Summer of the Eagles: Ben Pratscher

No more classes, no more books, no more teachers' dirty looks, right? (Well, not our Edgewood College professors. We love you!).

Summer is certainly meant to be a time for our Edgewood College student-athletes to take a break from their academics, recharge their batteries and without question, have some fun. For many Eagles, like Ben Pratscher, summer is a chance to give to others who could use a helping hand.

This summer Ben, an Edgewood College men's tennis player, was hired to the staff of the Appalachia Service Project (ASP). ASP recruits volunteers to work with low-income families in Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennessee and Virginia to renovate sub-standard housing and provide a warm, dry and safe place to live.

You can read all about Ben and his work with ASP on his blog "The Life of a Staffer." Follow the link and read about Ben and his volunteer teams working to put families in need in homes they can depend on.

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#Tweagles Talk: Tim Morgan

Another episode of #Tweagles Talk is here! If you don't follow him now, here is a good chance to change that! Maybe you can ask him about his infatuation with Notre Dame football too....

Tim Morgan (Tennis) - @t_morgan13

751 Tweets / 410 Following / 163 Followers

Q. What is your Twitter handle and how did you come up with it?

A: @t_morgan13 - Not very creative, just my first initial and last name and 13 was always my favorite number.

Q. How often do you check Twitter?

A: I check twitter between 5-10 times a day.

Q. What would you say is your average number of Tweets?

A: I am more of a follower on twitter. I don't tweet that often, maybe once a week.

Q. Which of your teammates has the best Tweets and why?

A: Our team is kinda slacking in the twitter world, but I expect that to change as the season goes on.

Q. The people I follow in soccer are…

A: Mardy Fish (@MardyFish), Rafa Nadal (@RafaelNadal), Patrick McEnroe (@PatrickMcEnroe), Nike Tennis (@NikeTennis), Andy Roddick (@andyroddick), John Isner (@JohnIsner), Sloane Stephens (@sloanetweets).

Q. Someone who you wouldn’t think I follow is…

A: Emma Watson (@EmWatson) or Tyler Eifert (@EiferTy80)

Q. The people whose tweets you can’t miss…

A: Woody Paige's (@woodypaige) Chalkboard tweets. 

Q. I wish _____ was on Twitter.

A: Bo Ryan

Q. What Edgewood College coach or athlete do you wish was on Twitter?

A: I wish Chance [Hernandez] was on twitter. He always has great words of wisdom whenever I stop in the training room and I feel like he should share them with the world. 

Check out Tim and the rest of the Edgewood College men's tennis team as they play UW-La Crosse and the College of St. Scholastica this weekend. Click here to view their entire schedule.  

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Men's Tennis 2012 Season Preview

Head men's tennis coach Ben Oestreich previews the 2012 men's tennis season. The Eagles qualified for the NAC Tournament last year in their first season of varsity competition since 2000.

Men's Tennis Fall Preview:

Men's Tennis spring trip #7: The Double Blog edition

Rexford Shield of the men's tennis team is keeping a running diary of the Eagle men's and women's tennis team trip to Hilton Head, S.C...

On the fourth day, we rested. Everything was extremely laid back after an exhausting week of intense college tennis. Everyone pretty much had their own schedule and did as they pleased. The guys went to a local restaurant, grabbed some food, and watched some of the NCAA tournament games while the women went to the beach and the shops around noon time.

As a team, we then relaxed by the pool and soaked up the Hilton Head sun. What should come as a surprise is that we didn't do that much eating today due to the fact that we weren't in the house much. In the afternoon, Clint, Hannah, Cody, and Coach hit at the local tennis courts when everyone else went to little shops to buy some souvenirs; Tim, Vince, and I got some pretty sweet watches at a surf shop.

Then, the three of us came back and watched the Badgers beat Belmont while the others stayed in the town to eat dinner. It was a great day here in Hilton Head because we were able to clear our minds from tennis and enjoy our spring break for what it's worth. Most of us have avoided doing school work except Max and I, surprisingly. Tomorrow is our last day in great weather, then it's back to reality in Wisconsin. Go Eagles!

It was our last day in Hilton Head and we relaxed, once again. Like yesterday, everyone were on their own schedules with what they wanted to do. In the morning, everyone went to the outlet mall where they had tons of selections just like the one in Johnson Creek. It seemed that everyone found something that they were interested in. Vince and I then went to the shops again and picked out more souvenirs while others went for a sushi lunch.

Coach, Cody, and Max went to hit while everyone else stayed back and either took a nap, read, watched TV, or completed a puzzle. As a team, we went to Fuddruckers for dinner and that was absolutely delicious. Of course, we ate way too much but you only live once so it's okay to splurge. We packed up, cleaned the house, and laid around the rest of the night.

