Middle Tennesee State University Athletics
Photo by: Charlotte Athletics
Chris Edge's Dominating Day that Almost Never Was
4/28/2021 10:17:00 AM | Men's Tennis, BRAA
CHARLOTTE, N.C.—It was 5:30 a.m. Middle Tennessee State's Head Men's Tennis Coach Jimmy Borendame picked up a squeegee and started mopping the water off the outdoor courts at the Halton-Wagner Tennis Complex. He didn't sleep much the night before. Rain soaked the courts the previous night and his team had to start warm-ups at 10:00, so he didn't mind that he didn't have much sleep.
His team didn't get much sleep either. They all tossed and turned, ready for a chance to secure a second straight Conference USA Championship when they woke up a few short hours after Borendame began to prepare the courts.
However, for one man in particular, he got a little less sleep than everyone else associated with the Blue Raider tennis team.
As he rolled out of bed that morning, Chris Edge winced a little bit.
"When I got out of bed Sunday morning, I noticed that my wrist felt pretty stiff," Edge said. "I can remember thinking to myself 'this is definitely not good.'"
At 10:00 when the Blue Raiders arrived to begin warm-ups, Edge realized he wasn't making good contact with the ball when he hit his double-handed backhand shot. Not only that, but the pain eventually got to the point where he couldn't hit it at all.
"Edge likes to tease me sometimes and I like to tease him back, but at the same time we're both very sensitive" Borendame said. "He's a great kid and has a sense of humor. When he came up to me Sunday morning and told me that he couldn't hit a double-handed backhand, I asked him 'is this a bad April Fool's joke?'"
Indeed, it was not. There was some serious pain that Edge was experiencing. A million thoughts were running through the mind of his coach, and an almost overwhelming feeling of disappointment came over Edge.
The Blue Raiders were at a crossroads as an entire team.
"I'll admit, I didn't do the greatest job that morning of handling things as a head coach when we got to that juncture," Borendame said. "I learned a lot as a coach at that point because I have two great assistant coaches in Andrea Caligiana and John Kreis. They helped me out a ton in this particular moment."
Kreis, a longtime assistant at programs like Tennessee, Mississippi State and Alabama, unquestionably has a keen eye for the game. Having been around many championship players in his life, he knows what it takes to get the job done at the highest level of collegiate tennis.
Caligiana, a first-year assistant at Middle Tennessee who isn't long removed from playing the game himself, has developed a tight-knit bond with the players, particularly with Chris Edge. Over the span of the season, Caligiana could be seen watching over Edge playing. He knows what makes the senior left-hander tick.
Having to make a last-minute decision, Caligiana and Kreis met with Borendame to consider their options. Plan A: keep Edge in the lineup and hope for the best. After all, the Blue Raiders opponent Old Dominion didn't know exactly what was going on. Plan B: take Edge out of the lineup and consider playing Oskar Michalek, Sean Presson, Patrick Kristensen or Andreas Kramer. All four have provided great depth to the Middle Tennessee roster and would certainly have still given the Blue Raiders a good chance at winning.
After all three coaches convened, they decided that Chris Edge had more than earned the right to make the decision for himself. Having played through a wrist injury as a freshman, it's a situation that Edge has been in before, and the coaching staff knew that the now-senior would make the best decision for not only him, but his brothers that were preparing to go to battle.
"It was wrong of me because I didn't stay composed (when Edge told me he was hurt)," Borendame said. "All week we talked about staying composed. That was our motto for the tournament. I was rough on Edge. Thank God I had two really amazing assistant coaches who pulled me aside and helped me come up with a plan B."
"Coach (Kreis) gave me some really good advice," Borendame said. "He told me that Chris has been a horse for us. He's been really good in singles and doubles. He's a big point for us. You have to give him the control and let him make the decision on whether or not he plays. I agreed and right before I went to talk to Chris I was still in a mentally tough spot. Coach (Caligiana) saw that and came up to me and grabbed my wrist and said 'Jimmy, I really need you to be good to Chris and build him up.'"
