Great Weekend of Tennis

Feb 092012
 

This weekend the Whitman men host the Whitman Shoot-out at the Bratton Tennis Center. Going to be some great tennis as NAIA power Lewis-Clark State College (#19 in NAIA), University of Montana (DI), DIII power UC Santa Cruz (#6 in DIII), and George Fox come to town. Whitman is currently ranked #29 in DIII.

Feature match of the weekend (at least on our end) is Saturday 6pm when the Whitties take on UC Santa Cruz. We will be providing free pizza at the start of the match. Show up early to get a good seat and a slice of pizza (the pizzas typically go very fast). In past years the Whitman vs UC Santa Cruz has packed the house so show up early for this early season match between ranked DIII opponents.

Complete schedule

Friday

  • 11am Whitman vs LCSC
  • 4pm LCSC vs UC Santa Cruz

Saturday

  • 9am Whitman vs Montana
  • 1pm Montana vs UC Santa Cruz
  • 6pm Whitman vs UC Santa Cruz

Sunday

  • 8am UC Santa Cruz vs George Fox
  • 2pm Whitman vs George Fox

Hope to see you at the courts this weekend!

 

So Say We All!

Feb 082012
 

By vote of the team the Yellow Jersey for the week goes to Adriel!!! So Say We All!

One astute reader correctly noted the line “So Say We All” comes from the T.V. series Battlestar Galactica. If you are looking to get hooked on a new series I highly recommend BSG. Check out this video from the comedy series Portlandia.

Alumni Match

Feb 062012
 

What a fun weekend having alumni come back for the first ever Whitman Alumni Match! Many of the alumni came into town on Friday night to sharpened up their games and for a last minute practice session. In fact many of the alums were so excited for the match they stayed up to the wee hours of the morning preparing! The match was an absolute blast with the team and alumni going toe-to-toe for nearly 5 hours. After the match the alums and current team got together for dinner and storytelling.

Oh, who won you might ask? Ask all involved — the entire Whitman tennis family were winners!

Unfortunately being the amateur photographer I didn’t get too many good photos. However click photo below to open a gallery of some of the pictures. To see the entire photo set (including the bad ones) visit my flickr page .

Click Photo Below For A Photo Gallery From The Weekend

*Note, in the photo gallery the up and down arrow keys will scroll through the pictures.

Lets go boys!

 

 

Andrew La Cava — Yellow Jersey

Feb 022012
 
Ah shucks, thanks guys!

Team selected Andrew to wear the coveted yellow jersey this week — So Say We All! Anyone else know that quote?

Alumni Added

Jan 312012
 

Added the following alumni profiles:

Geoff Mayes

Josh Niederman

Richard Koelsch

Made me think back to very special 2000 season. Was the first NWC conference championship for Whitman tennis since the middle 1980s and was also my first as Whitman’s coach. In the 2000 Conference finals we defeated a strong PLU team that had beaten us twice that year. Also that year Geoff Mayes went the entire season without dropping a set (he split playing #1 singles with Tim Mullin). Pretty amazing effort since he had taken a break from tennis for 2 1/2 years.

Big step forward

Jan 292012
 

Yesterday we played DI Eastern Washington University on their home courts. For the record let me say that this is not an easy place to play. Its a big multi-purpose, box like facility, with very quick courts. Interestingly the Seattle U women were scheduled to play EWU Saturday night in Cheney but refused to play in the fieldhouse so that match was moved to a club in nearby Spokane!

The final score shows EWU getting the better of us 5-2. However this was one close match! It was nip and tuck the whole match. At one point in the doubles, I was thinking we might sweep all three of the doubles. However the sweep was not to be as Conor/Matt got broke the last game to drop their match 8-6 (#1 doubles). At #2 doubles Andrew/James went up breaks two different times and ended up closing out their match 8-6. Since we played DI rules (1 point for the majority of the doubles) the doubles point came down to #3. At #3 Steven and Colton played wonderful tennis. In fact at different spots in the match they both ended up serving for win. They also had a match point while returning. Kudos to the EWU team — when they were down (and what looked like out) they played their best tennis  and earned a tough 9-8 victory.

I’m incredibly proud of the effort and intensity the team showed the entire match. Great support up and down the line-up and all the guys hustled and competed the entire match. You know it’s a special effort when the opposing coach comes into our team post-match conversation to compliment our effort!

