[Breeze]

Well, things started out good in our match. Bear served extremely well in the first game, and we won. We pressed their serve a bit, but they held. I held and then they held to make the match 2-2. That was it...from this point forward we didn't win a game. There were a bunch of great rallies, a lot of movement and pressure from both sides, and a number of deuce games, but we invariably came out on the wrong side.

At first blush these guys didn't seem that great. They didn't hit like the guys we practice against (my brother and best friend), but in hindsight you realize they played extremely well. They did a number of things that caused us problems:

- They mixed up their shots a lot - mixing spins and pace
- They moved together exceptionally well, but in an atypical fashion - lots of crossing and covering
- They didn't make mistakes - they rarely (extremely rarely) hit a ball out, and only occasionally hit the ball in the net
- They pretty quickly identified our weaknesses - my lack of aggression at the net and Bear's inexperience and being out of position.

Neither Bear or I played very well (though a good bit of that should go to the other team dictating play), but even with both of our A games, I'm not sure we would have been able to win. Bear got extremely frustrated with all the missed shots and mistakes at the net, but I told him I'd rather he keep trying and learn than to back off the net just to win a few more points.

Hopefully, this helps us moving forward. Also this team that beat us is on the cusp of being ineligible for the playoffs due to having too high of a play rating.