Personally, I had a blast on the trip because it was extremely warm weather, I was able to experience another part of the country, and I got to spend my spring break with my great teammates. We won't remember what the final scores were; we will remember the memories and the laughs that we had on the trip and those are priceless. I hope everyone appreciated the spring break blog and I hope it gave everyone a glimpse of how great our team is. We have a very early morning tomorrow with our flight leaving at 7 am which means we have to leave the house at 3:30 am. It's the end of paradise and back to reality of the college life. Go Eagles!

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Men's Tennis spring trip #6: Throw Vince in the Pool edition

Rexford Shield of the men's tennis team is keeping a running diary of the Eagle men's and women's tennis team trip to Hilton Head, S.C...

It calls for a celebration. Vince, the senior walk-on, won his first match of the season 6-4, 6-2 against FDU-Florham in the nightcap of our matches today.

We had a 7:15 am wake-up call and traveled to Hilton Head High school where we played Heidelberg. The men lost 1-8 and the women won 8-1. John and Tim collected our lone victory on the men's side where they absolutely dominated.

We had some time off between our early match and the late match so we enjoyed the sunlight by the pool, took naps, read, and ate, once again. It was pretty neat when we played under the lights against FDU-Florham (men's opponent) and Illinois at Springfield (women's opponent). It was a great challenge for the women playing against a Division II opponent and they held their own pretty well by only losing 3-6. The men had a tough, close match against Florham but lost 3-6. Like always, Max won at both singles and doubles because he just hates to lose, plain and simple.

We didn't have an epic dinner like the night before but everyone made their own food including chicken nuggets, mac and cheese, and breakfast burritos. Vince was by far the man of the night because of his epic performance. We celebrated his victory by throwing his 215 pound frame into the pool and watching Super Troopers.

No matches tomorrow or the rest of the trip. Life is good in Hilton Head. Go Eagles!

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Men's Tennis spring trip #5: Extreme Taco edition

Rexford Shield of the men's tennis team is keeping a running diary of the Eagle men's and women's tennis team trip to Hilton Head, S.C...

Taco Tuesday here at the tennis house. Our matches weren't till later in the day so we were able to sleep in. A handful of us went shopping at the small shops down the street from our house and Tim and I printed out some NCAA tournament brackets, which was awesome to say the least. Before our match, we lounged around and some of us went to the beach and threw the football around while Max took pictures.

The men lost their match against Messiah, 3-6, and the women won their match against Messiah, 6-3. On the men's side, John won his first singles match of the year in a 3rd set tiebreaker. Max won at 3 singles like he always does and won his doubles match with Cody in dominant fashion.

However, the highlight of the day was our dinner: Taco Tuesday. Pretty sure, we had around 10 pounds of ground beef to feed a team of 15 so hopefully that paints enough of a picture in your head. You would think that the tacos would be the highlight but Hannah surprised the team with Sweet Caroline's cupcakes. If you haven't got the hint, we eat a lot. After dinner, everyone was way too full to even move so we were all pretty lazy and went to bed early. We added a match to our schedule for Wednesday so both the men and women will have a match at 8 am and 6:30 pm. It should be an awesome day of tennis. Go Eagles!

Men's Tennis spring trip #4

Rexford Shield of the men's tennis team is keeping a running diary of the Eagle men's and women's tennis team trip to Hilton Head, S.C...

Wake-up call was at 7:00 am for the women and 7:30 am for the men. The women had their first match of the trip at 8 am against the College of Wooster. After the women took 2 out of the 3 doubles matches, they came up short in the singles matches with 4 of them being decided in the 3rd set tiebreaker and lost the overall match 5-4. The men played Gordon College at 1 pm and lost 8-1. No. 3 singles player, Max Divelbiss, registered the lone win for the men by dominating 6-1, 6-0.

A lot of us were too tough to put on sun tan lotion and we paid for it by being sun burnt. For dinner, Cody, Max, Clint, and Vince cooked the traditional American barbeque of burgers, hot dogs, and grilled chicken. We pretty much stuffed our face with as much food as we could tolerate and it ended up successful. The men then tossed the football around at the beach while Coach and the women stayed at the house and watched Iron Chef.

Tomorrow, both the women and the men don't play until 3 pm so we will be able to sleep in, get a good breakfast, and come out ready to go. Weather forecast for tomorrow will be a high of 79. I definitely don't miss the Wisconsin weather. Go Eagles!

