Epic doubles match ends an epic season

Well the 2013 season is officially in the books and wow what an ending! As I mentioned yesterday the rain played havoc with the first day of the NCAA. Matches had to be moved to a variety of locations across the Kalamazoo area. Because of the rain, the Whitman vs Washington University doubles match didn’t get started until almost 10pm. Certainly was a fun/interesting experience to be the very last match on and for a large part of the match — the only match on. Since our doubles was the only match being played it was the match that was lived streamed on the NCAA site. Pretty fun for the guys to know they were the “feature” match and their friends back home were watching them play live.

Unfortunately we drew the #2 seeds and red hot Washington University team in the 1st round. I believe this team went undefeated in the NCAA team tournament and in the preceding days had defeated the #1 doubles teams from national champions Williams, 3rd place Amherst and Kenyon teams. The Bear duo has not only had an incredible week but an incredible season.

The match started off pretty even but the Wash U managed to break mid-way through the first set and served out the set to take the opening set 6-3. However in the 2nd set Andrew and Colton really found their game and started playing incredibly doubles. I mean really really hot doubles. In the 2nd set they completely dominated play winning 6-0!

The 3rd set started off with both teams holding serve at love. But the experienced Wash U team picked up their intensity and broke twice to take a commanding 4-1 lead. At this point the […]

By |May 24th, 2013|2012-2013 season, NCAA, Washington University|0 Comments
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Tough first round singles at the NCAAs

Today at the NCAA D3 tournament rain played havoc with the schedule and the players. Instead of being able to use the historic Stowe Stadium at Kalamazoo, tournament officials were forced to move men’s and women’s play to a variety of indoor courts around the area. I have to add that the officials and referee (Darren Potkey) did an amazing job rescheduling all the matches. Given how many matches were rained out it is simply incredible that the officials were able put out a smooth running schedule.

Colton’s 10am match was pushed back to 12:30. Colton had a tall order of playing NCW’s #1 player Robert Kjellberg. Kjellberg is the #6 seed but started the year off as the #2 player in the nation.

Going into the match I thought moving to the fast indoor courts would benefit Colton. I was hoping his typical penetrating groundstrokes would be even more effective on the quicker courts. However it was Kjellberg who used the quicker courts to his advantage. The #1 from NCW served incredibly well – in fact at the start of match he made 10 out of 12 huge first serves earning quick holds.

On the flip side Colton didn’t play his best tennis and made a rash of uncharacteristic errors. Several games he got into trouble by making 3-4 unforced errors while trying to unleash big forehands. Part this was certainly due to the fact that Kjellberg was playing well and making so few mistakes – Colton literally had to create something to win a point.

Colton certainly battled hard and put up a good fight but in the end he lost 6-1, 6-2. This tournament was a great experience for him and it has add fuel […]

By |May 23rd, 2013|2012-2013 season, NC Wesleyan, NCAA|0 Comments
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At the Kzoo!

Currently at Kalamazoo College for the 2013 NCAA D3 Singles and Doubles Championships. We were VERY fortunate to have Colton (singles) and Colton/Andrew make it into the tournament.

This morning we were lucky to hit outside for a bit before the rains came down. The weather today has really messed with the final day of the team tournament — all the matches have been moved indoor courts all across town.

Looks like more rain tomorrow so all the singles and doubles matches will be scattered around town and we won’t know matches times until later tonight. However we do know that we have very tough matches tomorrow. In singles Colton plays the #6 seed (#1 player from NC Wesleyan). In doubles Andrew/Colton drew the #2 seeds (#1 team from Wash U). We are all very excited to be playing some of the best players/teams in the nation.

As usual I will be providing twitter updates at @northam. Here are links to the draws:

Singles

Doubles

 

By |May 22nd, 2013|2012-2013 season, NCAAs|0 Comments
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Rafting!

Readers of the team blog know I try to share my love of the outdoors with the team. With the help from the fine folks at Minam Raft Rentals one of our spring traditions has been a rafting trip down the Grand Ronde River. For people looking for a great overnight float I HIGHLY recommend Grant and Lottie at Minam Raft Rentals. You can pull right up to the Minam Hotel, jump in the rafts (which are set up and waiting), and float down the river. Its a great 40-mile float through a designated Wild and Scenic River Area.

This year to add a bit of adventure to the float we took three inflatable kayaks (ie “duckies” or “IKs”) that the guys took turns using. Was awesome to see the guys get their “sea legs” in the kayaks and start going after the bigger rapids as the trip progressed. Also was very entertaining to see them trying to tip each other over in the kayaks. More than one person took a swim in the mountain river!

Pictures probably tell the story the best so click the link below to open a slide show (well over 100 pictures) from the adventure.

