I watched my team mates play until 1:30pm, when I went to relax for 30 minutes before getting ready for my singles match. I was changed and warmed up by 2:30pm at which point I checked in for my singles match. I was quickly given court 8 upstairs.
I was feeling good during my first set, and my shots were coming together nicely. I won this set 15-6 and was ready to march to victory. The four team mates who watched my first set all disappeared before my second set. I should not have let this bother me, but it did. I got down 8-2, and then 14-8. I used my last time out at 13-8, but was able to refocus. Some of my team mates had also re-appeared. I fought off 4 match points before making a run to 14-14 (during which I fought off two more match points). Once at 14-14, I was feeling good and confident and ready to put the win in the books. I lost the serve though, fought off match point again, lost the serve again, and then she dropped a short shot that I was just unable to get to. I had momentum now, but I was also emotionally drained from the comeback and then the let down. I fought my hardest, but was just unable to settle in and get anything going during the tiebreaker, and lost 11-6 to take 2nd place in women's #2 blue division (effectively 6th in women's #2).
I was so emotionally drained after the loss, but I had to turn around and immediately play doubles. I used my warm-up time to change into dry clothing, since I clearly did not need to warm up (in fact, I desperately needed a break). The team from the University Of Missouri that we played was slightly better than us, but I feel like the result could have been a lot closer. We might have even been able to win under different circumstances. But I just had nothing left to give emotionally, and was unable to get anything started in doubles. We lost 15-7, 15-5 to get 4th in the women's doubles #2 gold division.
After doubles, I went to claim my medals and then headed back to the hotel to shower and change clothing before the banquet.
The banquet was held in a dining hall in the Memorial Union. Our team sat with the Texas A&M team. We were called to get food last, but at least the Italian style food was good and plentiful. Then the awards ceremony began. We were amazed to find that we had won the conference cup for the SCRC! Our men's team finished 6th overall, our women's team finished 5th overall (even playing with only 5/6 of the allowable players), and our team finished 4th overall (even playing with only 11/12 of the allowable players). This is likely the best we have ever finished at nationals, and certainly is the best we have finished in recent years!
Sadly, Taquito was never returned to us. :( I had fully expected a team to return him to us at the banquet, but it did not happen.
After the banquet, Texas A&M came to our hotel to hang out for a while. We all piled into one room, and just sat and talked. We got a noise complaint around midnight, and we all went to bed shortly after. It was a fun night!
Our conference cup!
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