NWC Tournament Champions!

Apr 232012
 

Over the weekend we capped off a perfect NWC season by sweeping the NWC Mens Tennis Tournament without a dropping a set. On Saturday we defeated Whitworth 5-0 and on Sunday in front of a large boisterous crowd we defeated George Fox 5-0. The victory over Fox was especially sweet for the team as earlier in the year we defeated Fox 6-3 and were down 1-2 after the doubles. Yesterday we knew it would be key to get off to a fast start and enter the singles with a lead. At #3 doubles James Rivers and Sam Sadeghi came out on fire and put us on the board first with a quick 8-1 victory. This was especially gratifying for Sam and James as earlier in the year they lost to the same doubles team 8-1. At #2 doubles Jeff Tolman and Andrew La Cava started slow and were down a break at 3-4 before winning the next 5 games. And at #1 Conor Holton-Burke and Matt Tesmond gave us a sweep of the doubles with a solid 8-5 victory. This was the same team that beat them 8-5 earlier in the year.

In singles Jeff got off to a slow start going down 0-2 (and down break points) before finding his rhythm and winning 11 straight games! His 6-2, 6-1 victory not only put us up 4-0 but was his 100 career victory — welcome to the Century Club! Senior Conor Holton-Burke sealed the match for us with a wonderful 6-2, 6-0 match. Earlier in the year Conor lost to the same opponent in three sets. What a sweet day for the senior– his match seals the the NWC tournament and he defeats they only NWC opponents who beat him this year (in singles and doubles). We also had great performances from NWC Player of the Year Andrew La Cava who was up a set  6-3, 3-2 and freshman James Rivers who was up 6-1, 5-2.

Was wonderful playing at home and thanks to all who showed up to support the team. Special thanks to the womens basketball team who showed up sporting body paint! We love you!

Congratulations to Coach John Hein/women’s tennis and Coach Skip Molitor/women’s golf for winning their NWC Tournament! Exciting day for Whitman athletics.

NWC Championship Preview

Apr 202012
 


WALLA WALLA, Wash. — The five-time Northwest Conference champion Whitman College men’s tennis team shoots for a spot in its sixth straight NCAA Division III national championship field when it hosts the annual NWC post-season tournament this weekend.

Whitman earned the right to host the four-team tournament by finishing atop the regular season standings with a 12-0 record, continuing an era of dominance now measured in years rather than weeks or months.

Whitman has stockpiled six consecutive undefeated NWC regular seasons, winning its last 90 matches. The winning streak began in April of 2006.

Pacific enters this weekend’s tournament as the No. 2 seed after posting an 11-1 NWC record during the spring season. The lone blemish on the Boxer record was a 7-2 loss to Whitman in early March in Forest Grove, Ore.

Third-seeded George Fox (9-3 NWC) and fourth-seeded Whitworth (8-4 NWC) complete this weekend’s tournament field.

Saturday’s first semifinal gets started at 10 a.m. and pits favored Whitman against underdog Whitworth (click here for match preview). Whitman and Whitworth are the only two schools to play in all 14 NWC tennis tournaments since the conference adopted a team championship format in 1999.

Saturday’s second semifinal, which starts at about 2 p.m., matches No. 2 Pacific against No. 3 George Fox (click here for a match preview). Pacific is making its second straight appearance in the post-season tournament while George Fox is competing for the first time since 2005.

Saturday’s winners meet at 11 a.m. Sunday to play for the NWC’s automatic berth in the NCAA DIII national championship field. Whitman has already won the 2012 NWC title by virtue of its first-place finish in the regular season standings.

Whitman, 19-4 on the season, enters the tournament as the top-ranked NCAA DIII team in the West Region. It also has risen to No. 8 in national ranking, its highest such position in more than two decades.

Whitman, which has yet to lose to an NCAA DIII team this season, is a combined 5-0 this spring against the other three tournament teams. In addition to its 7-2 victory over Pacific, it blanked Whitworth 9-0 and beat George Fox twice, 9-0 and 6-3.

