Under Construction

The season may be over but the SCAD Tennis blog is still up and running. I may take a different direction until our season starts up again in the fall, but keep checking back for player updates and whatever else I feel like posting about. Maybe some French open coverage? A little Wimbledon for good measure? Stay tuned!

PS: Congratulations to the Stanford women's tennis team on a job well done at this years NCAA Division I Championships. The Cardinals clinched a dramatic 4-3 victory against the University of Florida earlier this week in Athens, Ga.

Player Spotlight: Dean Loock

This week's player spotlight is on Dean Loock, a first year Industrial Design major. I ran into him twice yesterday and I'm taking that as a sign that he wants to be featured on my blog. (He'll thank me later)


Dean hails from Grahamstown, South Africa, and actually knew Nisha (also from South Africa) before coming to SCAD. He also has a funny accent.

Dean's first season as a SCAD Bee saw him playing the number 1 position for 10 of his 12 matches--remarkable for an incoming freshman. Out of those 10 matches, Dean was able to clinch 5 of them making him one of the most valuable players on his team. With victories against both Oklahoma Baptist and Georgetown University, Dean proved that he has what it takes to hold the top position.


His doubles record is just as impressive. Partnering with second-year Caan Yaylali, the two tallied wins against Warner University, Northwood University, and Georgetown University.

Dean also does a fantastic Michael Jackson impersonation--



If you ask him nicely, he might just do the moonwalk for you.

Shame on You, Venus Williams

This is a very non-SCAD related post, but I just had to post this picture. Venus, what were you thinking??

It's not just me, right? That has got to be all sorts of inappropriate.


There it is in yellow...


I mean, I get it. Sex sells. I can't argue that. But since when did female athletes get the OK to go commando?

This is what Venus had to say about her "outfit" to a tennisfanhouse.com reporter:

"...it's obviously lace and kind of having that illusion of wearing lace and not having anything take away under it, the nude fabric. So these days, I just have a lot of fun with my designs and my designing and doing different things.''

Whatever you say Venus, Williams...

Exhibition Doubles

I completely forgot that I had told my assistant coach I would play an exhibition match with her this weekend. This is not surprising. I forget everything.

But the show must go on and so I arrived at the Southbridge Tennis Center this morning ready to take on the entire Savannah Senior League-- me and my doubles partner that is. Yusuke (you should remember him from an earlier blog post) and I were scheduled to face off against Coach Fina and the head Southbridge tennis pro in a friendly doubles match. Club members get to sit in the shade, laugh and chat amongst themselves, root for their favorite team, and eat a nice lunch courtesy of the facility. It was a lot of fun-- except that Yusuke and I got our butts kicked.

Ok, it wasn't that bad, but you get the idea. I can't complain, really. I got a free lunch, some really cool people to talk to, and a decent workout. See? I'm not a sore loser after all.

Sorry for the lack of actual photos from the event. I'll be sure to post them once I get in touch with the photographer and find a picture of myself where I'm not red-faced, sweating profusely, and begging for mercy.

Vanguard Lions defeat SCAD Bees 5-0

So we lost yesterday and consequently, our dreams of a national title have ended. The Vanguard Lions move into the third round where they will face off against the #4 seeded Concordia University. We wish them the best of luck in what should turn out to be a really interesting match.



Hmm, not exactly the image that comes to mind when you think "tennis player", but they kicked our butts-- more power to them for looking good doing it.

Bees Defeat Tennessee Wesleyan 8-1

The SCAD Bees have advanced to the second round at the NAIA National Championships with a first round win over the Tennessee Wesleyan Bulldogs. With a convincing final score of 8-1, the SCAD women's tennis team will face the number 5 seed, Vanguard University, tomorrow morning at 9 am.

Here are the final match statistics:

Singles:

1. Karolina Pierko (TWC) def. Romina Mrochen (SCAD) 1-6, 6-4, 10-8

2. Courtney Collins (SCAD) def. Kayla Foster (TWC) 6-1, 6-4

3. Nisha Michau (SCAD) def. Meghan Whaley (TWC) 6-4, 6-0

4. Charlotte Debrey (SCAD) def. Allie Smith (TWC) 6-0, 6-0

5. Stephanie Gula (SCAD) def. Marissa Morris (TWC) 6-0, 6-2

6. Annie Chastain (SCAD) def. Spencer Creekmore (TWC) 6-1, 6-0

Doubles:

1. Romina Mrochen/Courtney Collins (SCAD) def. Karolina Pierko/Meghan Whaley (TWC) 8-4

2. Nisha Michau/Charlotte Debrey (SCAD) def. Kayla Foster/Allie Smith (TWC) 8-2

3. Stephanie Gula/Annie Chastain (SCAD) def. Marissa Morris/Spencer Creekmore (TWC) 8-0

SCAD's only loss came at the number 1 spot in which Romina fought hard against Karolina Pierko but suffered a tough three set loss. She hasn't been sleeping a lot lately because, check this out, she was chosen to show her work in the SCAD Fashion Show!


