Still reeling from the loss of number 11 singles player Sam Rayner '06, men's tennis may have lost last Friday's match at St. Thomas before it even began. Rayner, ranked 11th in singles on what was an 11-man Macalester squad, may or may not have brought motivation, energy and commitment to the team. If he did, they probably could have used it during Friday's 8–1 loss, and if not … well, they would have lost anyway.

The Scots quickly found themselves in a 3–0 hole after being annihilated in doubles. Head coach Eric Eberhardt's newly concocted doubles teams were the subject of great scrutiny in the media this week, as Jake Depue '04 was brought up to number two doubles with David Yesilevskiy '03 moving down to play with doubles specialist Josh Fogt '03 at three.

The fans' support for the decision was mixed, as were the results on the court. While Depue and Spencer Edelman '06 were crushed 8-1 by Brian Thomas and Tut Fuller, Yesilevskiy and Fogt played better, losing a close 8–5 decision to John Thomas and Blair Madsen, one of the MIAC's best number three teams. At number one, Peter Loken '03 and Nick "Worthless" Werth '06 were smoked by the Central Region's eighth-ranked tandem of Matt Kramer and John Ryan, 8–3.

The Tommies' dominating performance continued right through to singles play, as number two Loken, number three Werth and number four Yesilevskiy all fell in straight sets. Werth's match against Tut Fuller was highlighted by heated and profanity-laced exchanges between the two players after nearly every point. Both teams' coaches were forced to separate the players during the feisty second set, eventually won by Fuller, 7–6(5).

During and after the match, Werth expressed his disappointment with several of Fuller's line calls, and tempers began to flare. "I was hungry for my first singles 'W,' and [Fuller] was just a [censored] piece of [censored]," Werth said.

"I was trying to get into his head. I was telling him, 'You're silly, I'm laughing at you, ha ha ha,'" Werth explained after toning his language down to a PG-rating.

The bright spot of the match for Macalester came at number one singles, where Depue earned perhaps the biggest win of his collegiate career with a dramatic 7–5, 1–6, (12–10) win over Kramer, the Central Region's 15th-ranked singles player. Depue fought hard to win a close first set, taking Kramer out of his usual serve-and-volley style by forcing him into long groundstroke rallies. Kramer bounced back after his early setback, however, easily winning the second set with an impressive display of his serving prowess and forcing a decisive third set supertiebreaker.

Depue ran out to a 7–5 lead in the superbreaker after hitting several passing shots for winners as Kramer approached the net. The tide changed quickly, however, as Kramer won the next four points to go up double-match point, 9–7.

But after another passing shot by Depue and a missed forehand volley by Kramer, the match was square at 9–9. After fighting off a third match point, Depue won three points in a row to close out the superbreaker and the match, 12–10.

"Midway through sophomore year, I realized that I would never reach the level of coolness needed to wear Abercrombie [and Fitch] and white backwards hats, but you know, I was willing to do anything it took to hang out with those guys," Depue said. "I mean, they're just so cool, maybe now they'll want to hang out with me."

After Edelman and Brandt finished out their matches, both losing in straight sets, the Scots packed up the van and blazed out of the parking lot, ready to enjoy their respective Friday evening activities and comforted by the knowledge that they do not have to spend any more time on St. Thomas' campus for the rest of the year (unless they need passing grades in advanced-level foreign language courses). The St. Thomas supporters were very hospitable, however, as the brownies and cookies that they had brought could tackle any case of munchies the hungry Eberhardt Xtremists (who missed dinner due to the early 6:30 p.m. start) may have had.

Though the Scots have started out 1–4 overall, they can climb back to within one game of .500 this weekend assuming they beat Gustavus Adolphus, ranked third nationally and winners of last weekend's 2003 Division III National Indoor Championships, and Wisconsin-Whitewater.

"Gustavus will be a challenge," Depue said. Loken took Depue's comments one step further, saying, "Bring it. They don't have [censored—there might be kids reading]. We can go [to St. Peter's] or play here, we'd take them out either way."

Though Macalester is the only team to take points off of Gustavus in both 2001 and 2002, my bookie said he'll give me 10,000:1 odds on the Scots winning the overall team match this Saturday. Yeah, I'd say they'll be a "challenge."

After beating Gustavus, the Scots must be careful to not lose their focus against Whitewater. Assuming everything goes as planned, Macalester's chartered transportation vehicle will be arriving in the Athletics parking lot around 11 p.m. Saturday, for those of you looking to cheer the Scots upon their arrival.

"We're improving a lot and learning in every match, but we're just missing something—we're missing that spark," Loken said. "But we're coming along fine, and after this weekend, we'll have taken a big step towards the national championship."