SAN ANTONIO – Last week, sophomore Nathalie Wallin took time to chronicle the Roadrunners' successful trip to Lubbock for the Texas Tech Invitational. Wallin captured the red draw singles title, while junior Tanya Hasking claimed the black draw consolidation title and doubles consolidation title with sophomore Karen Scida.
Thursday, Sept. 28
"Today, at 7 a.m., our trip to Lubbock for the Scarborough Open began. It was Jim, and six of us girls, who headed to the tournament at Texas Tech University. The van was loaded with tennis bags, computers and a DVD collection of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”. Jim clearly sat up the rules: “I prefer not to stop, only if we have to.” Obviously everybody got it right because our first stop was not until four hours later. The trip went well and we all realized, to our fortune, that Jim had good taste in music, that Buffy is addicting, and that we all like to sleep a lot. At 2 p.m., we reached the hotel and started to unpack our bags before we went to eat. Coach T (head men’s tennis coach and interim women’s tennis coach Oliver Trittenwein) would have been proud of us since we all decided to eat very healthy. We all ate pasta, salad and water without any objections. Full and ready to warm up, we headed to the courts. After practicing an hour, we went to eat again. It felt that eating was the only thing we did. No one, however, felt bad about gaining extra weight since we had been taught to eat much a week ago because we are all athletes (and believe me, we were not even close to eating that much). We went back to the hotel and after Holly finished playing paparazzi and Monika finally found her room after walking back and forth, we all went to sleep ready for our upcoming match the next day."
Friday, Sept. 29
"We could call this day “I wish I had run a marathon instead” day. It was the day we all fought extremely hard, cheered for each other tremendously and sweated outrageously. From seven in the morning to six in the evening, we all played matches with almost no breaks. It was not until afterward that we realized that all the conditioning in the morning this last month had been worthwhile.
"We started the day by winning the doubles. Holly and I played our first doubles match together against Texas Tech, and it went well. After being down 1-4, we turned the match over and finally won 8-6. Tanya and Karen also had a good match and scored an 8-5 decision against North Texas. We got a 10-minute break before it was time to play our next match. It did not help that we all played in the most fancy dresses; we still lost. The returns and serves were the key factors in why Holly and I did not win. Also, Tanya and Karen lost against a strong New Mexico State team. Once again, we only had a short break before it was time for singles play. We were all successful in winning our matches, except Tanya and Karen who lost in tough matches.
"I was happy I could rest for an hour before starting my fourth match for the day. After Eva easily beat Brenda Bongetta of New Mexico State by playing aggressively and consistently, she lost her second match. Her only comment after the match was; “she was a wall.” Tanya won her first match in the consolation, and Holly had a tough match against Brenna Jacksson of Texas Tech. I won my first set, 6-4, after an endless first set where my head was spinning and Jim had to do a stand in as a nurse. The second set I won, 6-1, after playing consistently.
"All exhausted and tired, we went to Olive Garden to eat. Monika was the only one who had energy and power to talk for all of us. After tons of food and several bits of love advice we went home. It only took me two seconds to fall asleep, as I was ready to load my battery for the next day."
Saturday, Sept. 30
"At 6 a.m. the alarm clock went off. I felt I would have done anything to sleep an extra hour. It was a great effort just to get off the bed, with pain in my back after sleeping on a bed that was probably one square foot in area. After packing all our belongings, we all went to eat breakfast. We started our warm-up at 7:30 a.m. and an hour later Holly and I played our third doubles against North Texas. Unfortunately we lost, but we did well (once again if you erase our missed returns and serves). After the doubles match, I went directly to play the semifinal against Christie Abayan of Air Force. I actually played one of my best matches. When I finally won 6-3 6-2, Monika smiled and gave me a big hug. Karen, who played next to my court, lost her match against Aina Rafoloman of Abilene Christian. Both Holly and Karen were disappointed after their games, since they felt they had more to give. Holly was close to victory, but lost 10-6 in a super tiebreak in the third set. Eva had a tough match and after 5-5 in the first set, she unfortunately rolled her ankle. Tanya won her semifinal in the consolation draw and headed for final.
"It was extremely warm today (people actually asking me if I really am from Sweden, since I am always freezing, though I am Swedish for real).Tanya played the consolation final against Aba Butain of North Texas. She gave us the revenge Holly and I wanted after losing to her in doubles. After hitting a winning backhand, Tanya scored a 6-0, 6-1 decision, and totally blew the girl off the court. No mercy was all we could say after that match!
"In the final I was already exhausted in the warm-up. It was my seventh match in two days and the heat did not make it easier. I had played Ashley Ellis of Texas State three times before, so I knew her game quite well. After winning the match point, with 10-4 in a super tiebreak, the girls (my “Roadrunner club”) came to the court and congratulated me. I also got my “trophy”, a plastic bag with the tournament logo on it (relatively happy for that). All exhausted from my victory, we started our trip home. I think Jim had much patience with me, since I mentioned how hungry I was in every second sentence, but without any signs of food places we could only keep on searching. Finally, we reached a restaurant, where we learned words such as “fantabulous” and how shark lives can be pretty exciting.
"All of us gave a great effort this weekend; we all fought well and gained much experience. Both Jim’s and Monika’s support (did a stand in as our coach) was great, all I can say to them is: thank you! It was a great weekend and we learned a lot. Next weekend it is the Rice Invitational in Houston. Watch out for the Runners!"