Men's Tennis spring trip #3

Rexford Shield of the men's tennis team is keeping a running diary of the Eagle men's and women's tennis team trip to Hilton Head, S.C...

Day 2 in Hilton Head and the weather is absolutely amazing. I'm not sure about the exact temperature, but I couldn't see my breath and I was wearing shorts with a t-shirt so it was warm enough.

To kick off our trip, the men were faced against a very good team, Illinois Wesleyan. Overall, we lost the match 9-0. John and Tim were faced up against the number four ranked team in the country so they had their hands full but were competitive in a 8-1 loss. Max and Cody battled like they always do, but came up short in a 8-5 loss. Vince and Clint keep on improving even though the results may not show it as they lost 8-1.

The interesting and even frustrating part of tennis is that the final score doesn't show how the match actually went and it doesn't show how much progress we are making as a team. We are definitely making sufficient progress as a team and these tough matches will prepare us for our conference season. After our match, we came back to the house and the guys jumped in a freezing pool.

The women had practice on the clay courts which is something that they obviously aren't accustomed to. Also, the women made a great pasta dinner with a side of salad and garlic bread and to top it all off, we had birthday cake to celebrate Vince's 22nd birthday. Tomorrow will be a busy tennis day with the women playing at 8 am and the men playing 12 pm. Hopefully, tomorrow will result in victories on both sides. Go Eagles!

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Men's tennis spring trip #2

Rexford Shield of the men's tennis team is keeping a running diary of the Eagle men's and women's tennis team trip to Hilton Head, S.C.

The men and women's tennis teams have finally arrived in Hilton Head! We had a very long day of traveling going from Edgewood College to Milwaukee, Milwaukee to Chicago, Chicago to Charleston, and Charleston to Hilton Head. We pulled up to the house at 10 pm local time and were immediately blown away by the size of the house. To say to the least, it's pretty massive. It sleeps twenty, but Vince and I were still confined to the pull-out couch. We ordered some quality Domino's pizza and relaxed by watching ESPN.

From my previous blog post, I forgot to mention the women's schedule of opponents for the week. Unlike the men, they only play three matches that include The College of Wooster (3/14), Messiah College, Pa (3/15), and Heidelberg University, Ohio (3/16). You would think there would be no complaints during Spring Break, but Vince, Tim, and I experienced some problems in the airport that were rather ironic. All three of us chose to share a large suitcase in order to save money and it backfired on us. To make a long story short, instead of paying $25 to check our suitcase, we had to pay $100. Other than that, it's smooth sailing and couldn't ask for anything better.

I will check in again tomorrow night to review our match and the activities we have lined up. Go Eagles!

Men's tennis spring trip #1

Hello everyone! This is Rexford Sheild, a freshman on the Edgewood College men's tennis team. While others at Edgewood College are going to their various locations for spring break, members of the tennis team are going to Hilton Head, South Carolina. We are leaving Saturday March 12 and coming back Saturday March 19 so we will have a week to experience the beautiful weather and attractions that Hilton Head has to offer.

During our stay, we have five matches starting on Sunday the 13th and ending on Thursday the 16th. Our opponents include Illinois Wesleyan (3/13), Gordon College, Mass. (3/14), FDU-Florham, N.J (3/14), Messiah College, Pa. (3/15), Heidelberg University, Ohio (3/16). It's going to be a very competitive week of tennis for us, but as a competitor, you look forward to matches like these. Nevertheless, I'm really looking forward to a break from school and bonding with my teammates. I'll check in everyday and let everyone know how our matches went along with stuff we did for fun. Go Eagles!

P.S. I checked the weather and it's suppose to be high 60s all week. It's okay for you to be jealous.

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IronEagle! Oestreich completes first Ironman Triathlon

Edgewood College men's and women's tennis coach Ben Oestreich competed and completed his first Ironman Triathlon on September 12, 2010 in Madison. Oestreich stopped to talk for a few moments when he was just 15 minutes or so from the finish line.



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Coach Oestreich serves up new singles player!

Head tennis coach Ben Oestriech and his wife Stephanie are happy to introduce his first women's tennis recruit in the Class of 2032. Hard to tell from the pictures, but those shoulders would indicate a strong backhand and quick reflexes at the net.

Here's Coach Oestriech's announcement in his very typical style....

"Meet 7 lb, 2oz, 20" long Olivia Claire Oestreich. Born 7:37 pm on Friday, May 28th, "OO" was quickly named cutest baby of all time. That win pushes a Utah baby born in 1996 to number six, leaving an all Oestreich top five.

Her hobbies include sleeping, eating, and looking at people with one eye open."

Congratulations Coach! Welcome to the world of not sleeping. Ever.

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