To RUSRC Members:
Hi Again!
Showing how much work we have to do to come upto par the RUSRC went down to another 4-1 loss in last night's match with the Pretty Brook Country Club. The single high point was #3 Michael Bain's 'come from behind' win over Kinsey Dyckman.Two other RUSRC losses by #5 Gheorghe Muresan to Buzz Woodworth (2-3) and by #6 Tom Stanley to Sam McCleery(1-3) went down as good showings for us because they went the distance.The rest of us #1 Ferez Nallaseth,#2 Saad Rathore and #4 Charles Hecksher went down 3-0 on the state of the art courts which however were a bit slow and cold.Something that good players can and do adjust to.
To recap the high point Michael Bain was down 0-2 to Kinsey Dyckman in two hard played games.It was clear that Kinsey controlled line,depth and angles.But Michael was unrelenting in his recoveries- with his single most effective weapon being tight high rails on the backhand.Although Kinsey could drop and drive cross courts into the deep backhand corners putting Michael in trouble Michael occasionally recovered and managed to put Kinsey back on his heels.And although Kinsey won the first two games they took their toll and the third game went overtime 10-8 to Michael.The 'dig' pretty much put Michael in charge of the match 1-2(retired Kinsey).
At this point we were down 0-2 in other matches.But it looked like Gheorghe Muresan was about to give the RUSRC a little respectability when his match was tied 2-2 with Buzz Woodworth .Clearly the faster of the two,Gheorghe still did not cover the court as effectively as Buzz - who was not going to go down quietly!Gheorghe and Buzz drove,absorbed pace with short length balls and feathered drops while covering the court corner to corner.But it ended with another win for Pretty Brook CC (Buzz over Gheorghe) 3-2.
The sole RUSRC Intercollegiate team representative (undergraduate) Tom Stanley also put on a good showing going down 1-3 to the clearly more experienced Sam McCleery.Sam kept Tom on his heels forcing half court and three quarter court returns that he either cut off with short drives or boasted into the corners.Several of Tom's rails 'pinched' and presented easy openings for Sam who again either dropped or drove them into the front corners.But staying in the match was a good start for Tom.
Jamie Herring took out Ferez Nallaseth in a painfullly short match.So this does not become an embarrasing mea culpa - the low points on my part were lack of depth,too many cross courts and boasts from the back court and the squandering of a 7-3 second game lead built up on Jamie's only weakness on the occasion - deep backhand rails.And the high points of Jamie's game?- almost everything.Dominating the T he sent the balls deep into the corners and cut off rails with volleys and boasts.The match ended with a 3-0 loss for us.
Charles Heckscher of the RUSRC played Bill Nicoll in the first match of the day.Bill has been recovering from surgery on his racquet hand and so has adapted and taught himself to play with his left hand.He showed none the worse for this on this and other occasions in League matches!In a match that went wall to wall with Charles trying everything to reverse all the balls to Bill's backhand - and his own forehand.But Bill would generally manage to cut off most crosscourt lobs on the cold courts with the rallies inevitably ending up as rails on Charle's backhand and Bill's forehand.Coupled with short drives and feathered drops Bill wrapped it up with a 3-0 win.
The last match of the day between Saad Rathore of the RUSRC and Bob White of the PBCC was another right handed -left handed matchup that went 3-0 to Pretty Brook!Technically it was the highlight match!Bob White had played #1 for Princeton's Varsity team and displayed the awesome combination of racquetwork,footwork and conditioning that came from both his Princeton days and his subsequent residency in London's (UK) Squash League Cauldron.Similarly,Saad Rathore trained by Pakistan's World Champions Jansher Khan and Qamar Zaman and rejuvenated by his recent ventures onto the Collegiate / Club circuits was not to be outdone.There was a spectacular exchange of volley drives and drops that followed drive on drive or drives turned into boasts.Full court sprints ending in bone jarring stops and stretches flowing into feathered drops.Each 'wrong footed ' the other with delayed drives and drives turned into crosscourts.But the end was inevitable as a drenched Saad started hanging in the back court and turning otherwise perfectly executed delayed drops into crosscourt lobs that seemed to have Bob leaning in the opposite corner but ended up going out of the court!Bob put on his trademark and unrelenting pressure with rifle shot drives and cross court volley drives into the corners winning 3-0.Saad recognising the effectiveness of some Volley drives and drops felt Bob owed him a clinic and was graciously obliged!
Pretty Brook Country Club were gracious hosts and generous with the salves (goodies).We would like to thank them for the evening and our C/D level players are in for a treat this coming Jannuary.
Ferez Nallaseth
H.C.,RUSRC