Conor Holton-Burke gets 100 wins!

 2011-2012 season, Puget Sound  No Responses »
Feb 252012
 

Its a bit of a big deal — by going 4-0 this weekend Conor became the 16th Whitman player to reach 100 wins! Kind of interesting that Conor reached his 100th win by defeating Micheal Cutter from UPS. Today marked the 6th time these two have met in conference play. Which is even more interesting since they are both from Colorado and only played against each other one time before college.

Guys played well today dropping only 17 games the entire dual match. Was fun to watch Dylan Bodet get into his first match as a Whittie. I hope to have pictures posted later.

Whitman 9 UPS 0

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Whitties clinch NWC title!

Apr 122011
 

Last home weekends of the year are always emotional. It is the last time the seniors get the opportunity to play a home match. This year was a bit different since we only needed a single win to host the conference tournament. Still its an emotional weekend knowing that the tennis careers of three special young men are coming to a close. These three seniors are amazing men and have been instrumental in the success of the Whitman tennis program.

Etienne Moshevich career records:
singles 31-15, 43-16 doubles, 74-31 overall. NWC All Conference, All-American Doubles (2009, 2007), NCAA III team tournament participant. In his career ET has only lost 3 NWC matches (1 singles and 2 doubles).
Chris Bailey career records:
56-36 singles, 23-10 doubles, 79-46 overall. NWC All Conference 2nd team, NCAA III Team tournament participant. Chris has only lost 5 NWC matches in his Whitman career.
Quin Miller career records:
38-8 singles, 53-16 doubles, 91-24 overall. NCAA III team tournament participant. Quin also has only lost 5 conference matches in his Whitman career.
Luckily these three seniors have the opportunity to play at home next weekend when we host the NWC conference tournament! On Saturday we blanked UPS 9-0 and on Sunday we defeated PLU 8-1.
What an amazing season. In year after we graduated seven players, the 2011 team went undefeated in conference play (12-0), won the NWC title, and goes into next weekend’s conference tournament as the #1 seed. Not only was the team undefeated in conference play but they went into each match with dedication and passion I have never seen from a team. This is a pretty amazing stat — we played 12 conference matches this year and only dropped 6 matches all year!
This weekend we had several milestones:
  • Our 5th straight regular season conference undefeated season
  • Our 4th consecutive NWC title
  • Earned the right to host the NWC tournament. Winner of the 4-team tournament earns an automatic birth in the NCAA tournament

Next weekend the schedule for the NWC tournament is:

Saturday 10am #1 Whitman vs #4 Pacific
Saturday 10am #2 Willamette vs #3 Whitworth
Sunday 11am finals
Admission is free and we hope to see you at the courts! Here are some pictures from the weekend.

Weekend Recap

Mar 072011
 

Over the weekend we were able to win two matches in Tacoma (8-1 vs UPS and 7-2 vs PLU) but mother nature got the better of our Whitworth match forcing us to reschedule after spring break.

I must say logistically last weekend presented some challenges. All week I had been keeping an eye on the condition of Snoqualmie Pass (the I90 pass through the Cascade Mountain Range into Seattle). During the early part of the week the pass was closed but as the week progressed the road conditions improved. Additionally since Spring Break is around the corner (starts this Friday) some of the guys had a lot of academic pressures and couldn’t make the trip. Because of this we ended up taking nine players to the Tacoma matches and Coach Jake was going to bring the remaining three players to Whitworth for our Saturday match. Since we were playing three matches in 24 hours this would allow us to rotate players helping ensure everyone would remain fresh during the long weekend. Continue reading »

Tacoma here we come!

Mar 032011
 

Busy weekend for the men’s tennis team. Friday we play at UPS — 3pm vs UPS and 6pm vs PLU. We are going back-to-back so it will be a full day of Whitman tennis. On Saturday we travel to Spokane to take on Whitworth at 3pm. Yes 3 matches in 24 hours!

Whitman enters the weekend 5-0 in the conference, UPS is 1-2, the Lutes are 0-3 and Whitworth is 2-2. We are looking at maintaining our momentum heading into spring break next week.

If you can’t be at the matches I will try to give match updates via the twitter feed.

Day two of ITA

Sep 272010
 

I know the title says day two of the ITA but we are actually starting day three. Rain swept through the Willamette Valley yesterday pushing the tournament back a few hours and a change of venue to nearby indoor courts. Was a very long day we didn’t get back to the hotel until 11pm last night.