Pacific, No. 11 in the latest regional rankings, is 13-2 against NCAA DIII teams this spring. Its only DIII loss (other than to Whitman) came in a 8-1 setback to Colby during a Spring Break trip to Florida.

Pacific, 13-5 overall this season, has one victory apiece over both George Fox (winning 5-4 in mid-March) and Whitworth (prevailing 8-1 in early March).


George Fox, 10-7 on the season and No. 12 in the regional rankings, has beaten Whitworth twice this spring, winning 7-2 in early March and 5-4 just last week. Whitworth is 11-8 overall.

Fans of all four teams can disregard those earlier results once the tournament gets underway, says Whitman coach and tournament hostJeff Northam.

“Those of us with the Whitman program look forward to playing, and we know the other three teams — Pacific, George Fox and Whitworth — are playing well as they come into the conference tournament,” Northam says. “All three teams are legitimate contenders to represent the NWC at the NCAA Division III tournament in May.”

Weather permitting, matches this weekend will be played on the four outdoor courts at Whitman. The Bratton Tennis Center (four indoor courts) is the standby in case of rain.

Matches start with three flights of doubles before moving into the six flights of singles. Each match ends as soon as one team scores the clinching fifth team point.

This season marks the second year that NWC has used a four-team tournament to award its automatic berth in the national championship tournament.

Prior to last year, the top six teams advanced to the post-season tournament, which also was used to decide the conference championship.

Tennis fans not able to watch this weekend’s matches in person can access a Live Tennis Blog for scoring updates as doubles and singles matches play out.

Wow long day

Mar 102012
 

We had a long, crazy day of tennis/travel today. Started off driving from Portland to Newberg for a match against George Fox. Despite the rain we managed to get in the doubles. Unfortunately for us we got off to a very slow start dropping #1 and #3 doubles. Fortunately we got the win at #2 doubles and also won #5 singles (neither player was in doubles so they played during the doubles). With the score tied at 2-2 the rain started coming down so we drove an hour to Vancouver, WA to get on indoor courts. I think this is the only time in my coaching career we started a match in one state and finished in another!

In singles we rolled to 1st set victories in all the matches. At #3 Conor won the first set but his opponent really picked up his play and won the second set and the decisive match tie-breaker. Otherwise we won all the matches in straight sets.

Immediately after the match we drove back to Oregon to play Pacific University. After another hour drive we got out of the van for a brief warm-up and played a very hot Pacific team. In doubles we won #2 and #3 doubles but dropped a tough match at #1 (Jeff/Andrew).

In singles the tired Whitties rolled to straight set wins at every position except #4 where James ran into a buzz saw dropping his match in straight sets.

Pretty good day — we defeated the #2 and #3 teams in our conference in back-to-back matches.

Tomorrow we again play a double header — Linfield at 11am followed by Lewis-Clark.

Whitman 6 George Fox 3

  1. Conor/Matt lost Mann/Aldrich 8-6
  2. Jeff/Andrew def Brown/McClain 8-2
  3. James/Sam lost Milton/Munoz 8-1

 

  1. Andrew def Mann 6-2, 6-3
  2. Jeff def Aldrich 6-1, 6-4
  3. Conor lost McClain 4-6, 6-0, 10-4
  4. James def Milton 6-2, 6-3
  5. Adriel def Tweet 6-1, 6-0
  6. Steven def Munoz 6-2, 7-5

Whitman 7 Pacific 2

  1. Andrew/Jeff lost Zuroske/Battaglia 8-5
  2. Matt/Conor def Hing/Kawamura 8-4
  3. Sam/James def Schlack/Wong 8-2

 

  1. Andrew def Zuroske 6-2, 6-0
  2. Jeff def Hing 6-4, 6-4
  3. Conor def Battaglia 6-3, 6-4
  4. James lost Schlack 6-0, 6-2
  5. Sam def Furuya 6-3, 6-2
  6. Adriel def Kawamura 7-5, 6-0