Borendame walked over to Edge and told him that it was his right to make this call. Edge, who was admittedly nervous and a bit disappointed that he was hurt immediately put all of it aside. This was his chance to make the biggest impact on his team going into the biggest match of the season.
If you've had a chance to watch the left-hander play at all over the past four years, you've seen the fashion in which he wins. He's almost always the first one done, rarely plays a third set and helps his doubles partner play to a level of dominance that is unrivaled by few others in the country. He's a man that's always in control. He's a man that's always been unselfish and ready to do what's best for the team. In this moment, a moment of physical weakness, Edge was stronger and more composed than ever.
"We worked so hard to get to this point and be able to compete for a championship," Edge said. "I really wanted to contribute. I'd played single-handed before my freshman year when I hurt my wrist and done well. I really wanted to play. I just remember having this bad feeling that it was going to come down to my court and that I'd get bullied off the court because I had one hand. I know that we have incredible depth as a team too, and that any of the four other guys that weren't playing could step in and do the job."
Borendame walked over to the umpire and turned in the lineup card. Chris Edge's name wasn't on it.
Edge was confident in letting Borendame and the coaching staff make the final call. It wasn't easy to do, but the native of Great Britain put his trust in his teammates and coaches to carry the Blue Raiders to the finish line if needed.
An unselfish act that undoubtedly brought about a mixed bag of emotions for him, his teammates and his coaches.
"I was about to be pulled out of the lineup and Coach (Kreis) saw me hit a single-handed return when we were warming up," Edge said.
"I couldn't believe it, but Coach (Kreis) ran up to me and started screaming 'Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy!'" Borendame said. "(Kreis) asked me if I saw Edge hit that single-handed return and almost as if fate willed it to happen I turned around and just happened to see it out of the corner of my eye and I knew at the at juncture that we had to play (Edge). I ran as fast as I could and caught the umpire and asked him if he'd turned in the final lineup. He told me 'No, I haven't.' So I told him put Edge on the lineup. He's playing doubles and singles."
Call it fate, call it a miracle, call it pure-darn luck. In sports, when you have a gut-decision in an adverse situation, people always tend to turn to their gut.
The result? Chris Edge and Tom Moonen clinched the doubles point with a 6-2 win and Edge was the first man to finish in singles play with a decisive 6-1, 6-0 win, just like he's done all year. At that point, Middle Tennessee took a 2-0 advantage in the match and seized momentum, drawing inspiration from Edge's stroke of brilliance. Old Dominion didn't know, but his teammates knew just how huge of a moment this was for not only their season, but in the impressive career of Chris Edge.
"It's just crazy how it all came about and how we won it," Edge said. "I remember being scared and thinking that there was just no way I could play single-handed. When the coaches saw me hit that singled-handed shot, it was sort of a reminder to me of how well I did when I had to do it as a freshman. This was just one of my greatest-ever experiences."
After Edge's dominant win on court four, the points began to stack up for Middle Tennessee. With a 3-1 lead, Edge's doubles partner Tom Moonen won his third and final set to bury Old Dominion and solidify Middle Tennessee as a repeat Conference USA Champion.
Edge and his teammate's dogpiled Moonen. Borendame put his face in his hands and said a few words to himself. Known for his intense displays of emotion, Borendame let out a loud "Great job boys," and joined his team in the dogpile.
College tennis is a team sport, but Chris Edge's incredible amount of resolve, toughness and resilience etched the Blue Raiders name on the trophy before the match even started.
"(Edge's accomplishment) gives me the goosebumps," Borendame said. "It was inspiring for his teammates and inspiring for me and he taught me a valuable lesson as a coach. He's really gifted and he's a great teammate both on and off the court. His value to this program and his team is priceless."
When the Blue Raiders arrived back in Murfreesboro, the trophy all safe and sound, Chris Edge headed back home to finally get a little bit of shuteye. In the late hours of what was now almost Monday morning, Chris Edge shut off the lights in his room, using that pesky wrist one last time for the day to flip the switch on the wall. If ever Edge was looking for another lights-out moment to end the most important day of his college tennis career, this was the one he was going to savor the most.