In singles Andrew had a great win at #1 defeating James Russell 3-6, 6-1, 7-5. Last weekend Russell scored the Eagles only point against top 50 Boise State. At #2 Conor had one heck of a slug-fest. I felt this was a great match for Conor. Even though he lost 7-6, 6-4 he played some very solid tennis. In the first set tiebreaker Conor went down 1-5 and fought off 4 set points before losing the breaker 10-8. In that breaker Conor managed to earn a set point (returning) only to have the EWU player hit an ace. At #3 Will got off to a bit of slow start but ended up playing well in the second (losing 6-1, 6-4). Steven played one of his best matches of the year losing 6-4, 6-4 — note he was up a break in both sets. It was great having Sam back in the line-up and he had a great win at #5 4-6, 6-3, 10-6. Last year Sam’s opponent played in the top 3 and during his freshman year played at national power Boise State. Really great effort and match from Sam. And at #6 James held a match point before losing 6-3, 3-6, 11-9.

I felt like this was a big step forward for the team. Last January we came into the EWU fieldhouse, didn’t play our best and got beat pretty bad. This year our level of play was much higher and we came a few points away from a major upset.

Doubles

Singles

  • #1 Andrew def James Russell 3-6, 6-1, 7-5
  • #2 Conor lost Mario Navarro 7-6 (8), 6-4
  • #3 Will lost Chad Henninger 6-1, 6-4
  • #4 Steven lost Julian Sanchez 6-4, 6-4
  • #5 Sam def Stefan Simikic 4-6, 6-3, 10-6
  • #6 James lost Kyle Koetje 6-3, 3-6, 11-9
  • Exhibition Colton def Ben Anderson 7-6 (6), 6-3

Click the picture below to open a Gallery of Pictures (thanks to all the players who took pictures!)

Whitman Tennis Class of 1999

Jan 262012
 

Updated the alumni section with the class of 1999. What a special year — not only was it my first year coaching at Whitman but the seniors were incredible. Check out what they are doing now — One is a leading expert in Middle East Negotiations, two are high level executives for multinational corporations, one doctor, one dentist, one received a PhD in Biochemistry and one I have lost track of (Hello Bryan Oliver where are you!)

 

Yellow Jersey

Jan 242012
 

One of our team traditions is each Monday the team selects a person to wear the team yellow jersey. At the start of practice I ask each player who they felt was the leader the past week.  The person with the most “votes” get the all important yellow practice jersey. This week 4 different players were mentioned but senior Conor Holton-Burke starts off season with the yellow jersey.

Congratulations to Conor!

Final Day in Hawaii

Jan 142012
 

After a great six days of training and conditioning we took the day off to explore some Hawaiian wonders. The day started early as the guys awoke at 1:30am to do a famous Hawaiian hike and watch the sunrise. Once everyone had recovered from the early morning,  we drove to the coast and snorkeled in Hanauma Bay. We finished off the day with a wonderful beach BBQ at the “Sandy Beach Park”. Simply an amazing day.

Click the photo below for a slide show of the day’s activities.

Great match against DI Gonzaga

Jan 132012
 

Today we had a heck of a battle against DI Gonzaga. Even though GU won 6-1 (we used DI scoring) the match was very competitive. Doubles match of the day goes to Conor/Matt at #1 — they saved 3 match points to post a 9-8 (7-0) victory. At #2 Jeff/Andrew got down an early break and never recovered losing 6-8. And at #3 the freshman duo of Colton/James were up a break at 4-1 before losing a heartbreaker 9-7.

Jeff Tolman cracks a backhand

In singles our only victory was #3 where Jeff played very solid tennis winning 7-6, 6-4. Will (#4) continued his strong play dropping a hard fought match 6-2, 5-7, 11-9. James (#5) also dropped a close three set match 2-6, 6-4, 10-7. Interesting that yesterday we won two third set matches and today we dropped both of the 3rd set matches.

Tomorrow we wrap up our Hawaii swing with a free day. Lots of sunshine, beach time, and exploring before we head back for the start of a new semester.

Whitman 1 Gonzaga 6

1 Matt/Conor def Oliver Jamin/Alvaro Nazel 9-8

2. Jeff/Andrew lost Scott Sullivan/Zhia Hwa Chong 8-6

3. James/Colton lost Levin Guillermo/Muzeen Ismath

1. Andrew lost Nazal 6-4, 6-0

2. Conor lost Guillermo 6-0, 6-2

3. Jeff def Jamin 7-6, 6-4

4. Will lost Mijatovic 6-2, 5-7, 11-9

5. James lost Sullivan 2-6, 6-4, 10-7

6. Colton lost Chong 6-1, 7-5

 

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