Congratulations to Andrew and Adriel for being voted the yellow jersey wearer(s) for the week.
Apr 182012
Apr 182012
Saturday was a long, and bit different of a day. We started off with a morning match against Lewis & Clark College. Since it was our last regular season home match of the year we got almost everyone into the match (unfortunately Will Huskey is injured and couldn’t play). LC is a MUCH improved team and they have one of the top players in the conference (Olivier Groot). Big props to new coach Pat Dreves who took over a team that hadn’t won a match in three years and molded them into a much better team. The only match we dropped was #1 were Steven Roston lost to Groot 6-4, 6-2. This was our 19 straight match win of the year (crazy) and our 90th straight regular season NWC win.
Immediately following the match .. actually there was still one match being played..we jumped into the van and drove to Lewiston to take on NAIA power LCSC. Even though we have limited match dates I’m not sure that in the future we will play a match at home and them drive 2 hours to play another. Certainly doesn’t provide the best playing experience but nonetheless the guys competed hard. The match was 7-2 but featured 4 three-set matches. And so ends our amazing 19 match winning streak.
Whitman 8 LC 1
Doubles
- Conor Holton-Burke/Matt Tesmond def Groot/Roth-Carter 8-2
- Jeff Tolman/Andrew La Cava def Gee-Tayler/Pfeifer 8-1
- Sam Sadeghi/James Rivers def Monismith/Stanbrook 8-6
Singles
- Steven Roston lost Groot 6-4, 6-2
- Adriel Borshansky def Gee-Taylor 6-0, 7-5
- Matt Tesmond def Roth-Carter 6-3, 6-1
- Colton Malesovas def Monismith 6-0, 6-1
- Dylan Bodet def Pfeifer 6-1, 1-6, 10-3
- Atanas Atanasov def Fodor 6-1, 6-0
Whitman 2 LCSC 7
Doubles
- Holton-Burke/Tesmond lost Robert/Tischer 8-6
- La Cava/Rivers lost Uauy/Krijanto 8-4
- Borshansky/Sadeghi lost Tozer/Oram 8-5
Singles
- La Cava def Tischer 2-6, 6-0, 6-4
- Holton-Burke lost Krijanto 6-4, 6-1
- Rivers lost Tozer 3-6, 6-4, 7-6
- Sadeghi lost Uauy 6-1, 6-1
- Borshansky def Robert 3-6, 6-1, 10-7
- Tesmond lost Gay 1-6, 6-3, 6-4
Apr 132012
WALLA WALLA, Wash. — For the third time this season and fifth time in the past two years, Whitman College senior Conor Holton-Burke has been named Northwest Conference Student Athlete of the Week for men’s tennis.
Holton-Burke, the reigning NWC Player of the Year, notched four more victories on Sunday as Whitman shut out two more conference opponents to extend its winning streak this spring to 18 straight matches.
Conor ripping a mid-court forehand
With Holton-Burke teaming with junior Matt Tesmond for two wins at No. 1 doubles, Whitman took charge of both Sunday road matches with a sweep in the opening round of doubles.
Playing his fourth match of the day, Holton-Burke capped his busy Sunday with a 4-6, 6-3, 11-9 victory over Willamette’s Joshua Wong at No. 1 singles. Wong was voted to the All-NWC First Team in each of the past two seasons.
Earlier on Sunday, Holton-Burke played No. 2 singles at Linfield, winning 6-1, 6-2.
As part of a talented Whitman team that has risen to No. 9 in the NCAA Division III national rankings, Holton-Burke has bounced between the top three spots in singles this spring, compiling a 14-5 record overall.
A moment of calm before the serve
He is 14-6 in doubles while playing all but two of his matches with Tesmond.
In terms of career wins, Holton-Burke shot past the 100-victory plateau early this season. He is nearing 120 career wins as the end of the regular season approaches.
Ranked No. 1 in the West Region, Whitman is 18-3 on the season and 11-0 in the NWC. It can complete its sixth straight undefeated NWC season by beating Lewis & Clark this Saturday.
Whitman has already clinched a fifth-straight conference title and the No. 1 seed at the NWC post-season tournament April 21-22. Whitman will host that four-team tournament, the winner of which receives an automatic berth the NCAA DIII national tournament field.
Saturday’s match against Lewis & Clark is set for 10 a.m. on Whitman’s outdoor courts. The team heads to Lewiston, Idaho, later in the day to play a non-conference match against Lewis-Clark State.
(article by the amazing Whitman SID Dave Holden)
Apr 112012
First off big thanks to Dr Clifford Mah who arranged a team/alumni dinner for us in Portland Saturday night. It was great spending a few hours with Clifford, David Deming, Steven Ly and Kurt Casad.