All I can say about yesterday’s tennis is wow. I felt like we had the top players in the conference coming at us all day long. In fact the day reminded me of one very long (11 hour) dual match. In the first round of matches we were lucky to have Whitman players on 5 out of 6 courts. One of the most entertaining matches of the day was freshman Andrew La Cava vs senior Etienne Moshevich. It was unfortunate these two teammates had to play against each other. Andrew ended up getting the better of his teammate 7-6 (11-9), 6-3. Besides the high level of play it was wonderful seeing how the competed against each other. Even though this was an important match they played it like true brothers — complimenting each other, replaying points, and truly being supportive of each other. Etienne is such a blessing to have on the team. Besides being a warrior on the court he is supportive of his team and a true leader. Continue reading »

Another sweep as we start spring break

Mar 142010
 

Yesterday we followed up our sweep of PLU with a 9-0 victory over a pesky UPS team. Because of our rough upcoming schedule we rested a few players. Was fun to watch guys that normally don’t play show their stuff.

Conor Holton-Burke got the call at #1 and defeated fellow Coloradoan Mike Cutter 6-2, 6-0. Sam Sadeghi continues to play very solid tennis winning at #2 6-2, 6-1. We had some hiccups at #3 and #4 as both Jake and Quin lost the 2nd sets before winning in match breakers. Jake reports his match was full of ups and downs. Quin was down a match point in his 3rd set break before ripping off straight 3 points. At #5 and #6 Adriel and David won dropping a combined 4 games.

Following the match we loaded into 2 vans and headed out for the start of our spring break road trip! For the first couple days of the break we are dividing into two teams and playing matches in the Portland area. Coach Ann has a group playing against Lewis and Clark College today and my group is playing Willamette. Tomorrow Coach Ann’s group is playing George Fox and my group takes on undefeated Linfield.

Whitman 9 UPS 0

Link to the official write up

Moody Match

Feb 142010
 


This is a very tough post. Besides playing two matches yesterday, we learned that a member of the Whitman community (and good friend to a member of the tennis team) died yesterday in a tragic skiing accident. My thoughts and emotions go out to the Whitman community and family.

Yesterday we had a very long day in the UPS fieldhouse as we took on rival PLU and host UPS. We arrived at the fieldhouse at 10am and didn’t leave until until 7pm! As readers of my blog know I have the greatest respect for the PLU team. They are an experienced team with enough talented players to give most any team trouble. Yesterday they were trouble for us….
While we ended up gutting out a tough 5-4 match I’m not happy with how the match played out and our team attitude. As a team we spend time talking about values — personal values, team values, core values, gratitude and competition. We work on how we want to look (individually and as a team). We have an expectation of how we want to compete on the court. As a group, as a family we know how we should compete in the face of adversity. Frankly we were a moody, angry group on court and it showed in our results. Is it possible to be disappointed in a 5-4 victory that came down to the last match? I believe I speak for our group when I say yes. Hopefully yesterday’s experience will serve to motivate us, inspire us and teach us. I truly believe we have all the tools to be a great team. However if yesterday’s performance and attitude is going to be the norm we are in for a long season.
Doubles. Doubles its so important in DIII tennis…not only is it three points but with the pro-set format it is over in a hour. Its a game of confidence and momentum. There is no second or third set to recoup, regroup or reset. Doubles sets the tone for the match. The energy, or lack thereof, carries over to singles. We are used to success in doubles, we are used to having good energy coming out of the doubles. The strength of our team should be doubles. I know we have the skill-set and players to stand toe-to-toe with any DIII team in the nation. So far this season we have aways been playing from behind. Even in our doubles sweep of LCSC we were behind and on the ropes the entire match. Against UC Santa Cruz we were behind but that had numerous opportunities to take a 2-1 or 3-0 lead.
Yesterday was more of the same. Our woes started at #1 doubles. Right out of the blocks Matt was broken — a couple bad mistakes and they are down after the first game. Later in the match they break back only to immediately get broke back. In their three matches this year Matt and Jeffrey have been down early (sometimes multiple breaks) and are forced to play from behind. Its bad flow and doesn’t produce good energy going into singles.
While one doubles was struggling we were rolling at two and three doubles. At number two Quin and Christoph have been playing solid doubles. So far this season they have been serving well and haven’t faced much pressure on their serve. In three matches I think they have only been broken once (against UC Santa Cruz). I have no explanation for what happened at three doubles yesterday. Unfortunately Jake re-injuried his wrist and was unable to go on Saturday. However with our team this shouldn’t be a problem, we have a plethora of people that can fill in three doubles. I opted to go with Jasper and Conor at that slot. Everything looked great as they raced out to a 5-0 lead in about 15 minutes. They get broken one time and the wheels started to fall off. Instead of shrugging off the break they got mopey and moody. Then they got broke again and they fall apart. The PLU team seized the momentum of the match winning 7-0 in a tie-break.
Not only do we go into the singles down 1-2 but we go into the doubles down 1-2 after falling apart in the doubles. Not a good way to start the singles.
In singles PLU’s #1 player showed everyone why he was 2009 NWC Player of the Year by dismantling Matt 6-0, 6-2. PLU’s Trudel played some incredible tennis and Matt certainly helped make him look good. Matt didn’t play well and is disappointed with his performance. At #6 Jasper shrugs off his doubles performance and wins 6-2, 6-1. At this point the match score is 2-3 and we have won the 1st sets at #2 (Moshevich) 6-1, #3 (Tolman) 7-5, and #4 Bailey (6-0) but lost the 1st at #5 (Fuchs) 4-6.
Moody players and the tide turns…Moshevich, Tolman, and Bailey all drop the 2nd set. Christoph isn’t playing well but wins the second set. Jeffrey drops his match 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 and now we are down 2-4 with 3 singles matches in the third set. Props to Moshevich, Bailey and Fuchs for overcoming some shaky tennis and pulling out third sets wins to give us the match 5-4. Moshevich got the ball rolling by winning 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 in the third. Fuchs was up 5-2 in the third but got broke before breaking to win 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. That put Bailey in the spot light in a very streaky match. I’m damn proud of how Bailey overcame a huge mental lapse (lets say he was way up in his match) and momentum shift to win his match. By virtue of Christoph’s win the match was tied at 4-4 and Chris was at 3-3 in the 3rd set. At three games all Chris breaks and quickly holds to go up 3-5. The PLU player is starting to cramp and needs a training time-out. At 3-5 Chris has 3 match points and nets a three backhands. PLU holds and regains energy. Hats off to Chris who bombs in three huge first serves and holds at 40-15 to clinch the team match 5-4.
Its days like yesterday that I’m grateful we have a deep roster. Immediately following the PLU match we start against host UPS. No team warm-up or talk just play. For the UPS match we used a completed new set of players (good thing because everyone was physically and emotionally strung out). After watching their teammates struggle through a close match against PLU the guys playing against UPS were fired up and ready to go. They swept through the UPS match without losing a set.
We don’t travel again until Spring Break and now have the luxury of time to get down to serious training. Its been a rough few weeks playing the #1 team in the nation, a top 20 NAIA team, and our conference rival. As a team we all felt like yesterday’s match gave us a second chance at the season. Yesterday we were a moody bear that just woke out of hibernation. Now we will see what the spring brings!

