Escudero leads 5 Blue Devils at Clay Courts

Sometimes, winning isn't everything.

The Blue Devils traveled to the Suburban Club of Baltimore County last week for the annual T. Rowe Price Clay Court Championships, a tournament that, for the Blue Devils, is a yearly warm-up for the upcoming season.

"This tournament was more a 'let's have fun and see what you can do' tournament, than a 'win at all costs' one," said assistant coach Dave Hagymas, who traveled with the team to Pikesville, Md., while head coach Jay Lapidus stayed behind. "This is the only tournament all year on clay, so we don't go expecting too much. Most of our guys play relatively well on clay, but playing on that surface is rare."

Despite the general distaste for the surface, the Blue Devils had five players make it to the main draw-more than any other school. That list includes two players, Marko Cerenko and Andres Pedroso, who went through six matches of qualifying first. Three of the five Blue Devils made it past the first round.

Senior Pedro Escudero and juniors Ramsey Smith and Cerenko all won their opening matches. Escudero, a native of Valladolid, Spain, is a natural clay-court player. He shined in the yearly clay showdown, advancing farther than any Blue Devil in singles competition, making it all the way to the quarterfinals.

Cerenko, however, fell in the second round, and Smith followed him a round later.

"Overall I was real pleased with the way we played," Hagymas said. "We had no expectations coming in, but rather we used this as a 'get ready for competition' competition. This [tournament] showed that we are incredibly deep, and we should have a great year in store."

Senior Doug Root lost his opening match, 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 6-4, to qualifier Michael Blue of Texas, and then lost in the consolation round to Pedroso, 6-4, 6-2. However, he partnered with Smith to make it to the semifinals in the doubles competition.