AU's regular-season Men's Tennis match against Army in late March was an epic, spanning over four hours and won in the final singles match on court.
In the rematch - this Sunday's Patriot League championship - AU clinched victory before church let out.
After dropping the doubles point in a match starting at 9 a.m. at AU, the Eagles rallied to win four straight singles matches to secure a 4-1 win and their third straight PL title. Amid the emotion of five seniors playing their last home match, and head coach Martin Blackman managing his, the Eagles kept their composure.
"After the doubles point, I knew Army came to play," Blackman said. "But my feeling also was that they were playing on emotion ... if we could stay loose in singles and start well, we could win."
They did just that. Third seed senior Guillaume Tarraulle and fifth seed Ruben Rivero easily disposed of their opponents. Tarraulle downed Army's John Houghton, 6-4, 6-2, and Rivero took apart Michael Good, 6-3, 6-0.
With AU up 2-1, sixth seed senior Andreas Kulscar dismissed Sebastian Sabia, 6-4, 6-4, leaving AU one point away from victory, with three matches still undecided.
Enter No. 2 seed senior Jonah Fliegelman. Having not played above the fourth seed prior to April, Fliegelman has become a fixture in the top two seeds since. He showed why on Sunday, neatly disposing of Rafael Albornoz, 6-3, 6-4, to clinch the victory.
"We got halfway through the season," Blackman said of the decision to move Fliegelman up, "And our record in seeds one to three was very erratic, and Jonah had won 12-of-13 matches. We felt he deserved to take a shot. It's worked out quite nicely."
"To play at one or two was a dream," Fliegelman said. "Everybody on the team wants it, even the guys who aren't in the match. Coach and Kyle [Bailey, assistant coach] decided it was time I get a chance to play high - all credit to them"
As Fliegelman closed out his match, first seed senior Tushar Garg and fourth seed Juancarlo Vazquez battled in their own matches. Garg trailed Army's John Sabia, 4-1, in the third, while Vazquez led Karl Fisher 4-1 in the second set, after dropping the first. The scores were unimportant, Blackman and Fliegelman said. Just staying on the court was vital.
"It was critically important to have those guys on the court," Blackman said. "Even if they're losing, Army doesn't have the emotional advantage of knowing they have another point. I told Tushar in his match, 'win or lose, you have to find a way to stay on the court.'"
Garg, Vazquez and the rest of the Eagles mobbed Fliegelman seconds after he served out the match. Minutes later, PL officials presented the runner-up championship and most valuable player trophies. Tarralle, who has been very successful stepping down into the third seed, was named MVP.
Things grew emotional when Bailey announced Blackman's farewell, thanking him on behalf of the program. Much of what was a very spirited crowd throughout the morning grew somber and teary-eyed. Blackman only managed to tell the crowd, "I just want to say how much I love doing my job," before choking up.
Bailey and the team handed Blackman a gift - two tickets to see the Marley family at Wolftrappe in August - and doused Blackman with Gatorade.
"At this point, I feel like part of the AU family," said Blackman, who is leaving to instruct at a youth tennis academy in Maryland.
Blackman cited family obligations as the reason he is leaving AU.
"There's a lot of travel in college tennis," he said. With three young children, "I didn't feel I could continue to do a good job as a coach, father and husband."
As Blackman leaves AU, so do Garg, Fliegelman, Tarralle, Kulscar and Rivero., one of the best senior classes in recent AU history.
AU's goal, as it was at the beginning of the season, still hasn't been accomplished and won't be accomplished anywhere near Nebraska Avenue.
"We've had two tries," Fliegelman said of reaching the NCAA tournament. "Even though most people don't expect it, to be honest, to not win in the first round would be a disappointment to us."
Blackman's team will take a week off, before resuming training for the tournament, which begins May 14. Blackman said the location of their regional will be announced this weekend.