 

Whitties finish up weekend with 9-0

Feb 122012
 

What a wonderful (and long) weekend. Tonight we got the opportunity to follow-up our victory over UC Santa Cruz with a match against conference opponent George Fox. In the NWC conference Fox is a program that is on the rise — in fact earlier in the day they won 2 matches against UC Santa Cruz. Before the match we had a team meeting to talk about the importance of this match how it can be a defining moment for our program. In past years we have had good (even great) wins but followed them up with less than stellar performances. In our defense we are almost always play those “big” matches on the road and often in the middle of a long spring break trip. This was a great opportunity for the team to learn how to respond to a “big” win in the comfort of playing at home. Another thing about this year is we have several weekends of great opportunities. In addition to this weekend, we are traveling to Mary Washington to play three very good DIII teams (Mary Washington, Kalamazoo, and Rhodes). We also travel to Los Angeles for matches against Trinity, CT and a very good Whittier team. Having all these great weekends really takes the pressure off the team. Unlike past years we have multiple shots at nationally ranked programs.

One aspect of this weekend that could be overlooked is the play of Steven Roston, Will Huskey, and Colton Malasovas. Interestingly enough these three played more matches than our normally starting line-up. One of the reasons we had a good win against Santa Cruz is because of their unselfish efforts and great play. All three of them gained valuable experience this weekend that will serve them well as the season – and their collegiate careers – continue. The sophomores (Steven and Will) have shown so much growth in the past year that it is downright spooky. Both of them have been playing exceptional tennis and in the past few weeks have been going toe-to-toe with good DI players. I’m really excited to see what unfolds for these two as they gain confidence and continue to improve. Colton has also benefited from some great match play and experiences this young season. Over the weekend he had a hard fought 3-set win over nationally ranked Lewis-Clark State College and a nail biter against the #6 from University of Montana (losing 7-6, 7-6). In today’s match against George Fox all three of these players had huge roles.

Against Fox we opted to rest a few players so they would be ready for our upcoming 3-match weekend in Virginia. This meant we had to shuffle #2 and #3 doubles. At #1 doubles Conor and Matt continued to play top quality tennis defeating their opponents 8-2. At #2 the somewhat new combo of Andrew and James also won by a 8-2 score. I should note a few weeks ago Andrew and James defeated the #2 from DI Eastern Washington University. And at number #3 Sam and Steven had a wonderful match against the George Fox team. This is the same team that defeated Santa Cruz’s number 3 team earlier in the day. I think it took 5 match points but Sam and Steven defeated the feisty Fox team 8-6.

Even without three starters in the singles line-up (Jeff, Sam and Andrew), we were still able to sweep the singles. Will Huskey had the match of the day. He overcame a sluggish first set and wrapped up his match 5-7, 6-2, 6-1. I’m beginning to get the feeling that Will secretly loves playing three set matches — so far this young season five of his six matches have gone three sets. Either that or he is secretly trying to torment his coach (me) in return for the all running, sprinting and lifting we do as a team. Also a very solid win for Adriel: earlier in the day his opponent defeated the #3 from Santa Cruz.

Great effort from all this weekend!

Whitman 9 George Fox 0

Doubles

Singles

  • Conor defeated Preston Mann 6-2, 6-1
  • James defeated Shawn Aldrich 6-1, 6-1
  • Adriel defeated Justin McClain 6-3, 6-1
  • Will defeated Drew Milton 5-7, 6-2, 6-1
  • Steven defeated Peter Brown 6-1, 6-2
  • Colton defeated David Munoz 6-2, 6-3

Portland part 2

Feb 222011
 

On President’s day we wrapped up our swing through the Portland area with a 1pm match against Willamette (indoors). After playing a double header on Sunday in extremely cold weather and spending many hours in a bus the team was a bit stiff. However after a good warm-up the Whitties were ready for battle.

