Photo by: UCR Athletics Media Relations
Ryan's Remarks: A New Blog From Men's Tennis Player Ryan Stanbury
3/24/2011 9:15:50 AM | Men's Tennis
UC Riverside men's tennis senior Ryan Stanbury has started writing a blog for gohighlanders.com. Curious about what it's like to be a student-athlete at an NCAA Division I institution? Then Ryan's Remarks are for you!
Check out Ryan's sixth installment on the 2010-11 Highlanders men's tennis program below, or brush up on his first five blogs. Want to ask Ryan questions? Go ahead and email your questions and he will answer them for you on this blog.
Hi again Highlander tennis fans. I apologize for the long break between blogs, I know you all have been on pins and needles waiting to hear from me.
Lots has happened since my last blog, as we began conference play just two weeks ago, walking into the buzz-saw that was #55 Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and #67 UC Santa Barbara on consecutive days. We dropped both those matches by identical scores of 7-0, failing to give either team a run for their proverbial money.
That said, all was not lost this weekend as we tweaked our doubles line-up in the UCSB match and found some new combinations that garnered good results.
Ok enough already with the mundane tennis news right? What you really want to know is what we ate right? … thought so. Once again on this trip we were graced with the presence of one illustrious Kisha E. Calbert, UCR academic counselor in the athletics department. Kisha is a wonderful person to caravan with because on long road trips she channels her inner Michael Waltrip and creates a great draft for Head Coach York Strother to sneak behind.
We made spectacular time getting up north, so much so that Quoc Doan had not yet awoke from his traditional three hour road trip nap. The drive up to SLO was scenic; Highway 101 through the Central Coast might be best stretch of California Highway with the exception of Highway 1. When we arrived in SLO, we were taken aback at how nice the hotel and surrounding area was; everything out there is so green!
Gary Heron, our esteemed strength and conditioning coach is a Cal Poly alum, and he provided us with excellent food recommendations which of course we followed. Due to NCAA provisions, I am not permitted to name the location where we ate here in the blog, but I can tell you that it is a very popular BBQ restaurant in the heart of SLO that on a Friday night was filled with inebriated students “scarfing” down large quantities of tri-tip, pulled pork, and fries. I had a delectable tri-tip sandwich, one of the best I have ever had. As a matter of fact, it was so good that after I finished mine I wanted a second, but the line was so far out the door that instead I bought half of Sean Peterson’s sandwich from him. San Luis Obispo is a real college town, and nowhere was this more evident than the restaurant that shall not be named.
After the match in SLO we trekked on down to Santa Barbara where we crashed for the evening before a morning match against the Gaucho’s the following day. UCSB has a solid team, and although we were competitive on several courts, we were only able to win one doubles match, thus falling 7-0.
Since that match, we have been upholding the “student” portion of our “student-athlete” title, as many of our players had finals the following two weeks. During this stressful academic time, we also had a match on the docket against the Gonzaga Bulldogs at the SRC. This was a particularly difficult match to prepare for because many of our players were missing practice that week to meet with teachers, turn in assignments, or take final exams.
We unfortunately lost to Gonzaga 5-2, dropping a very close doubles point, and losing three contested singles matches on courts 3, 4, and 5. Although it sounds repetitive now, this truly was another disheartening loss for the team, as we have lost so many close matches this year.
Currently, we are in the Bay Area for spring break, and let me tell you fans it is a wet one. The rain has been coming down in buckets, threatening to cancel several of our matches. We were able to get our match in yesterday against St. Mary’s College, losing 7-0, just before the rains came, but our match today against nationally ranked Santa Clara has been canceled due to rain.
Despite being indoors for the majority of our break, we’ve been having a pretty good time as a team…I will fill you in on our adventures into San Francisco among other activities in my next blog.
Check out Ryan's sixth installment on the 2010-11 Highlanders men's tennis program below, or brush up on his first five blogs. Want to ask Ryan questions? Go ahead and email your questions and he will answer them for you on this blog.
Hi again Highlander tennis fans. I apologize for the long break between blogs, I know you all have been on pins and needles waiting to hear from me.
Lots has happened since my last blog, as we began conference play just two weeks ago, walking into the buzz-saw that was #55 Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and #67 UC Santa Barbara on consecutive days. We dropped both those matches by identical scores of 7-0, failing to give either team a run for their proverbial money.
That said, all was not lost this weekend as we tweaked our doubles line-up in the UCSB match and found some new combinations that garnered good results.
Ok enough already with the mundane tennis news right? What you really want to know is what we ate right? … thought so. Once again on this trip we were graced with the presence of one illustrious Kisha E. Calbert, UCR academic counselor in the athletics department. Kisha is a wonderful person to caravan with because on long road trips she channels her inner Michael Waltrip and creates a great draft for Head Coach York Strother to sneak behind.
We made spectacular time getting up north, so much so that Quoc Doan had not yet awoke from his traditional three hour road trip nap. The drive up to SLO was scenic; Highway 101 through the Central Coast might be best stretch of California Highway with the exception of Highway 1. When we arrived in SLO, we were taken aback at how nice the hotel and surrounding area was; everything out there is so green!
Gary Heron, our esteemed strength and conditioning coach is a Cal Poly alum, and he provided us with excellent food recommendations which of course we followed. Due to NCAA provisions, I am not permitted to name the location where we ate here in the blog, but I can tell you that it is a very popular BBQ restaurant in the heart of SLO that on a Friday night was filled with inebriated students “scarfing” down large quantities of tri-tip, pulled pork, and fries. I had a delectable tri-tip sandwich, one of the best I have ever had. As a matter of fact, it was so good that after I finished mine I wanted a second, but the line was so far out the door that instead I bought half of Sean Peterson’s sandwich from him. San Luis Obispo is a real college town, and nowhere was this more evident than the restaurant that shall not be named.
After the match in SLO we trekked on down to Santa Barbara where we crashed for the evening before a morning match against the Gaucho’s the following day. UCSB has a solid team, and although we were competitive on several courts, we were only able to win one doubles match, thus falling 7-0.
Since that match, we have been upholding the “student” portion of our “student-athlete” title, as many of our players had finals the following two weeks. During this stressful academic time, we also had a match on the docket against the Gonzaga Bulldogs at the SRC. This was a particularly difficult match to prepare for because many of our players were missing practice that week to meet with teachers, turn in assignments, or take final exams.
We unfortunately lost to Gonzaga 5-2, dropping a very close doubles point, and losing three contested singles matches on courts 3, 4, and 5. Although it sounds repetitive now, this truly was another disheartening loss for the team, as we have lost so many close matches this year.
Currently, we are in the Bay Area for spring break, and let me tell you fans it is a wet one. The rain has been coming down in buckets, threatening to cancel several of our matches. We were able to get our match in yesterday against St. Mary’s College, losing 7-0, just before the rains came, but our match today against nationally ranked Santa Clara has been canceled due to rain.
Despite being indoors for the majority of our break, we’ve been having a pretty good time as a team…I will fill you in on our adventures into San Francisco among other activities in my next blog.
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