By Charlie Leffler

Years from now when the University of Louisville men’s tennis team looks back on the 2002 Conference USA championships they will think of an asterisk. In their minds they will most likely see Louisville 3rd* and ask themselves “What if?”

Even though the Cards defeated 26th ranked TCU 4-2 on Sunday, they all know that it was the Saturday loss to Tulane that defined their weekend and inspired them in the consolation match.

Saturday both started off and ended badly for the Cards. Because of rainy weather on Friday, matches had been moved and times had been rescheduled. The Louisville-Tulane match was scheduled to begin at 12:00 but the first serve wasn’t lobbed up until 3:00 p.m.

The evenness of the contest was foreshadowed as the first two doubles matches were decided with each team picking up a win 8-4. Louisville’s Cody Conley and Octavian Nicodim fell to Micheal Kogan and Victor Romero at the No. 1 spot while the Cards’ Matt Mayer and Brent McCombe picked up the victory against Hannu Piiroinen and Goran Vasiljevic by the same score.

The doubles point came down to a difficult and evenly fought contest on court three. Louisville’s Sebastian Aspillaga and Paulo Carvahlo battled it out against Mattias Westerberg and Jorge Lievano sending the match into a tiebreaker after the other matches had finished. With fans lining the fence and cheering both teams on, the rivalry was intense but Aspillaga and Carvahlo eventually fell in a tiebreak 8-9, (4-7) and Tulane picked up the point.

The evenness of play continued as singles play began. Carvahlo, still tired from his long doubles match quickly fell to Romero 5-7, 2-6 at the No. 2 spot and at No. 6, McCombe was quickly removed from action by Piiroinen 4-6, 2-6 giving Tulane a 3-0 lead.

But with the Green Wave only needing one more win to seal the match the Cards found life as Alex Sivertsen blazed to a win over Vasiljavic 7-2, 6-1 at No. 5.

The most bitter battle of all was occurring on the No. 1 court where the feisty Conley was taking on a hot-headed Kogan; a player who at one time was ranked No. 6 in the country and in the top-500 in the world. After a controversial call Conley lost the first set 5-7.

Meanwhile, on court four, Mayer had jumped out to a 6-3 win in the first set against Lievano but fell 2-6 in the second. As Mayer moved to the deciding set, Nicodim won his slow moving first set at the three spot against Westerberg 7-5.

Back on court one, Conley was racing and diving after every ball. On one particularly outstanding play the junior slid chest first across the surface of the court to save a hit only for it to lob up for Kogan. As Conley lay helpless on the ground Kogan lined up for a slam but sent the ball straight into the net. Conley continued to play inspiringly pulling out a 6-2 win in the set.

But things were looking bad on court four where Mayer had fallen behind 2-5. If Lievano won the next set the match was over, but the pressure only seemed to fuel Mayer. Digging deep, the Louisville player fought back from the depths and sent the match into a tiebreak.

“The third set Matt was really trying to lift the level, but that guy was playing too good,” said Louisville head coach Rex Ecarma. “But I’ve seen him (Mayer) do this before. He gets energized by a challenge. He gets really inspired to see if he can climb a mountain on a court. He’s the best guy on the team in these type of situations.”

It appeared everything was now on Mayer’s shoulders. The fans lined the sides of the court and the noise was extremely loud as an entertaining and finely fought tiebreak had the advantage seesawing back and fourth. Mayer eventually pulled out the victory 11-9 in the tiebreak and narrowed the Tulane overall lead to 3-2.

“It was pretty nailbiting,” said Mayer. “I was down 5-2 in the third set then had a few lucky shots come my way. Then in the tiebreaker, one on the net kind of rattled back and forth then went for me. He (Lievano) is known for having long matches like that to so I just had to stay in it and keep my head up.”

“He really came through,” said Ecarma. “He loves it when a crowd is behind him. I’ve never seen a guy love the crowd the way he does. He loves all the yelling and screaming and chants and cheers and jeers. He’s into that. I think that’s one of the reasons he plays college tennis.”

At the same time, Conley had pulled out to a 5-4 lead on court one and Nicodim had tied his match at 5-5. The Mayer victory looked as if it would inspire the Cards into the championship match, but it was not to be.

With his match in control on court one, Conley was suddenly struck with leg cramps. As he lay on the ground, medical personnel attempted to massage the cramps away but to little avail. Conley attempted to continue playing but he could not even leave his feet on serves or chase after shots. After having led 5-4, Conley did not score another point, falling 5-7 handing Tulane the win 4-2.

“I was up 5-4 in the third set and I was serving 30-15 and my legs started cramping the whole third set pretty much,” said Conley, “but it wasn’t to the point where I couldn’t stand up. When I was up 30-15, I could feel it coming. I just wanted to close it out with a couple of big serves so I wouldn’t have to move very much. When I went up to serve my legs just stuck. I couldn’t bend them one inch. When that happens you can’t do anything.”

Following the match Conley had to be carried by players from the court. He was diagnosed as being dehydrated and given fluids intravenously. The entire match had taken nearly four and a half hours ending seven hours after it was supposed to have begun.

“I had the match right there,” said Conley. “I felt like I was going to win. I pretty much controlled the whole match. It was bad, really bad.”

After having played until 11:00 p.m. on Friday night, Conley’s body did not have time to fully recover. “The way Cody plays, his style of game is so physical,” said Ecarma. “The guy is such an emotional player. That exhausts you. That makes you sweat.”

