Hardway Humbled; Hangs Tough to Earn
Unfortunately for our heroes,
Tim was a no-show and team chemistry showed up late as Hardway goes three and
three on the night, bringing their record to 19 up and 5 down.
The first match, against Orange Power saw the team mostly
frustrated, and struggling to find any offensive rhythm.
“… just couldn’t get anything
started early on. Getting behind early on something we can usually come back
from, but we never found a turning point” said Justin Park.
Newcomer
Allison Stevens found some success at the service line, proving that getting it
over is half the battle, and her consistency was a bright spot in the losses.
Hardway salvaged the second game with some excellent
judgment and timely serving, but lost the deciding game much the like the
first.
Things turned around in the second match, taking the second
and third games in relatively dramatic fashion. Backed by the excellent serving
streaks from Steven Johnson and Matt Simpson, Hardway found holes in the sand
worked hard at the net to salvage the victory. Kim Johnson provided some much
needed on-court leadership to set up defense strengthened the back line.
“It’s all going to come down to who we can get in the sand
with us in the playoffs” remarked Steven, after putting in his night’s work.