22-25 February 2007:
Men Keep Stanford Flag Flying High at National Championships
In a trip to Nationals that could only be described as an emotional rollercoaster, the Stanford men’s team learned one thing: you can’t spell “WON” without “KWON.” The outcomes of all three matches during the Feb. 22-25 visit to Yale fell on the narrow shoulders of senior co-captain “Boy” George Kwon.
On Friday, the men’s team, seeded #6 in the Summers Division, faced off against #3 seed Hamilton College. The Continentals had defeated the Cardinal 6-3 in Clinton, NY earlier in the season, but Stanford was confident that it could pull off the upset. The match started slowly, with #9 Abe Chiang and #3 Ned Henningsen losing tough 3-0 and 3-1 decisions, respectively. Meanwhile, #6 Ben “Ron Jeremy” Peterson scored a quick 3-1 win for the Card to keep the squad in the hunt. In the second rotation, #8 Joe “Grandpa” Kirscher, a co-terminal student, came right back at the Continentals and collected a 3-0 victory to even the match score at two-all. At #5, junior Andy Helppie-Schmieder pulled out a tough 4-game victory while freshman #2 Pat “Jailbait” Bugas fell 3-0. That left the match score tied at 3-3 with the final rotation coming on.
Junior Andrew “Sport” Burmon quickly fell at #1, leaving the Card in a 4-3 hole and its two senior co-captains still on court. #7 David “Chicken Bone” Herbert won the first and dropped the second before cruising to a 4-game victory, leaving the match score 4-4. As the crowd gathered to watch #4 Kwon duke it out with Hamilton’s Mario Magana, the match seemed to be moving in Stanford favor. After going down 2-1, Kwon skated through the fourth 9-3 and was up 3-2 in the fifth when he suddenly fell victim to a rash of tins and quickly lost 9-3. As Hamilton celebrated their narrow escape, the Card looked on in disbelief. Kwon, who came into the match with a 8-1 career record at Nationals, including six straight wins, could hardly believe his squad had just been knocked out of the main draw.
Despite a heart-breaking opening match, the Cardinal knew they faced more tough matches the rest of the weekend. So, after celebrating Herbert’s 22nd birthday, the team hit the hay, knowing they would face a strong Colby team in the morning.
Waking up at 4:15 a.m. PST, the team made their way to Whitney Gym by way of Au Bon Pain. Warming up was no easy task for the jet-lagged Card, but the team got pumped up by the many parents and well-wishers (including superfan Austin Ligon P ’06) who had come out to the courts.
Stanford started out of the gate quickly. #9 Trent “Iceman” Hazy picked up a quick 3-1 win, while fellow Mormon Ben Peterson won in three to put the Card up 2-1 after Baby Ned’s 4-game loss. But Colby would not go down without a fight, and the Camels mounted a comeback in the next rotation. Helppie-Schmieder and “Jailbait” Bugas both fell in tough 4-gamers, and “Iron” Joe Kirscher sailed to a 4-game win. With the match score tied 3-3 going into the final rotation, the Cardinal was experiencing déjŕ vu, and the situation was about to get more familiar. Co-captain David Herbert won a quick 3-game decision while Andrew Burmon fell to a strong Colby #1. With the match score tied 4-4, all eyes shifted to Kwon’s match. After squandering a 2-1 match lead, Kwon buckled down in the fifth, and – egged on by cheers of “Gergei” and “Giorgio” – won the match and the day for Stanford.
Exhausted from the cross-country trip and problem sets, the team rose again at 4:15 a.m. PST to play Connecticut College, a squad that had spanked Stanford 7-2 just one month earlier. After two emotionally draining matches over as many days, the Cardinal went into Sunday’s match hoping to avoid having to rely on Kwon’s last-minute heroics.
“Don’t put this on me again,” Boy George repeatedly joked in between sips of won ton soup as the team drove to Choate.
Abe Chiang fell at the #9 spot and Ned Henningsen posted an impressive 3-0 win at #3 to tie things up early in the action. But Ben Peterson found himself in an 8-1 hole in the fifth game of his marathon match, and the tide looked to be turning against the Card. Suddenly, though an improbable series great shots, Conn College tins and pure luck, “Ron Jeremy” pulled out a miraculous 10-9 win, one that he was quick to dedicate to his brother and sister-in-law, who were in attendance.
With the second rotation under way and Stanford up 2-1, the momentum of the match seemed to shift by the minute. #8 Kirscher lost the first, won games two and three, and lost the fourth 9-0 before claiming a 5-game win. Elsewhere, #5 Andy struggled through a very tight match before falling to perennial Stanford nemesis Dan Bloom. And at the 2-spot, freshman stud “Jailbait” Bugas hung tough after taking a racquet to the lip in the opening minutes of his match.
“I’m bleeding from the mouth,” he hollered to the gallery. “I’m swallowing my own blood.”
Bugas proceeded to nurse a fat lip for 45 minutes before returning to the court and winning an epic 5-game marathon that included three tiebreaker games.
And so, with Stanford leading the match 4-2 heading into the final rotation, and the senior co-captains taking the court, the Cardinal seemed to be in complete control. The match was nearly in hand as #7 Herbert jumped out to a 2-1 lead and was cruising in the fourth 7-1 when he hit a wall. But with nothing left in the tank, the senior could not coast to the finish line, and he dropped a heartbreaking 5-game decision.
Yet the Cardinal still led 4-3, but the crowd could sense a turning tide. #1 Andrew Burmon trailed Conn ace Rob Purple 2-0, and George Kwon also trailed his opponent 2-0. Purple toyed with Burmon in the third game with a series of reverse boasts and trick shots, igniting Andrew to win the third and fourth before losing a close fifth game. Still, the momentum seemed to be swinging in Conn’s favor with Kwon struggling to keep pace in his match.
The clock had struck midnight for the Cinderella Cardinal.
And then, with the flame of Stanford’s season quaking amidst the thunderous cheers of the Conn faithful, “Comeback” Kwon came to life. Employing a mixture of tight lengths, just-wide-enough crosses and the soft touch Melissa gossips about, Kwon clawed his way back from the brink of defeat to win the third game 10-8. The fourth was no picnic, and Kwon nearly folded like the cheap suit that was packed in his suitcase back at the Omni. But he rallied again, and – energized by cheers of “Gergei” and “Giorgio” – took the fourth 10-8.
Kwon was clearly gassed going into the fifth, but Herbert would have none of it. Herbert needed his fellow co-captain to bail him and cap off their collegiate careers with a “W”. But Kwon, always a showman, would not oblige him at first. 20 and 30 hit rallies tired both combatants, and Conn #4 John Evans was sharp enough to take an 8-7 lead. Facing match ball, Won Tahn would not quit. Egged on by his teammates (he would later confide that Herbert’s was the only voice he heard), Kwon forced a tiebreaker – the fourteenth of the day. Apparently not wanting his sparkling collegiate career to end, Kwon fell behind 9-8 and faced his second match ball. With his teammates near tears in the gallery, Boy George regained the serve and won the match 10-9. The squad rushed the court and celebrated the end of a tumultuous weekend.
As the dust settled and the exuberance of the morning faded, the men made for the vans and then Newark for the flight home. It was widely acknowledged - without hint of sarcasm or false pride - that this team was one of the finest Stanford had ever assembled. The ragtag squad of prep school grads, Mormons, tennis converts and a plucky Irish hoodlum did not won the Summers Division, it is true. But they played as a team and as friends, and in the process etched themselves into the annals of Stanford Squash.