-SPORTS
Men's tennis team nrapsns I The Backstop
WWW.GUILFORDIAN.COM
for ODAC tournament
By MacKeyizie Perkins
Staff Writer
On April 14, the Guilford men's tennis team walked
away victorious from their match against Roanoke
College with a final score of 5-4. It was the first time
anyone currently on the team could remember beating
Roanoke.
The victory in the match against Roanoke raised
Guilford's Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC)
ranking from the number six position to number five.
Prior to the game, Roanoke was ranked third place in
the ODAC.
"The general feeling today was that we were playing
the number three team and we probably won't win, but
we did win," said the men's tennis coach Art Tourez. "So
now, the guys know. They got their confidence now."
Guilford first-year Andre Arguimbau defeated
Roanoke's Matt Nadolny 6-3, winning the singles match
that "closed out the points" as he put it, meaning that it
decided Guilford's overall win.
"But the standard was set in the doubles match,"
Arguimbau said, indicating that the resulting team win
was a collective effort.
For a team to win a tennis match the final score must
add up to a total of nine points. Roanoke forfeited two
points to Guilford before the game even began because
they only brought five players with them to Greensboro.
"Even so, it wasn't an easy win," said Arguimbau.
With only five players, the Roanoke team was unable
to compete in three doubles matches as is customary,
so they only played two. Guilford's number one and
two players, seniors Will Mason-Deese and Alec Chase,
paired up against Roanoke's number one and two, Jon
Roy and James Lee, and lost 5-8. The number three and
four players of each team played on the adjacent court.
In the second doubles match, Guilford's Arguimbau
and first-year Mark Cheong defeated Roanoke's Matt
Nadolny and Ralph Migliarese 8-4.
Guilford also won tiieir two matches prior to the
April 14 game. In the April 11 match against Randolph
College, Guilford won 9-0 and in the April 10 match
against Lynchburg College, Guilford won 6-3.
The match against Roanoke was a critical one in
determining the lineup of teams that will compete in the
ODAC tournament.
"We started (the season) against some really tough
teams and had some difficult matches, and we're now
getting into some conference matches where we have a
reasonable likelihood of winning," said Tourez.
The match against Roanoke put Guilford's total for
the season at 4-3 with two more matches to go before the
conference tournament.
"If we win both (matches) we have a good chance to
be fourth or fifth in the conference going into the tourna
ment," said Tourez. "We have an excellent chance to win
the first round in the conference and hopefully go on to
the semis and do our best."
Guilford has since played out those two remain
ing matches. On Saturday, April 17, Guilford lost to
Emory & Henry College 4-5, and on Sunday, April 18,
Guilford defeated Randolph-Macon College 9-0, leaving
the men's team 5-4 going into the tournament.
Tourez expressed some of the goals he has for the
men's tennis team in the ODAC tournament.
"As a team I feel it's very important for us to, as a
minimum, get to the second round," said Tourez. "We
really don't want to go in one and done. We'd like to go
in and say we didn't just make it to the conference, we
made an impact on the conference."
Aridro Arguirtihau 'T3
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How growing up in Boston
tortures me
You know those shots you have to get when you are bom?
I was born and raised in Boston, and I think they added a
shot for me and all other Bostonian babies; ILTBRS — other
wise known as "I Love The Boston Red Sox."
The Sox play 162 games in a season. In 2009, the average
Red Sox game lasted three hours and 12 minutes. That's over
500 hours of my time. Of course, I don't watch every game,
especially since I don't have the Boston cable setup.
But sitting in a chair for over three hours, watching pitch
after pitch, foul ball after foul ball, out after out, can be worse
than watching "Avatar" for the dialogue.
But therein lies the beauty of baseball. You sit in a chair,
sip an iced tea, watch pitch after pitch, feel the Red Sox drain
your spring day happiness as they give up mns over a two
and a half-hour period. They go down 5-3, and then, in the
late innings, when you are cursing your upbringing, they
spark a comeback. David "Big Papi" Ortiz caps off the come
back with a bomb of a home run into an ocean of ecstatic
Bostonians. That crack of a home mn off a wooden bat is
more satisfying than a midday nap.
And that's how baseball tortures you. You'll sit there and
feel your blood curdle as the Red Siox slowly go down 5-3.
It's the bottom of the ninth inning and the Sox have one out
left or the game is over. They load up the bases so a hit could
tie or even win the game. You rise to your feet even though
you are alone in your gray-walled dorm room on a gorgeous
spring night. Suddenly it hits you that your entire day hinges
on whether the Sox win the game — you didn't plan your
day like this. Then David Ortiz swings and misses for strike
three.
I've tried everything when it comes to baseball. I've tried
quitting, but that proves impossible again and again —
remember the shot Boston gave me? I've tried watching only
when I know the game is dose or the Sox are winning, but
that leads to either minimal satisfaction (apparently you need
to be tortured by baseball for it to be rewarding), or a feeling
of guilt if they lose. I feel the Sox lost because I started watch
ing (baseball is superstitious by nature).
The Red Sox went 86 years without winning a World Series
until 2004. Some Bostonians never saw them win a title until
the year tihey died. Imagine that satisfaction. Some people
went through what I go through, on a daily basis and weren't
fortunate enough to see the Sox ever mn a World Series. I still
diink if they read this artide, they'd roll over in their graves.,,,
That's enough to keep me watching ... I guess.
iiiiililn»iiiR
Compiled byWill Cloyd
5-4
- >
Record of the men's
tennis team in the
ODAC going into
the ODAC tourna
ment. The Quakers
beat Randolph-
Macon 9-0 on April
18 to achieve the
record as well as the
fifth seed in the ODAC tourna
ment.
Saves made by
senior goalie
Alyzza-May
Callahan in the
women's lacrosse
loss to Roanoke
on April 17.
Guilford lost the
game 18-5 despite
Callahan's efforts and two goals
by hrst-year Emily Egan.
3rd
Average fin
ishing position]
by the men's
golf team in
match play
in their nine
tournaments
this season.
Guilford had their best finish
when they finished first in the
Johnny Palmer/Old North
State Invitational Feb. 22-23.
Projected
draft position
for former
Nebraska DT
Ndamukong
SuhinNFL
draft expert ^
Mel Kiper's mock draft. Kiper
predicts the St. Louis Rams will
select Suh ahead of heralded
QBs Sam Bradford, Colt McCoy,
and Jimmy Clausen in the draft
which begins April 22.