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March 29, 2005
Men’s tennis wins national championship as Hamline allows no points in win over Gustavus
In a miracle season and a miracle finish, the men’s tennis team won the NCAA Div. III national tennis championship.
Hamline, which hasn’t had any tennis success in recent years, especially last year, shocked the college tennis world with their surprising upset victory over Gustavus. The Gusties, traditionally one of the nation’s best teams, failed to even score a point against the miracle boys of Hamline with golden rackets in hand.
“We’ve been holding on to these golden rackets for that special day, and today was that special day,” said Piper player Ben Watkins.
“I can’t believe how totally completely and utterly awesome this is. To beat the Gusties in a blowout, and somehow, and I mean I have no idea how we even did it, to win a national championship, I’m so happy I could skip around the parking lot for days.”
Hamline’s players wept the Gusties and set an NCAA all-division record with their perfect performance.
This was a remarkable come back for a struggling Piper program, which at the start of this season had lost all their games before turning things around on their spring break trip to Florida.
Watkins could hardly contain his excitement during the interview, shouting, “Boo ya!!! We’re the greatest tennis team ever! Even those Williams sisters couldn’t get one past us.”
“Take that pro tennis,” he added. “We’re the shit!”
Jon Henning, another Piper tennis player, felt much the same, adding, “Who is number one? That’s right, the Pipers. We’re number one. Hell yeah, we are the greatest team of all time. Did I mention, we’re number one, Hamline is number one!”
Andy Coutts, the assistant coach had great praise for his players. “I knew all along that if they put their minds to it, they could pull off a miracle. What miracle that was, I didn’t know until today. I used to think it would come in the form of conference wins, but this is amazing. These boys went out and performed with heart and great passion. They have truly created a great name for Hamline by destroying Gustavus in such style and superb fashion.”
Posted by msveum at March 29, 2005 01:40 PM
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