UCLA: Club Tennis
No Excuses: We Love Everyone
February 9-10th, 2008 ----- UCLA Hosts Singles and Doubles Tournament
Sunday's Doubles' Events, by Club Communications Director Adeline Yang
Page 2
Mixed Doubles
Usually ladies go first, but on Sunday they were more than happy to let their male compatriots take to the sweltering courts before them. Blatant dominance was the theme of the day as scores rolled in and verified one very important theory - when it comes down to it, it's the women that matter. CT Bruins Chikako Shimura and Spencer Cohen, Adeline Yang and Mark Otten, as well as Sarah Lowe and Andrew Lewis reported impressive victories in their first round matches. They were accompanied by Club Bruins Kingson Leung and Kelly Ishizuka.Club Bruins Nicole Aponte and Darren Yeung as well as Alan Fung and Kristin Toycontinued on in the Consolation Round.
Yang and Otten lost to the same UCI team as Aponte and Yeung in the quarterfinals (after defeating a USC team 6-2 the first round), while Leung and Ishizuka surrendered to the onslaught of fellow Bruins Shimura and Cohen.
Fatefully, the two CT Bruin teams of Shimura/Cohen and Lowe/Lewis met in the second round of play. Both teams played consistently well, and both sides witnessed astonishing examples of the perfected tennis accomplishments, but only one team could move on. Shimura/Cohen did exactly that with a 6-4 posting against Lowe/Lewis. Shimura/Cohen thus advanced to the quarterfinals and smoothly made their way to the finals.
The team to beat, though, was UCI's powerhouse pairing of Joy Akahoshi and Mark Chen. The petite girl with Herculean strength (despite an injury to her right knee) and the tall lefty with dangerously well placed pace blazed an imperious path across the draw, eliminating two Bruin teams in the process and dropping only two games before reaching the finals.
Bruins Shimura and Cohen appeared to be on the brink of a similar fate as they quickly fell beneath the Anteater's assault, 0-4, in under fifteen minutes. While some despaired the cause was lost, Bruins Anthony Horsley, Mark Otten, Pat Williams, and Adeline Yang held steadfast in their confidence and cheered on their struggling team mates.
As the exhausted Cohen sat down during the changeover (he had made it to the men's semis the previous day and was playing both mixed and men's doubles on this day), he glanced over at the ice-filled gatorade-cooling licorice-container Yang had engineered and finally took advantage of its oddly flavored (grape and blueberry) contents. In one gulp he downed the entire bottle.
Shimura, too, was suddenly revitalized by her glistening pink refreshment and the two returned to the battlefield. She began to prance about the net, exhibiting astonishing dexterity and flexibility as she retrieved passing shot after passing shot and returned breakneck volleys and when Irvine accidentally left a high ball a little too short -
BAAAAAAM!!
Shimura obliterated Irvine's hopes for victory with a stunning down-the-line swinging-volley passing shot. Pure perfection... and a telling sign of events to come.
Suffice to say the four Bruins in audience were in absolute ecstasy over the spectacular grandeur of Shimura's abilities. Cheers ricocheted off the thundering awed silence and drew even originally apathetic bystanders (nudge Horsley) into the riotous fray.
Shimura and Cohen, after this momentous turnaround, could not be stopped. They rallied to a tiebreaker at 5-5 in games and quickly disposed of their flabbergasted opponents with a 7-2 conquest. Well played!
After a long weekend of tennis, the teams from the various universities slowly began to trickle out. Tired, sunburned, and hungry, everyone nonetheless looked back on the two days' events with great fondness and looked forward to the Regional Championships to come.
Everyone has Anthony Horsley to thank - and we all do. Thank you for making this magnificent event!