In an earlier post I mentioned the effects of graduating 7 seniors. Graduating that many good players could decimate at team. We were lucky to mitigate that effect by having strong player development and a talented freshman class (Andrew La Cava, Steven Roston, Will Husky and Atanas Atanasov). Something positive, however, has happened with the player graduation — the current team has found its own voice. It appears that this year’s team is about energy and passion. Honestly this might be the most vocal and energetic team I have coached. From top to bottom, from those playing to those watching, this team is absolutely committed to each other. I think playing the energized and vocal George Fox team Sunday awoke that voice. Continue reading »

Portland Trip Part 1

Feb 212011
 

What a fun trip to Portland. Even though we didn’t play until today we decided to travel to Forest Grove, OR on Friday night to watch our basketball teams play Pacific. I would like to think we gave our women’s basketball team a bit of lift. I’m not sure if it was the very loud cheering or the shock of seeing the men’s tennis team with “Missionaries!” painted across their chests but whatever it was the women’s team a 22-0 run once we arrived at the gym! By virtual of the win the women clinched the #4 seed in the upcoming conference tournament. We stayed on to cheer on the men’s team but unfortunately they dropped a heart breaker. Congratulations to Coach Ferenz and Coach Bridgeland — both have done a tremendous with the Whitman basketball programs. The women finished the year as the #4 team in the conference and the men finished #2!

Today (Sunday) was a long, cold day of tennis. This morning we started off playing Pacific University at their covered courts. It was certainly chilly in the morning — in fact, high during temp during the match was 42 with a wind chill of 39!!!! Fortunately going into the weekend we knew it was going to be cold so everyone brought heavy jackets, gloves and long underwear.

The cold weather wasn’t our only problem today. We played a much improved Pacific team in their covered facility. The Pacific facility features three covered courts but the screens surrounding the courts are normal windscreens. With a covered roof and normal wind screens around the courts the lighting is very strange. The layout makes tracking the ball very difficult — almost like watching a ball under a strobe light.

In doubles #2 (ET and Jeff) started off strong going up 6-0 in about 30 minutes. Jeff and ET’s tremendous energy fired up the rest of the team and got us on the board with a quick 8-1 win. At #3 Quin and Matt won 8-3 and at #1 Andrew and Conor were deadlocked at 5-5 when they went on a roll winning 3 straight games.

In singles we maintained our strong play sweeping 5 of the matches in straight sets. Our only loss was at #3 singles where Jeff ran into a buzz-saw freshman Troy Zuroske. Troy played great tennis hammering huge serves all match. His serve coupled with the strange lighting made for a rough day for Jeff. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Zuroske playing #1 for the Boxers in the next fews. After watching him play today I’m convinced he will be one of the top players in the NWC Conference.

Once the Pacific match finished we made sandwiches and headed to George Fox for our afternoon match. After a short warm-up we took to the courts to play an incredibly fired up Fox team. It was fun to see the Bruins completely fired up and ready to battle us for every point. I know their energy made us raise our level of play.

Once again Jeff and ET got us going with with a solid start (I think they again went up 6-0). Both #2 doubles and #3 doubles finished with 8-2 victories. At #1 doubles Andrew and Conor broke open a close match winning the final four games posting an 8-4 victory.

In singles we sat our normal #3 (ET) and #4 (Jeff). This gave Adriel Borshanksy (#5) and Steve Roston (#6) the opportunity to get in some valuable match play experience. Both rose to the occassion winning 6-1, 6-1, and 6-2, 6-1. The most competitive match of the day was at #1 where Conor Holton-Burke got a measure of revenge (Barnett handed Conor his only conference loss last year) defeating Scott Barnett 6-4, 5-7, 10-6. A bit of an interesting match. In the 2nd set Conor got up an early break and served for the 2nd set at 5-4 only to get broke and then drop the set. However in the tie-break he played inspired tennis racing out to a 6-0 lead before winning 10-5.