We are all so proud of her and will miss her immensely when she graduates later this year.

Hillary Collins Awarded "Champions of Character" Award

Friday May 15th was the athletic department's end of year banquet (read: extremely claustrophobic awards reception where athletes dress fancy and stand around awkwardly). Each sport chooses three members of both the men's and women's teams to receive honors such as "most valuable player", "best newcomer", and my personal favorite, "most durable player", whatever that means.

Women's tennis awarded Hillary Collins the "Champions of Character" award for displaying exceptional sportsmanship both on and off the court. Her teammates Romina Mrochen and Charlotte debrey also received recognition for "upperclassman of the year" and "most vaulable player" respectively.

The Men's team awarded Yusuke Kasuda the "outstanding newcomer award". Yusuke sheepishly accepted his award on Friday amidst raucus cheers from his teammates. Dean Loock confusedly received the "most durable player" award while his teammate Caan Yaylali received the "most valuable player" award.

Coach Keenan was also honored at Friday's banquet for reaching an astounding 100 wins during his 11th season as head coach of the SCAD Tennis team.

2010 NAIA Softball National Championship Bracket and Pool-Play Schedule Announced

Did anyone know that the women's softball team was also going to nationals? Neither did I. That's embarrassing.

For the sixth consecutive year, the softball tournament will be played in a pool-play format May 20-22, with the top team from each pool advancing to an eight-team double elimination bracket that will decide the national champion. The softball national championships will be held in Decatur, Alabama May where play will commence on the 26th.


I'm not really sure what "pool-play" is, but on behalf of the SCAD tennis team, we wish them the best of luck as they play their first round against Trevecca Nazarene.

Fake Snake

Coach Keenan likes to be sneaky. He brought one of his son's rubber snakes to practice today. Chaos ensued. Hillary screamed, everyone laughed--just another day at practice.


Lots of giggling on the courts today. Everyone is either completely delirious from lack of sleep or surprisingly relaxed heading into Nationals. Either way, more laughing than doubles playing this morning.

2010 Women's Tennis National Championship Bracket Announced

The NAIA has officially released the draw for the 30th annual NAIA Tennis National Championships to be held May 18th-22nd in Mobile, Alabama. To be honest, it doesn't look so bad for the Bees:

Tuesday, May 18
Match 1	9:00 a.m.	Xavier (La.) vs. Indiana Wesleyan
Match 2	9:00 a.m.	Embry-Riddle (Fla.) vs. Walsh (Ohio)
Match 3	9:00 a.m.	Tennessee Wesleyan vs. Savannah Art & Design (Ga.)
Match 4	9:00 a.m.	Southern Nazarene (Okla.) vs. Sioux Falls (S.D.)
Match 5	9:00 a.m.	Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) vs. Lindsey Wilson (Ky.)
Match 6	9:00 a.m.	Northwood (Fla.) vs. Lindenwood (Mo.)
Match 7	9:00 a.m.	Bethel (Kan.) vs. Shorter (Ga.)
Match 8	9:00 a.m.	Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) vs. Mobile (Ala.)
Wednesday, May 19
Match 9	9:00 a.m.	Auburn Montgomery (Ala.) vs. Match 1 Winner
Match 10	9:00 a.m.	Oklahoma Christian vs. Match 2 Winner
Match 11	9:00 a.m.	Vanguard (Calif.) vs. Match 3 Winner
Match 12	9:00 a.m.	Concordia (Calif.) vs. Match 4 Winner
Match 13	9:00 a.m.	Point Loma Nazarene (Calif.) vs. Match 5 Winner
Match 14	9:00 a.m.	Brenau (Ga.) vs. Match 6 Winner
Match 15	9:00 a.m.	Azusa Pacific (Calif.) vs. Match 7 Winner
Match 16	9:00 a.m.	Fresno Pacific (Calif.) vs. Match 8 Winner
Thursday, May 20
Match 17	9:00 a.m.	Match 9 Winner vs. Match 10 Winner
Match 18	9:00 a.m.	Match 11 Winner vs. Match 12 Winner
Match 19	9:00 a.m.	Match 13 Winner vs. Match 14 Winner
Match 20	9:00 a.m.	Match 15 Winner vs. Match 16 Winner
Friday, May 21 – Semifinals
Match 21	9:00 a.m.	Match 17 Winner vs. Match 18 Winner
Match 22	9:00 a.m.	Match 19 Winner vs. Match 20 Winner
Saturday, May 22 – National Championship
Match 23	10:00 a.m.	Match 21 Winner vs. Match 22 Winner

Pretty overwhelming, right? To break it down for you, all the non-seeded teams (including SCAD) play on Tuesday morning. The winners of those match-ups will play the next day against the top 8 seeded teams. AUM (Auburn Montgomery) has won a total of 10 NAIA championships, which makes them the top seed.