Since we were playing on Easter Sunday (only day we could fit two matches in) we were a bit short handed as Jeff, Will, Dylan and Nasko all stayed home. Thankfully we have a deep enough team that we had players ready to step in and play. We started off our Easter day with a morning match at Linfield College. We got off to a very sharp start in doubles winning 8-2, 8-0. 8-0. In singles we continued to roll, not dropping a set against the Wildcats.
Doubles
- Matt/Conor def Levein/Roos 8-2
- James/Andrew def Lyons/Kleinman 8-0
- Colton/Steven def Brewer/Day 8-0
Singles
- Andrew def Roos 6-3, 6-3
Looks like a young John McEnroe
- Conor def Tousdale 6-1, 6-2
- James def Day 6-2, 3-0 ret
- Adriel def Hashimoto 6-0, 6-4
- Steven def Colvin 6-0, 6-1
- Matt def Baurichter 6-0, 6-0
We followed up our morning match with a trip to Salem to take on Willamette. The past two years we have played the Bearcats in the conference finals so we knew we were in for a battle. Additionally their top two players are both returning All-Conference players who have given us some tough matches in the past. Again we started off strong in doubles going up quick breaks in all three matches. Number 1 was the most competitive as the Willamette duo broke to get back on serve, but Matt and Conor were too strong as they took the match 8-4. Andrew and James won at #2 8-2 and Steven and Sam won 8-2 at #3.
In singles we rolled to straight set victories at numbers 3-6. As expected #1 and #2 were battles. At #1 Conor had a rematch with Willamette’s Josh Wong. Last year these two met in the NWC finals but didn’t finish the match as the team match was completed. Sam also had a rematch at #2 with Cody Ferguson. Last year Cody defeated Sam in the Fall regional tournament. Conor got off to a slow start going down 0-5 before splitting sets before evening the match 4-6, 6-3. Sam won the first 6-2 but dropped the second 3-6. Since the team match was decided both of these matches went to a match tiebreak. Sam’s breaker was simply brutal — incredibly long rallies (over 100 ball rally!) with both players going from offense to defense. Sam was simply too strong, winning his match 4-6, 6-3, 10-5. Conor had similar long points and was able to gut out a 4-6, 6-3, 11-9 victory. Great effort from both Conor and Sam.
Doubles
- Matt/Conor def Wong/Ferguson 8-4
- James/Andrew def Vincent/Cooper 8-2
- Sam/Steven def Laufer/Thompson
Singles
- Conor def Wong 4-6, 6-3, 11-9
- Sam def Ferguson 6-2, 3-6, 10-5
- James def Vincent 6-0, 5-3
- Adriel def Cooper 6-3, 6-3
- Steven def Agnew-Svoboda 6-1, 6-0
- Matt def Schreiber 6-1, 7-5
With our wins over Linfield and Willamette we have now clinched at least a tie for the NWC title. All we need to do is win a match against against visiting Lewis & Clark College (we defeated them 9-0 earlier in the year) this Saturday to claim the NWC title for the 5th straight year!
Click the picture below for a gallery of pictures from the weekend (thanks to Grant Ritchie who loaned me his camera)
Click picture to open a gallery
Apr 042012
With our Saturday victory (I know this is a bit late) over Whitworth it appears we have just about locked up a 5th straight NWC Championship and earned the right to host the NWC post-season tournament the 3rd weekend of April. The NWC has a bit of strange schedule in that all the schools play a round robin and half. To keep the conference standings fair when teams play against each other twice the average of those scores are used to determine conference finish. Fortunately for us each of the remaining schools on our schedule (Lewis Clark, Willamette, and Linfield) we have defeated 9-0. Mathematically all we need to do is win a set against Linfield and Willamette this weekend to have the higher “average” score and hence the season “victory”.
Speaking of this weekend don’t forget Dr Clifford Mah is hosting a Whitman tennis alumni event at Flying Pie Pizza (in Portland) Saturday 6pm. Hope to see all the Whitman tennis alumni (and families) at the event! Anyone planning on attending should RSVP with me by Friday.
Whitman 9 Whitworth 0
Doubles
- Matt/Conor def Redfern/Williams 8-0
- Andrew/Jeff def Hamming/Dernbach 8-3
- Sam/James def McConnell/Goebel 8-3
Singles
- Andrew def Redfern 6-3, 6-2
- Jeff def Williams 6-4, 6-1
- Conor def McConnell 6-4, 6-2
- James def Dernbach 6-0, 6-1
- Sam def Hamming 6-2, 6-2
- Adriel def Engelman 6-2, 6-2
Mar 292012
Click the photo below to open a gallery of pictures from spring break. Thanks to Loren Rivers for the photos!
Click to open photo gallery
Freshman James Rivers was recently recognized as honorable mention for West Region Player of the Week by division3tennis.com. The link to the complete story can be found here.
Congratulations to James!
This is taken from the Nor Cal USTA Web Page.