Weekend results for the Whitties

Mar 022009
 

What a fun weekend of tennis for the Whitties. Sunday we had the wonderful opportunity to split the team into two and play DI Montana (at home) and conference opponent UPS (in Tacoma). Since I was in Tacoma I can’t write too much about the Montana match. From text messages and calls it appears that Etienne had the match of the day defeating Montana’s #1 (a senior from Poland) 13-11 in the 3rd set super-breaker. At #3 Jake had a good effort winning the first set 6-2 before dropping the next two 6-3, 6-3. We also picked up a 9-7 win at #3 doubles (Dan and Justin) that doesn’t count on the official team score since we played the 7 point DI format.

While team 1 was battling the all-international Grizzly team, team 2 ran into a fired up UPS team. With our top 8 players in Walla Walla this was a major opportunity for UPS to knock us out of the top spot in the conference (we are currently tied with Linfield). I must say that things looked bleak in doubles. We were down breaks at #1 and #3 doubles but up a break at #2. As the doubles wound down I was prepared to go into singles down 1-2. However at 4-6 down Jasper and Adriel (#1 doubles) played inspired doubles — closing hard, crossing and nailing returns winning the last 4 games for a hard fought 8-6 victory. The #2 doubles team of Thomas and Conor got an early break and never looked back scoring an 8-5 victory. Unfortunately the #3 doubles team of David and Reid never got on track losing 8-6.
One thing that I absolutely loved the team that played UPS is that they never “panicked”. Losing this match not only would of knocked us out of first place in the conference standings, but would of nailed our national ranking and ended our conference winning streak. Plus we had two freshman playing #1 (Adriel) and #2 (Conor) in their first big team match.
In fact early in the singles things didn’t look promising: at #5 Thomas was down 1-5, at #2 Conor was down 1-4, and at #3 David was down 0-3. At 2-5 I scrambled down to talk to Thomas and he told me not to worry,  although he wasn’t playing well he was going to win the match. Even though he was down 2-5 he had that champion look in his eye and I knew he would be ok. At 1-4 Conor and I had a great chat and I’ve never seen a more dramatic turn around in my years coaching. He went from trying to end the point early in rallies to taking his time, pounding the ball deep and forcing his opponent to miss. From 1-4 down Conor raced to a 7-5, 5-2 lead! If he can keep this type of  composure on court he will be a force to be reckoned with! Speaking of composure I can’t say enough about Adriel. This young man wise beyond his years! I’ve been calling Adriel “Yoda” for a few weeks now..he certainly lived up to that billing on Sunday beating a good NWC 1st Team All-Conference player 6-3, 6-2.
David and Jasper also had great comebacks over the weekend. Jasper was down 2-5 in the 2nd and rallied to close out his match in a tie-breaker. David came from a set down to post a 4-6, 6-4, 10-8 victory at #3 singles.
Our lone senior on the trip (Reid) posted a 6-2, 6-4 victory at #6. I know this was especially sweet for Reid since his parents made the trip up from Olympia to watch him play. By the way the cookies were awesome! :)
We have a big show down with Linfield on Friday. Both teams are currently undefeated in conference play. If you are in Walla Walla on Friday I hope to see you at the courts at 4pm!
Jeff

