The men's tennis team competed in their third SAA match of the season facing Birmingham Southern indoors at WellWorx tennis center.

The match started off well with a win in doubles. Graham Sowden and Eliot Blatt crushed returns en route to a 8-6 victory at #3 doubles. After going up 4-1 there was no looking back for the hard hitting doubles team. "This was the best doubles I've seen Graham play all season", exclaimed Coach Mann after the match. Greyson and Colin playing from the number two position had a very slow start. They went down 4-1 before loosening up and getting their teeth into the match. After going down 6-3, the #2 team started to make their comeback. They brought the match back to 6-6 and had two very tense and long games but weren't able to get another game to lose 8-6. The #1 doubles team of Rob Steinwedell and Sanders Phelps played their best doubles match of the year. They made a high number of returns against a very big serving team and played great defense to break the BSC #1 team at 5-5. Up 6-5 Rob came up with some great first serves that allowed Sanders to crawl on the net and finish off some first volleys. They were able to break the last game to win it 8-5 which proved to be a crucial match for the Lynx.

In the singles everyone knew it would be tough. On the main court Sanders Phelps came up against a very strong serving and hard hitting opponent, Sawyer Voges, making him extra tough on the fast indoor courts. Phelps did everything he could to make it tough on Sawyer but couldn't chase down enough winners to claim the first set. Phelps lost a tight match 7-5, 6-3. Graham, coming off of his best doubles performance of the season, faced another hard hitting player from BSC from the #4 position. The two players slugged away but Graham's inexperience became evident under the pressure situations and he couldn't quite convert his break point chances when getting them. His game is continuously improving and at this rate he will soon become an incredibly tough competitor at any position he plays. Eliot Blatt had a very hard fought long three set match from the #3 spot. He started off very hot, going up 4-2 in the first set, until his opponent picked his game up. The first set ended in a tiebreak that the BSC player took 7-4. In the second set Eliot was able to grind his way back to a 6-3 victory and seemingly had his opponents on the rope until the BSC player came out firing in the third set. After BSC got the early break in the 3rd their was no looking back and took the third set 6-2.

This put the Lynx down 2-4 with three matches left to be played. All had to be won in order for the Lynx to take the match and this is exactly what happened but not before a lot of drama and tense moments. Colin Perry at the #2 position won a relatively routine match 6-2, 6-4 with his dominating groundstroke play. Colin moved his opponent side to side every point and never gave up his ground to the bigger serving and hitting BSC opponent. Rob Steinwedell continued his dominant play from the #5 position and won the match 6-0, 6-1. Steinwedell served big, moved well, and finished points with his penetrating groundstrokes to win easily. He has been a very solid and consistent performer for the Lynx and has been working hard in practice to improve every aspect of his game.

With the match tied at 4-4 only Greyson Brilliant was left to play. He had a shaky start to the match going down 3-0 very quickly. Once he relaxed and got into the match things started to turn around. He made a run in the first set climbing back to 5-4 before eventually losing it 6-4. In the second set, with momentum rolling Greyson's way, he played intelligent tennis to win it 6-2. Greyson hit his heavy forehand and followed it to the net to finish off points. The match all came down to the third set and Coach Mann expressed after the match, "there was no player I'd rather have out there in this situation than Greyson". After trading breaks early in the 3rd set Greyson found himself down 4-5 serving to stay in it. His serve was shaky all afternoon but at match point down 30-40 he hit one of his biggest serves of the day. The serve was neutralized well but after an 18-ball rally Greyson saved the first match point of this match and went on to hold. Both players then broke each other to take the match to a tiebreaker, winner takes all. Greyson played confidently from the first point of the breaker, hitting his forehand and flying to net to finish the first two points to go up 2-0. He found himself up 6-4 with a match point of his own. He played an aggressive point which ended with him coming to net for a seemingly easy put away volley but tightened up just enough that the volley clipped the tape. Now it was 5-6 Greyson with a second match point returning serve. There was a long grueling rally that eventually the BSC player hit just long and thus the match was over. It was a great moment for this young team. It was their real first test of nerves and confidence which came at a great time in the season. "So close to the conference tournament this kind of win will give us a boost of confidence going further into SAA play", said Coach Hatgas afterwards.

The Lynx are back in action April 6 and 7 at Sewanee and at Centre.
Go Lynx!