Big kudos to Coach Ninteman, he has turned around the George Fox tennis program and I’m sure they will be a force within the conference for a long time.

We finish our road trip tomorrow at 1pm match in Salem against Willamette. Even with warm weather in the forecast (high of 52), Willamette has decided to play the match off campus at an indoor tennis club (Courthouse)a few miles from campus.

Links to the matches

Whitman 8 Pacific 1
Whitman 9 George Fox 0

Special thanks to the Mah and La Cava families for the incredible hospitality this weekend.

Match time changes this weekend.

Feb 172011
 

Weather might be an issue this weekend in the Portland area.

Our Sunday match against Pacific is now changed to 9am.

If we encounter wet weather the George Fox match will take place 2pm at Tualatin Hills otherwise it will be at 3pm in Newberg.

On Monday our match against Willamette will be at 1pm if indoors (Courthouse) or 2pm if dry (at Willamette).

Hope to see you at the courts!

Sole possession of first place

Mar 162010
 

Yesterday we once again split into two squads. My team traveled to McMinnville to take on Linfield and coach Ann’s group traveled to Newberg to play George Fox.

I was looking forwards to the Linfield match because they were off to their best start in school history and, like us, were undefeated in NWC play. This was a pretty big match in the conference..the winner takes over 1st place in the standings and takes a big step towards claiming the conference championship.

Fighting Squirrels fly over George Fox

Feb 212010
 

The past week we spend a lot of time in practice talking about energy. We worked on exuding positive energy after points. In our match with the improved George Fox the guys were a bundle of positive energy. It was a treat to watch them start strong in doubles and let that energy spill over into singles. Etienne felt he was ready for doubles play so he and Matt got the opportunity to play #1 doubles. After the match Matt pointed out that this is the first dual match they have played together even though they are both two-time All-Americans with each other! Matt and ET got the ball rolling with an efficient 8-0 victory. #3 doubles wasn’t very far behind with Jeffrey and Jasper finishing with a 8-1 victory. Quin and Christoph had a good battle at #2 winning 8-4 against a hard serving George Fox team.

Two more wins during Spring Break!

Mar 172009
 

Earlier today we split the Whitman horde into two teams to take on Pacific and George Fox. Both matches took place at 9am — I had the Pacific group and Coach Ann had the George Fox group.

Against Pacific we came out with good energy and were able to quickly capture all three doubles matches. The #1 combo of Christoph and Quin struggled a bit in the early going of their match. I felt like they were playing well and getting the opportunity to finish points but just couldn’t win the big points. After going down 1-3 they won 7 straight games for an 8-3 victory.

In singles play the closest match of the day was at #5 where Justin Hayashi defeated Nhat Nguyen 6-4, 6-3. Christoph and Quin continued their strong play in singles with Quin winning 6-0, 6-1 and Christoph winning 8-1 (shortened match due to time).

Whitman 9 Pacific 0

Against George Fox the highlight of the day was Thomas Roston’s thrilling victory at #4 singles. Normally a 6-0, 6-0 isn’t thrilling but Thomas was up 6-0, 3-0 before he lost a point! Wow what a great effort (for the record he lost 2 points the entire match).

Also of note Jake and Adriel both won their matches in 3rd set super-breakers! Outside of #1 and #2 singles all the matches had at least one 6-0 set! Perhaps it is the coaching! Kudo’s to Coach Ann:)

Whitman 9 George Fox 0

We are currently 10-0 in conference play and 11-2 overall. In the latest rankings that were released earlier today we slipped two spots to #21 (even though we have yet to lose a DIII match) and are #5 in the West region.

Match changes!
Wednesday’s match against Willamette has been moved to 11am at the Courthouse Tennis Center

Thursday’s match against Linfield moved to 10am at the Courthouse Tennis Center in Salem!

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