Whitties sweep weekend

Feb 092009
 

On Friday the “Fighting Squirrels” kicked off conference play with a 9-0 victory over University of Puget Sound. The #2 doubles combo of Justin “Hiyo” Hayashi and Dan “Mr ATT” Wilson got us rolling with a quick 8-0 win. We struggled a bit in the other doubles matches but pulled through with a 8-5 win at #1 (ET and Nadeem) and 8-4 at #3 (Jake and Chris).

In singles Mr ATT (aka Dan) played like a man who had to make an important call cruising through a 6-0, 6-0 victory at #3 singles. Not to be outdone Chris Bailey posted a 6-0, 6-0 victory at #1 singles. This victory was especially sweet for Chris since his opponent was a NWC 1st Team All-Conference selection from 2008. In other singles Jake battled through a case of nerves posting a 6-3, 6-3 victory at #2, Quin held on for a 6-0, 6-4 win at #4, Nadeem worked hard for a 6-2, 6-4 win at #5 and Christoph completed the sweep with a 6-1, 6-2 win at #6.
Saturday morning was the “BIG” morning — a match with our rival PLU. College football has their rivalry weekend the NWC conference has Whitman VS PLU tennis shootout. Make no doubt about it, this was a big match for both teams. A early season victory by either team sets the tone for the rest of the year. Last year we were able to get the Lutes 3 times (6-3, 9-0, 8-1). However this year the Lutes picked-up another DI transfer giving them one of the best #1, #2 tandems in the conference.  To make matters worse we lost our #1 and #2 players from last year. In a sport of match-ups losing or gaining a player at the top positions can have a huge impact on the outcome.
Doubles was a see-saw affair with Whitman gaining early breaks at #2 and #3 doubles. #1 doubles was a battle with neither game gaining any break points until mid-way through the match. Unlike #1 doubles, #3 doubles was a regular feast for the returners. In fact at one-time that match saw 7 consecutive breaks of serve! In all my years of coaching I don’t think I’ve seen that many breaks of serves. Nadeem/ET were the first off at #1 doubles winning 8-5, the early morning break feast at #3 doubles ended with Justin/Dan pulling out a 8-6 victory, and Christoph/Quin never looked back at #2 doubles winning 8-5.
Going up 3-0 after doubles is HUGE. However we know from past experience that the match was far from over. Two years ago we dug ourselves into a 0-4 hole against PLU and managed to win the final 5 matches. Knowing anything can happen everyone took to the courts knowing that each individual singles match was important.
The top two singles matches were outright slug fests. All 4 players were absolutely crushing the ball. Normally we use the match balls for practice. However the balls from these matches were so worn out we just threw them away! At #1 singles ET showed the heart of lion pulling at 4-6, 6-3, 10-6 victory. After recovering from a shoulder injury ET is playing with passion, intensity and most importantly a renewed love of the game. At #2 singles Chris had the task of playing PLU’s new DI transfer Joel Trudel. Chris picked up where he left off on Friday winning the first set 6-2. However Mr Trudel showed he is the real deal battling back for a 6-1, 10-5 victory (PLU’s only point of the day).
If I had to pick an “MVP” for the day it would be Jake. Against UPS the previous night, Jake struggled with his serve and played very tentative. I was worried how he would react to a very good PLU opponent (another DI transfer). I was proud of how hard he competed, his attitude and intensity on court. In fact Jake was the first singles off the court with a 6-3, 6-3 victory giving us a 4-0 lead. Mr ATT (Dan) overcame an early break clinching the team match with 7-5, 6-2 victory. Numbers 5 and 6 stayed true to form with Quin and Christoph picking up straight set victories.
Also getting in the action was Conor Holton-Burke playing an exhibition against another new PLU transfer. It was great to see Conor battle through a major case of the nerves beating a very good PLU player in 3 though sets.
We now take two weeks off before returning to competition against Pacific and George Fox.