If you readers don't mind, let me give you a bird's eye (literally) view of what happened this weekend in Mizzou and Arkansas. After a late LATE night arrival into Columbia on Wednesday there's a good practice on the outdoor courts at Mizzou. All I can say is, if A&M is going to keep pace with EVERY OTHER SEC SCHOOL athletically we are the ONLY school that does NOT have an indoor court. After what I saw at Mizzou, the 12th Man's chump change ought to be able to build something 10X better than what they have and there's is only 5 or 6 years old. I want to see LSU facility to see how much better there's is because it HAS to be. Good practice Thursday and things find a rhythm. Friday having to wait all day to play is a bore for a traveling fan but 5PM finally rolls around and let me tell you 4-0 may have been the score but that's only because of the battling attitude these ladies have adopted. We were behind on all 3 doubles courts 2-1, 4-2, and 3-1 when Tanya and Jayci cranked it about 10 notches and shut down their #1 doubles, and Riley and Lucia looked like the Wrecking Crew from years past and just shut the #3 down. So now we're up 1-0 and singles start. I don't know if it's because the ladies knew that Mizzou had not won a SEC match or what but I've seen fluffier pancakes than the way we looked at the beginning of singles. Now even to a layman I believe anybody could see that Mizzou was clearly outclassed. But when Renee was down 5-1 in the first set and set goes about ripping off 12 GAMES IN A ROW to clinch the match, and Katya was down 4-1 in the first set. I'm not sure but Dorthy may have been down 2-1 the first set but that was because each girl broke the other until Dorthy said, "ENOUGH". The way they came back was beyond awesome. They started returning shots all over the courts, running down EVERYTHING! Renee truly broke her opponent it was a marvel to see. Katya, once she figured out their #1 she just ran that tall gal all over the court. And Riley played a BIG role in the match by not giving in on her second set which would have theoretically would have given them some momentum. In my opinion, THIS match more so than Vanderbilt even personifies the character this team has inside them. Because they came back and never gave up ANYTHING, NOTHING!
So let's move on to Sunday and Arkansas. Inclement weather delayed the start but fortunately we just got in under the wire of the weather. No sooner than Tatiana clinched the match I felt the first drop of rain. My guess is Mark and Jordan probably had a heart to heart talk with the ladies on the way down from Columbia to Fayetteville. Something along the lines of nobody is going to roll over for you just because you're ranked #11. And true to form the ladies took WHATEVER was said to heart because the doubles point never looked seriously contested. Our #1 and #2 did their job in with precision, pin point accuracy, and strength. These same stellar characteristics carried forward to the first set of singles. Jayci and Renee were the only two who ran into a road block, and frankly Jayci's opponent was the only one who looked like she (the Arkansas girl) had the advantage. Jayci has had a run of bad luck here the last few matches and sometimes it looks like she presses a little too much to knock out a winner too soon. Riley had an opponent who reminded me of Bride of Frankenstein without the white streak in her hair. BIG gal who lumbered around the court almost like Karloff, but she was strong as an ox. After the first set she started getting some lucky hard returns that Riley couldn't catch up to so it was time for an adjustment and that's when Riley had the gal going back and forth and literally wore her out. Riley's opponent looked like a wrung out dish towel at the end of the match. Tatiana is the one who is interesting to watch play. She works so hard to make every shot perfect that when she just misses or flubs a shot it looks like she's crying, and the fraternal instinct just makes you yearn to reach out and put your arm around her shoulder and get her going again. But once she is zeroed in on her focus she is deadly. I don't know if I've ever seen her "slice and dice" as many of her shots as much as she did against Arkansas. She tried a few drop shots that looked like with just one more quarter of an ounce of energy would have had the ball over the net. But that's the perfectionist in her. When the momentum started to swing back towards Arkansas you could HEAR the difference in the courts. The Aggies became quiet and the Hogs got more rambunctious. When that happened the Arkansas girls, especially Katya's opponent started having the most remarkable shots. I mean shots that normally the female player would just acquiesce and move on to the next point, OH NO, they were running them down and putting placement on it like Serena Williams. The same thing happened Howard's first year in the NCAA's in Michigan where we had Michigan down 3-1 and they came back and beat us pulling off the same kind of shots. Fortunately, Renee came through against her countryman (almost, New Zealand was where her opponent was from) and Tatiana regathered herself and pulled it out.
After all this, a look ahead. These ladies have proven that they have the mental toughness to take control of an opponent. This Friday, with South Carolina coming to town if the 12th Man will just come out and support the team, these gals are primed and ready for war.