NorCal’s Matt Solomon and his mother, Joan Oloff won the USTA National Mother Son Indoor Championships held March 16-18, 2012. They did not drop a set until the finals where they beat the #1 seeds from San Diego, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. The win earned them both their first Gold Ball.
The USTA National Mother-Son Indoor Championships have been played at the South Barrington Club located in a Northwestern Chicago suburb for the past nine years. The club is one of the first indoor tennis facilities in the Chicago area.
Joan raised three kids in Los Gatos where she still lives. Together, they spent many years on the junior tennis tournament circuit. All three kids went on to play college tennis and each has been the number one player on their college team.
Most of Matt’s college tennis was played at Whitman College, a small liberal arts school in Washington State. He also played one season (my junior year) at Boise State during the team’s run to the NCAA Sweet 16; the team ended the year ranked in the national top 20. Matt’s older brother, Daniel played for Colorado College and younger sister, Jamie, is currently a junior and playing at Pomona Pitzer College in Southern California.
The last time Matt and Joan competed together was in 2007. They took a hiatus due to schedule conflicts while Matt was playing in college.
“I hadn’t thought of playing mother-son tournaments the past few years, but I have been playing a fair amount recently” Matt said. He recently competed at the NorCal Combo Doubles League Section Championships as a member of the Olympic Club 9.5 team. “My mom brought up the idea and I was happy to go along with it.”
Joan is a 4.0 NTRP player with plenty of tournament and league experience, “Playing with my son(s) is the greatest gift they could offer me. Like many tennis parents, we juggled driving our kids almost every weekend on what I used to call the NorCal Junior Circuit. They may not verbalize it at the time, but these kids absolutely appreciate the sacrifice that their parents make over the years.” She added, “To share the court and team up with any of my kids is a great honor for me.”
She has seen her parental role with her son reversed when on the tennis court. “Matt’s experience on the court is far greater than mine. He became the leader of the team and I followed his direction to the best of my ability. He encouraged me to stay focused, supported me when I needed help, and uplifted my spirits when he sensed I needed it,” Joan said.
In 2006, the mother/son duo won a silver ball and sportsmanship honors at the same Indoor National Championships. They’ve competed twice at National Hard Court Championships held in San Diego, placing 4th one year. Matt’s older brother, Daniel played for Colorado College, has played a few tournaments with their mom, but they have yet to win a ball. Younger sister, Jamie, is currently a junior and playing at Pomona Pitzer College in Southern California.
Joan considers the experience of playing the national championships with her son a blessing and winning the gold ball, a dream. She said, “We have created joyful memories that will surely last a lifetime. I would encourage more moms to join their sons at these events. Nothing I could ever do on a tennis court will surpass this moment.”
The Solomon siblings are all hoping that USTA will create a National Championship for brother/brother and brother/sister combinations in the future. As for Matt and Joan, Matt concluded, “We’re not sure if we’ll play in a mother-son tournament again. I might want to go out on top!”
Mar 272012
Freshman Colton Malesovas
WALLA WALLA, Wash. — After winning two three-set battles in singles last Sunday to help the Whitman College tennis team cap a grueling nine-day road trip, Conor Holton-Burke has been named Northwest Conference Student Athlete of the Week for for the second time this season.
Senior Holton-Burke earns NWC Player of the Week
Holton-Burke, a senior and the reigning NWC Player of the Year, notched his two wins at No. 3 singles as No. 8 Whitman worked overtime on Sunday, spending 10 hours on the courts to scramble past two other nationally ranked teams.
Whitman kicked off its long day with an 8-1 victory over No. 17 Whittier on its home courts. After a short break, Whitman returned to the same courts against a rested No. 19 Trinity (CT), which was also in California for Spring Break matches.
Holton-Burke helped Whitman grab an early lead against Trinity, teaming with junior Matt Tesmond for a 9-8 victory at No. 1 doubles.
Whitman led 2-1 after doubles, but Trinity snared two of the first three decisions in singles to even the team scoring at 3-3. Shortly thereafter, Holton-Burke took charge of his three-set battle at No. 3 singles, finishing off a 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 victory.
That put Whitman back on top 4-3 and freshman James Rivers soon added a victory at No. 4 singles to clinch the team triumph.
Earlier in the day against Whittier, Holton-Burke rallied for a 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 win in his No. 3 singles match. It was one of four three-set victories in singles for Whitman in that match.
Holton-Burke’s latest award also took into consideration his four victories earlier last week. He won twice at No. 1 doubles (with Tesmond) and twice at No. 3 singles as Whitman notched 9-0 victories over Rochester (New York) and Willamette.
Whitman is now 15-3 on the season, ranked No. 1 in the West Region, and 8-0 in the NWC.
It resumes NWC play when it hosts Whitworth on Saturday, March 31. Whitman is pursuing a fifth straight conference title.