Anthony Fiorella is a writer for goblueraiders.com. Follow him on Twitter @a_fiorella74 and also follow @MTAthletics for more on the Blue Raiders.
His team didn't get much sleep either. They all tossed and turned, ready for a chance to secure a second straight Conference USA Championship when they woke up a few short hours after Borendame began to prepare the courts.
However, for one man in particular, he got a little less sleep than everyone else associated with the Blue Raider tennis team.
As he rolled out of bed that morning, Chris Edge winced a little bit.
"When I got out of bed Sunday morning, I noticed that my wrist felt pretty stiff," Edge said. "I can remember thinking to myself 'this is definitely not good.'"
At 10:00 when the Blue Raiders arrived to begin warm-ups, Edge realized he wasn't making good contact with the ball when he hit his double-handed backhand shot. Not only that, but the pain eventually got to the point where he couldn't hit it at all.
"Edge likes to tease me sometimes and I like to tease him back, but at the same time we're both very sensitive" Borendame said. "He's a great kid and has a sense of humor. When he came up to me Sunday morning and told me that he couldn't hit a double-handed backhand, I asked him 'is this a bad April Fool's joke?'"
Indeed, it was not. There was some serious pain that Edge was experiencing. A million thoughts were running through the mind of his coach, and an almost overwhelming feeling of disappointment came over Edge.
The Blue Raiders were at a crossroads as an entire team.
"I'll admit, I didn't do the greatest job that morning of handling things as a head coach when we got to that juncture," Borendame said. "I learned a lot as a coach at that point because I have two great assistant coaches in Andrea Caligiana and John Kreis. They helped me out a ton in this particular moment."
Kreis, a longtime assistant at programs like Tennessee, Mississippi State and Alabama, unquestionably has a keen eye for the game. Having been around many championship players in his life, he knows what it takes to get the job done at the highest level of collegiate tennis.
Caligiana, a first-year assistant at Middle Tennessee who isn't long removed from playing the game himself, has developed a tight-knit bond with the players, particularly with Chris Edge. Over the span of the season, Caligiana could be seen watching over Edge playing. He knows what makes the senior left-hander tick.
Having to make a last-minute decision, Caligiana and Kreis met with Borendame to consider their options. Plan A: keep Edge in the lineup and hope for the best. After all, the Blue Raiders opponent Old Dominion didn't know exactly what was going on. Plan B: take Edge out of the lineup and consider playing Oskar Michalek, Sean Presson, Patrick Kristensen or Andreas Kramer. All four have provided great depth to the Middle Tennessee roster and would certainly have still given the Blue Raiders a good chance at winning.
After all three coaches convened, they decided that Chris Edge had more than earned the right to make the decision for himself. Having played through a wrist injury as a freshman, it's a situation that Edge has been in before, and the coaching staff knew that the now-senior would make the best decision for not only him, but his brothers that were preparing to go to battle.
"It was wrong of me because I didn't stay composed (when Edge told me he was hurt)," Borendame said. "All week we talked about staying composed. That was our motto for the tournament. I was rough on Edge. Thank God I had two really amazing assistant coaches who pulled me aside and helped me come up with a plan B."
"Coach (Kreis) gave me some really good advice," Borendame said. "He told me that Chris has been a horse for us. He's been really good in singles and doubles. He's a big point for us. You have to give him the control and let him make the decision on whether or not he plays. I agreed and right before I went to talk to Chris I was still in a mentally tough spot. Coach (Caligiana) saw that and came up to me and grabbed my wrist and said 'Jimmy, I really need you to be good to Chris and build him up.'"
Borendame walked over to Edge and told him that it was his right to make this call. Edge, who was admittedly nervous and a bit disappointed that he was hurt immediately put all of it aside. This was his chance to make the biggest impact on his team going into the biggest match of the season.
