Sports News: Young Upstart Santos Picks Up First Pong Win
D. Santos def. S. Santos 4-1 (21-15, 19-21,22-20, 21-13-21-18)

Despite losing the match 4-1 the brash young player Stephen Santos was able to pull off an important philosophical victory against the veteran Douglas Santos. Winning that single game broke a long string of losses for Stephen who previously had been unable to take a game against his mentor.

It was obvious right from the start of the first game that Stephen had come to play. He jumped on every shot blasting cross court shots from either the forehand or backhand. After leading for most of the game Steve surrendered the lead late as Doug battled back taking the majority of the late game points. Several precision down the line shots saved the game. The winner came on a net skimming shot that dribbled into the corner out of reach. Steve hurled shouts of “Cheap shot!” back across the net.

Steve continued his attack into the second game and was able to gain a large lead. Apparently sensing too much space between their scores, Doug stepped it up and went back on the offensive until catching up. However a crucial service fault gave Steve game point which he wasted no time capitalizing on. With the game in hand, Steve proceeds to celebrate – shouts of victory echoed through the hallowed corridors of Williams Hall. Only the threat of a technical penalty for “excessive celebration” brought him back to the table. Doug then gave his protégée fair warning “Your training days are over, it’s time to get serious.”

For the remainder of the match it appeared Stephen had simply run out of gas. Perhaps stunned by his own victory his remaining play lacked the intensity of the first two games. Douglas punished every soft serve and return with pinpoint blasts and overwhelmed the rookie, taking the remaining games.

The match demonstrated the enormous potential of the young Stephen. He has many dangerous weapons: the ability to take the ball early for quick returns, and powerful cross court shots from either the backhand or forehand that always manage to find the outside line. Still, there are many areas that demand improvement: a soft serve invites powerful returns, overall consistency, and work on positional play. Once these weaknesses are addressed, we see him having the potential to become a formidable player.