Hopefully, we'll get to hit tomorrow evening in Austin when we get in and a little bit Saturday morning before the match, so it won't be a difficult adjustment outdoors. At least, I hope it won't. |
I think I know them both very well. [Texas] beat us 4-3 here last year, and they have pretty much the same team back. They added one new player who's playing in the lower half of the lineup, and they're very talented. |
I think it's already affecting his play. He's hitting a bigger ball, he's taking the ball earlier, he's attacking more. We worked out individually today for about an hour, he and I, and I see a difference in the balls he's hitting. |
I think the confidence winning an event like that, particularly a national event, is going to vault him into another level of capabilities of the way he'll feel about himself on the court. He's going to play with more confidence and I don't think he's going to be afraid of anything. |
I think the goal is to win it this week. We only can control a little bit of our destiny with regards to the NCAA tournament - I think that's the bigger goal. |
I think the main focus is to get tomorrow's match over. To win the match tomorrow and not be extended physically, and be ready to go for Saturday - we'll expect tougher matches on Saturday. |
I think the schedule has toughened us and I've seen team go both ways on that. You can take hits and after a while your confidence erodes and you're not as good, but if you have the resolve to back it up you will really benefit from the level of competition you're seeing, and I think that's what we've done. |
In the era of big-money sports, I think a lot of our problems have gotten swept under the rug, and maybe they haven't meant to be. There is a tremendous sense of frustration among the rank and file. |
It shows you the quality of that win. |
It was a really good experience for us. The La Hoya Beach and Tennis Club is a terrific place to host an event - it's right on the Pacific Ocean. The courts are in great shape. The competition was great. It was everything we wanted it to be. |
It was very hard fought - we did have opportunities we didn't capitalize on. |
It's been a balance of both. That's the biggest thing, just getting used to the speed of the courts and heat and humidity and trying to fine tune the things we need to do a little better. |
Our top 3 teams all made it into the round of 32 but all of them lost in that round, and a couple of them had really close matches. |
That was a pretty solid win in fairly hostile territory. I'm very proud of the guys, the match - it was a big match for [Florida State], they had their band out playing during the match and a lot of promotional assistance and they had a big crowd. It was a fun atmosphere in which to play. |
That's a pretty big national event and we felt fortunate to get to the finals. We'd hoped to win it but I think we gave a pretty good accounting for ourselves and we're ready to go to Texas next weekend. |