UAA conference tournament in Rochester, New York early Thursday afternoon. We were fortunate not to face any delays in departure, but were uneasy about flying to N.Y. in a small propeller plane of just 12 rows. Most of us hadn't slept much all week due to final papers and exams so we managed to sleep during the plane ride.

Upon arriving in the Roch, we immediately went to the site to practice. We hit for roughly 40 minutes and had the opportunity to meet our new best friend, Dharma, Alex Jacobs' dog. Dharma is overweight--for real. So we threw tennis balls all over the courts to let her try to run it off. With a steady diet of exercise and healthy food, Dharma should be able to shed the extra weight.

We were delighted to have Brad Jaffe accompanying us for the weekend. Brad graduated last year and clinched the national championship victory with his win at No. 3 singles. He made the trip from NYC to be with his former teammates and coaches. He entertained us all weekend long with text messages and vocal support.

Our first match of the tournament was against Brandeis at 9 a.m. on Friday morning. The match was played indoors due to rain. We played until decision and won 4-1, getting victories from Tyson, Alex, Pat, and myself. After the match we debated driving to Niagara Falls but ended up napping and eating snacks from the health food store next to the hotel. We ate endangered species chocolate bars. Loved it.

Later Friday night we attended the UAA banquet. We all got dressed up and were on our best behavior. Alex Jacobs looked the best, wearing a salmon-colored polo shirt and a stylish, purple tie. Go AJ! We hit the sack early that night after eating amazing hot dogs and pizza from vendors near the hotel.

Our second match was against Carnegie Mellon at the outdoor facility. It was a beautiful day. Everyone played extremely well in doubles where we almost rolled a perfect game, winning 8-0, 8-1, and 8-1. Jesse Ferlianto then dazzled us with his systematic play in singles. He used the Pythagorean theorem to calculate his angled crosscourt passing shots.

Obviously, we napped the rest of the day in preparation for the finals against Washington University of St. Louis. The match was played indoors once again due to rain and cold weather. Unlike our first-round match, we began with doubles and secured the initial point.

Tyson had quite an interesting singles match. His match was delayed several times because he had an uncontrollable nosebleed. The trainer was finally able to impede the bleeding with a tampon. He had tried tissue after tissue but the bleeding was too serious for ordinary Kleenex.

Needless to say, it was difficult for Tyson to play his match with a tampon in his nose and the two 20-minute delays for treatment. He fought hard but ended up losing to a formidable opponent. Ultimately, we won 4-1, capturing the UAA title for the 15th consecutive year.

We attempted to catch an earlier flight back to Atlanta later on Sunday. It resulted in total confusion because the Delta ticket agent had switched our reservation with the Emory women's tennis team. The problem was finally resolved and we made the flight and began to study for our finals this week on the plane. We arrived back to Atlanta, hugged it out, hydrated, and got back to studying.

Josh Rubens is a junior from Wynnewood, Pa. He would love to answer e-mail questions from Emory recruits and fans.