If you've had a chance to watch the left-hander play at all over the past four years, you've seen the fashion in which he wins. He's almost always the first one done, rarely plays a third set and helps his doubles partner play to a level of dominance that is unrivaled by few others in the country. He's a man that's always in control. He's a man that's always been unselfish and ready to do what's best for the team. In this moment, a moment of physical weakness, Edge was stronger and more composed than ever.
"We worked so hard to get to this point and be able to compete for a championship," Edge said. "I really wanted to contribute. I'd played single-handed before my freshman year when I hurt my wrist and done well. I really wanted to play. I just remember having this bad feeling that it was going to come down to my court and that I'd get bullied off the court because I had one hand. I know that we have incredible depth as a team too, and that any of the four other guys that weren't playing could step in and do the job."
Borendame walked over to the umpire and turned in the lineup card. Chris Edge's name wasn't on it.
Edge was confident in letting Borendame and the coaching staff make the final call. It wasn't easy to do, but the native of Great Britain put his trust in his teammates and coaches to carry the Blue Raiders to the finish line if needed.
An unselfish act that undoubtedly brought about a mixed bag of emotions for him, his teammates and his coaches.
"I was about to be pulled out of the lineup and Coach (Kreis) saw me hit a single-handed return when we were warming up," Edge said.
"I couldn't believe it, but Coach (Kreis) ran up to me and started screaming 'Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy!'" Borendame said. "(Kreis) asked me if I saw Edge hit that single-handed return and almost as if fate willed it to happen I turned around and just happened to see it out of the corner of my eye and I knew at the at juncture that we had to play (Edge). I ran as fast as I could and caught the umpire and asked him if he'd turned in the final lineup. He told me 'No, I haven't.' So I told him put Edge on the lineup. He's playing doubles and singles."
Call it fate, call it a miracle, call it pure-darn luck. In sports, when you have a gut-decision in an adverse situation, people always tend to turn to their gut.
The result? Chris Edge and Tom Moonen clinched the doubles point with a 6-2 win and Edge was the first man to finish in singles play with a decisive 6-1, 6-0 win, just like he's done all year. At that point, Middle Tennessee took a 2-0 advantage in the match and seized momentum, drawing inspiration from Edge's stroke of brilliance. Old Dominion didn't know, but his teammates knew just how huge of a moment this was for not only their season, but in the impressive career of Chris Edge.
"It's just crazy how it all came about and how we won it," Edge said. "I remember being scared and thinking that there was just no way I could play single-handed. When the coaches saw me hit that singled-handed shot, it was sort of a reminder to me of how well I did when I had to do it as a freshman. This was just one of my greatest-ever experiences."
After Edge's dominant win on court four, the points began to stack up for Middle Tennessee. With a 3-1 lead, Edge's doubles partner Tom Moonen won his third and final set to bury Old Dominion and solidify Middle Tennessee as a repeat Conference USA Champion.
Edge and his teammate's dogpiled Moonen. Borendame put his face in his hands and said a few words to himself. Known for his intense displays of emotion, Borendame let out a loud "Great job boys," and joined his team in the dogpile.
College tennis is a team sport, but Chris Edge's incredible amount of resolve, toughness and resilience etched the Blue Raiders name on the trophy before the match even started.
"(Edge's accomplishment) gives me the goosebumps," Borendame said. "It was inspiring for his teammates and inspiring for me and he taught me a valuable lesson as a coach. He's really gifted and he's a great teammate both on and off the court. His value to this program and his team is priceless."
When the Blue Raiders arrived back in Murfreesboro, the trophy all safe and sound, Chris Edge headed back home to finally get a little bit of shuteye. In the late hours of what was now almost Monday morning, Chris Edge shut off the lights in his room, using that pesky wrist one last time for the day to flip the switch on the wall. If ever Edge was looking for another lights-out moment to end the most important day of his college tennis career, this was the one he was going to savor the most.
Anthony Fiorella is a writer for goblueraiders.com. Follow him on Twitter @a_fiorella74 and also follow @MTAthletics for more on the Blue Raiders.
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