We'll be playing Tennessee Wesleyan--I haven't heard too much about them before, but I'm assuming that if they made it this far, they can't be half-bad. If all goes well, the Bees will face Vanguard from California in the next round. Its probably best to take it one match at a time, but I have a feeling Tennessee Wesleyan doesn't stand a chance.

Player Spotlight: Nisha Michau

This week's spotlight is on SCAD freshman Nisha Michau. As the latest addition to the SCAD tennis team, Nisha calls Port Elizabeth, South Africa home and never fails to crack us up with her funny native accent. (we're laughing with her, not at her)

A fashion major with a sense of style that's nearly as sharp as her cross-court forehand, Nisha has had a remarkable season thus far. Losing only 3 singles matches out of 13, she's proven herself to be an invaluable player at the #4 position. Nisha's season highlight came during our first encounter of the year with rival team Northwood in February. In an outstanding display of tennis, Nisha handily defeated her opponent Christine Novokova to help SCAD secure the match with a 5-4 lead.


When she's not kicking butt on the courts, you'll probably find her on the beach with her fellow SCAD teammate Stephanie Gula. This South African knows her way around a bottle of sunscreen and you can bet she'll be hitting the waves when she returns home in the summer. Although, I imagine it would be winter this time south of the equator so she may have to don a little more than a bikini.


Wish her luck next week as she competes with the rest of her teammates in their bid for a National title.

The Countdown Begins

One week from today, the SCAD Bees will be on their way to Mobile, Alabama for the NAIA National Championships. No word yet on what our draw will look like, but chances are we won't be seeded--which means we could face a tough first round. Of course that's all hypothetical--all we can do is focus on the here and now.

Speaking of which, the "here and now" is looking a little bleak. After a restful weekend, practice will begin again tomorrow morning, but in the meantime, I don't have a whole lot to report.

Nevertheless, the blog must go on-- if not about tennis, then another SCAD sport will do just fine. How about SCAD Baseball?


Five Savannah College of Art and Design players were named to the 2010 All-The Sun Conference Baseball Team during Saturday evening's annual conference tournament banquet in Fort Meyers Florida. From left to right, Matt Zajac, Patrick Braswell, Scott Shambaugh, Stephen Shackelford (not pictured) and Mike Hines will join their team against #3 seeded Warner University in a 7pm match up later this evening. Wish them luck!

Latest National Rankings Released

The SCAD Bees are ranked #12 in the latest NAIA national rankings, which means there is still a slight chance we won't be going to nationals this year. To be honest, it's been a pretty tough season for the women's team and the ranking reflects that. Nevertheless, we're keeping our heads up and working hard just the same--at least for the sake of our one senior, Romina. It would be a shame for her not to go to nationals in her last year.



On a happier note, practice continued this week at Forsyth Park. Only one day of bad weather (though it was unseasonable humid) and an otherwise positive week of practice. Can't say I recognized any familiar faces on the sidelines, but thats ok, I won't take it personally.

--In the interest of athletic diversity (and mostly because there isn't a whole lot to say about SCAD tennis this week), I'd like to congratulate Dominica Jordan of SCAD Women's Softball. She was just named to the ESPN The Magazine All District III College Softball First Team. To be nominated, a student-athlete must be at least a sophomore with a 3.30 cumulative grade point average and must be a starter or a significant reserve on her team. Jordan is a film and television major with a cumulative grade point average of 3.56 and a .296 (40-of-135) batting average.

Congratulations Dominica, but you're starting to make us look bad-- stop being so perfect.

Spotlight on: Yusuke Kasuda

This week's spotlight is on SCAD freshman Yusuke Kasuda from Chikushino, Japan. (whew, that's a mouth-full) Sadly, injuries have kept Yusuke sidelined for much of his first season on the team, but that hasn't stopped him from fully demonstrating just how valuable he'll be come Fall quarter 2010.

An advertising major and a dedicated student both on and off the court, Yusuke (pronounced Yoo-skay) attended high school in Southern California where he spent countless hours training for his future career as a SCAD Bee.

Before succumbing to an unfortunate injury to his right hand, Yusuke logged wins at the number 3 singles and number 2 doubles positions against Oklahoma Baptist University on March 15th. Like a true champion, Yusuke played through the pain and tallied wins against Northwood University, St. Thomas, and Shorter College.

Thankfully, his injury hasn't kept him out of the gym. With any luck, those muscles will come in handy next season when the men's team competes for another chance at the National Championships.

Good luck, Yusuke!