“Obviously we had our opportunities to win the doubles point- we lost in a tiebreaker,” said Ecarma. “Cody was winning the first set and there was some controversy with the official and that ended up giving the first set to Tulane and then he won the second set. Theoretically, he should have won that in two sets… Octavian would have brought it home and we would have been in the finals.”

The loss put the Cards into the consulation match on Sunday agianst the No. 1 seed TCU. “We talked about it in the sense that on the fourth and final day we want to be playing TCU, the highest ranked team,” said Ecarma. “And we did play them on the fourth and final day but it happened to be for third instead of first.”

The Cards’ week had already included a three hour match on Thursday followed by a four hour match on Friday night then four and one half more on Saturday. Needless to say, the Cardinals were physically drained going into their match against the Horned Frogs. Yet, it was proof of the player’s heart, spirit and drive that they pulled out the win 4-2.

Ecarma only told his players one thing going into the match. “Our message from the coaching staff was, ‘we know you don’t have any legs, but you have heart and you have will. And when you have those two things, anything can happen’ and it did.”

“It takes it’s toll on your body that’s for sure,” said McCombe. ” I think every guy on the team was tired, they’re weary, their legs are feeling heavy, but our hearts were still fresh and that’s the main thing. In the end I think we just wanted it a bit more than those guys.”

But the victory did not come easy. U of L picked up the doubles point but two of the matches went to a tie-break. In singles, Mayer quickly dispatched Alex Menichini at No. 4 6-4, 6-1 then began running from court to court to encourage his teammates. At No. 5 Sivertsen fell to Daniel Scholten 2-6, 5-7 but Carvahlo pulled off an intense win over Fabrizio Sestini at No. 2 6-4, 3-6, 6-2. So, when Conley fell to Toni Gordon 3-6, 5-7 at No. 1 the score stood at 3-2 with two matches still in progress. Both of which were teetering back and forth.

Nicodim’s match with Daniel Wajnberg at No. 3 was slow moving but every time the TCU player would gain an advantage Octavian would retie the score.

Meanwhile on No. 6 the situation for McCombe did not look good. After falling 5-7 in the first set against Willy Gali McCombe found his back agianst the wall at 3-5 in the second and was one set away from being closed out. But the senior was not about to end his season that way.

“I was in trouble, I’m not going to deny that,” said McCombe. “I think I was 5-3 down in the second set but I dug my way out of that. Then my confidence began to build. I never thought I was going to lose but I knew I was in trouble.”

McCombe pulled back even and eventually took the lead winning the second set 7-5 then closing out the match 6-4.

As the players raced to court six they were nearly too exhausted to celebrate. The match had gone on for nearly five hours and they had played nine and one half out of the last 23.

“I can’t tell you how much a pleasure it was to coach this team this weekend,” said Ecarma “because they really played with a lot of heart.”

“It was, especially seeing how close we were yesterday, that went down to the wire.”

Still the players as well as the coaches will most likely put and asterisk by the third place finish. “I’m happy about our achievements,” said Ecarma. “But also in the back of my mind it’s hard not to think that if Cody Conley didn’t cramp up…It’s hard not to think about that.”

By Sarah Weller

The career of Edward Norton as one of Hollywood’s most compelling actors is not just your average success story. In fact, Norton graduated from Yale with a bachelor’s degree in history before he even hit the Hollywood scene. While in college, he participated in theatre productions, which led to an invite into a Signature Theatre Company production. In 1996, after teen heartthrob Leonardo DiCaprio turned down the lead role in a movie titled Primal Fear, the director, in his search for a replacement, was blown away by the then-unknown Norton’s impressive audition. In his feature film debut, Norton’s amazing performance as an altar boy accused of murder turned him into an acclaimed Golden Globe winner and an Academy Award-nominated actor.

Norton has played a wide diversity of roles, from an FBI Agent in his latest film, Red Dragon, to a priest in Keeping the Faith, and even a Barney-like children’s television personality in Death to Smoochy. Also on his resume are directing and producing credits for Keeping the Faith and a screenplay writing credit for longtime girlfriend Salma Hayek’s new film Frida, in which he made a cameo appearance.

Norton is probably most acknowledged for his portrayal of controversial characters. In his second Academy Award-nominated performance in American History X, Norton played Derek Vinyard, a modern-day white supremacist who eventually reforms after spending some time in prison. While this emotionally charged movie is hard to watch, it is a must for fans of Norton’s acting range and proficiency.

Norton’s other controversial role came in the controversial movie The People vs. Larry Flynt, a film depicting the life of Hustler Magazine mogul Larry Flynt; Norton played his lawyer, defending Flynt’s right to freedom of speech. Norton’s other film credits include Fight Club, The Score, and Rounders, among several others.

In addition to an exceptionally impressive resume of films, Norton also has professional theatre experience under his belt. Since his start in 1994 with the Signature Theatre Company in New York City, he has taken part in a variety of plays; most recently, Norton performed with his Death to Smoochy co-star Catherine Keener in Burn This, a play by Pulitzer Prize-winner Lanford Wilson.

Norton is respected because of his impressive career, articulate and charming personality, and natural talent, but we can’t leave out his charisma and eye-catching good looks. At the young age of 33, with several projects ahead of him, there is no doubt that Edward Norton will be around for a very long time. Thanks, Leo.

Next up for Norton is The 25th Hour, a film by director Spike Lee which depicts the last day a man named Monty Brogan (Norton) has before beginning a 7-year prison term for drug dealing.