 

By |May 18th, 2013|2012-2013 season|0 Comments
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James Rivers — Yellow Jersey April 30, 2013

Congratulations to James for being voted the yellow jersey!

By |May 1st, 2013|2012-2013 season, yellow jersey|0 Comments
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NWC Conference Awards

Several Whitman men’s tennis players filled the All-Northwest Conference teams, announced today as voted upon by the coaches, including Missionary sophomore Colton Malesovas receiving NWC Player of the Year honors, after the No. 15 ranked Whits won their sixth straight conference title and completed their seventh consecutive undefeated NWC regular season.

Joining Malesovas on the First Team is teammate and main doubles partner Andrew La Cava who earned First team honors for the third straight season. Three Missionaries: Sam Sadeghi, Steven Roston and Andy Riggs all earned Second Team accolades.

Playing at No. 1 singles the entire season, Malesovas becomes the ninth Whitman player to win the POY honor.  Malesovas racked up a 6-1 record in conference, winning a key match in the Missionaries NWC Championship finals victory against George Fox 6-2, 6-1. The No. 10 ranked player in the nation, consistently facing the top competition, finished with a 9-8 record that included two close losses to players ranked in the top 20 and a three-set defeat to 3rd-ranked Adam Putterman of Washington University. Playing at every doubles position in the lineup, Malesovas tallied an 18-4 record, taking the court with seven different partners during the season, going 12-0 in conference. Malesovas was named the NWC Student Athlete of the Week in March after going 5-1 in 3 matches.
La Cava, a reigning All-American, sported a 6-5 singles mark at the No. 2 spot, proving clutch in conference where he went 4-0. Paired with Sadeghi early in the season and then Malesovas the latter two-thirds, the junior from Bellevue, Washington posted a 12-6 overall and 6-2 conference record, winning two long and dramatic matches in the conference championships with Malesovas.
Playing at the No. 3 singles spot for […]

By |April 26th, 2013|2012-2013 season|0 Comments
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Sam nabs yellow jersey

Congratulations to senior Sam Sadeghi for being given the yellow jersey for the week!

By |April 24th, 2013|2012-2013 season, yellow jersey|0 Comments
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NWC Champions!

First off thanks to everyone who came out to watch us play George Fox in the conference finals. We are blessed to have the best home crowd in D3 tennis! In front the large loud home crowd we got off to a hot start going up 3-0 after doubles. Much like the semi-finals  #2 and #3 doubles teams raced out to early leads. The #2 team of Andy/Stevenbolted out to a 7-1 lead before closing out their match 8-3. And at #3 the senior tandem of Matt/Sam got the first break of the match and never looked back also winning 8-3. With a 2-0 lead all eyes turned to #1 doubles. Unlike the semi-finals, this match saw many services breaks as both teams returned exceptionally well. With the match tied at 6-6 Andrew/Colton unleashed a couple great returns to earn the break. And though it wasn’t easy Andrew served out the match (8-6) giving us the sweep of doubles.

In singles we got a quick win at #1 where Colton played exceptional tennis winning 6-2, 6-0. Hats off to the sophomore Texan — on back-to-back days he played 2 of the best #1′s in the conference and only surrendered 4 games!

One of the best things about the weekend was Andrew being able to step onto the singles court. Its been over a month since he has played singles and its great news for us that he is able to compete again. Andrew ran into a very determined and hot Fox player Chris Lilley. Chris, by the way, has had a great freshman campaign and hasn’t lost a D3 singles match all year. Andrew was down 5-7, 2-1 when the team match was determined.

At #3 Andy […]

By |April 22nd, 2013|2012-2013 season, George Fox|0 Comments
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NWC Finals noon today

Yesterday we defeated Pacific 5-0 to advance to the finals of the NWC tournament. Windy conditions made for some interesting play but in the end we managed to get through the #4 seeded Boxers. In doubles we grabbed a quick 2-0 lead as the #2 team of Andy/Sam won 8-0 and the #3 team of Matt/Sam won 8-3. All eyes then turned to the #1 doubles showdown. In front of a large crowd Colton/Andrew defeated a fired up Pacific team 9-8. This is new combination for Pacific that has been red hot recently. In the past week that have defeated the #1′s from Willamette and George Fox.

In singles Steven was the first off with a 6-1, 6-2 at #4 and Andy quickly followed with a 6-4, 6-0 victory at #2. At #1 Colton was up 6-1, 4-2 and at #3 Sam was up 6-4, 4-3 when the team match was finished.

Finals are at noon today vs George Fox.

By |April 21st, 2013|2012-2013 season, Pacific|0 Comments
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Pictures from PLU/UPS Weekend

Thanks to Steve Sumioka for the photos! Click on the photo below to open a gallery.

By |April 19th, 2013|2012-2013 season|0 Comments
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