Recap

Expecting to find David and Will gunning for him (Matt had a 16-game winning streak coming in), Matt decided to “forget” to bring his shoes--very convenient, indeed. David would have none of it, and even sacrificed up a pair of his own shoes just to get Matt on to the court (he has since had to burn them). Will showed up too, fueled with Coke (tm) and dried mangos (not-tm), on little sleep. He played with a lot of heart and power... the only thing missing was the accuracy. David and Will started the play--loud. Very loud -- both the ball/wall contact, as well as the occasional cry of dismay at a botched shot. Took a few video shots with camera, although seem to have missed the good rallies:

Video Clips: (click to play)

Jesse started off playing Matt, and then played David, before a repeat game with Matt. He's hitting some good serve returns down the line, but once in rallies, most of his strokes are hit with the racquet above his head and his shoulders facing the front wall. The ceiling game does seem to be a bit more confident, although still tough when the ball is coming down right at the back wall (hint: this is tough for everybody--which is why that should be the goal when you hit a ceiling shot). Dogs seem to be all the rage among club members, too. Now that David and Jessica have a pair of pooches, Jesse has decided to get one as well--she'll be able to go with me everywhere, he enthused! (We're wondering if this includes off the diving board and into the pool)

Ceiling balls: Ceiling balls that are coming down right at the back wall (esp. in the corners) are difficult to return for everyone. Practice hitting yours like this, and when returning them, stay calm and controlled and practice good mechanics (get in position early, turn your body to face the side wall, etc.). In contrast, ceiling balls that are very short or which come off the back wall are a setup -- practice hitting an offensive shot by intentionally hitting a bad ceiling ball to set yourself up, and then execute a hard pass or kill shot.

Matt and Will faced off for old-times-sake. No niceness in the first game, as Matt ruthlessly fed Will setups just to see what new way the sleep-deprived Will would find to skip or float the shot. Will did hit one great scorcher on a serve return that recalled the glory of games past. Will, being Will, immediately wanted a rematch (albeit shortened to get home on time): I can at least hold it together for 7 points. Matt obliged and even started giving Will drive serves to wake him up as the rally started. Will loves drive serves, and he was able to hold himself together to take Matt down rather brutally, 7-3. We hope Will made it all the way home before starting his well-deserved rest. (Next Wed he has the awards banquet for the BASES project to find out how they did--their team made it to the finals!)

David and Matt also played a pair of games to round out the night. David seemed a bit more focused and was hitting with a bit more power, so the games were pretty close. In the end, Matt's fatigue seemed to slow him down a bit so that he wasn't covering David's well-placed shots in the last game. (Must have been the heavy shoes ;-).

Good games everyone!

Ladder Points

This table ranks players by club ladder points earned this evening.

Previous		Player	Today
Rank	Ladder Points		W-L	Ladder Points	Offense
1	75	Matt	4-2	+10	77
2	49	David	3-2	+10	70
12	9	Will	2-2	+10	33
3	42	Jesse	0-3	+3	10

(*) Rank - the club rank at the start of play.
(*) Start Pts - the number of ladder points at the start of play.
(*) Earned Points - the number of ladder points earned this evening.
(*) Offense - Total points scored in games this evening

Game Log

Player A	Player B	Winner	Upset?	Score	Pts Earned
Player A	Player B	Winner	Upset	Score	Pts Earned
David	Will	Will	++	15-12	David (+1) Will (+4)
Matt	Jesse	Matt	--	15-2	Matt (+2) Jesse (+1)
David	Will	David	--	15-9	David (+2) Will (+1)
Matt	Will	Matt	--	15-2	Matt (+2) Will (+1)
David	Jesse	David	--	15-3	David (+2) Jesse (+1)
Matt	Will	Will	++	7-3	Matt (+1) Will (+4)
Matt	David	Matt	--	15-13	Matt (+2) David (+1)
Matt	Jesse	Matt	--	15-5	Matt (+2) Jesse (+1)
Matt	David	David	++	15-14	Matt (+1) David (+4)

Upset - a (++) indicates that the lower-ranked player won