Recently the USTA/ITA started a new program called the Campus Showdown. These events are one-day, open tennis events held on college campuses. I figured hosting a campus showdown would be a great way for some of the guys to play extra matches. I didn’t figure on the alumni getting wind of the event and coming out to play! Saturday’s Whitman Campus Showdown will feature 8 Whitman alumni, 6 current team members and 2 PNW junior players. So really this is a Whitman tennis alumni showdown! (more…)
Senior Day!!!!
Yesterday we honored our seven seniors before our home match against Pacific. To say these seniors have had an impact on Whitman and the tennis program is an understatement. They have set the bar incredibly high for any sports team at Whitman. These seven seniors have never lost a regular season conference team match (60+ and counting), have qualified for three straight NCAA III appearances, won two conference titles, been an ITA All-Academic team for three straight years and have a team GPA around a 3.5!
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Another sweep as we start spring break
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
Wrapping up the weekend
Finished out our weekend home stand with a 9-0 victory over Lewis Clark College. LC is down a bit this year so most of the matches were lopsided. For this match I tried to use as many different players as possible. Always nice to get a chance to play at home!
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Team Preview
Dave Holden, Whitman’s incredible SID, posted this preview of our season.
WALLA WALLA, Wash. – The men’s tennis program, the flagship for athletic success at Whitman College for the past decade, has plenty of wind at its sails as it embarks on its latest spring voyage.
If anything, Whitman is riding the waves at a speed a few knots faster than a year ago, when it surfed merrily through a 24-5 season that included a third consecutive undefeated Northwest Conference regular season, a second straight conference tournament title (fourth in 10 years) and a berth in the NCAA Div. III national tournament for the third time in as many years. (more…)
Great night, rough score
What a great night of tennis! It was so gratifying to have a PACKED house supporting our team as we took on the defending national champions UC Santa Cruz. When I mean packed house we are talking over 200 people in the balcony of our indoor center. And boy were they treated to some great tennis.
Much like last night the doubles came down to the end. Bit of a topsy turvy affair. At #2 doubles (Quin and Christoph) we were close but never saw a break point and lost 8-6. At #3 doubles Jasper and Jake served well and were never broken. We had quite a few break points and at 7-8 had 2 matches points (15-40) but couldn’t put a return in play. Was nice to see the seniors really rally in win 7-4 in the breaker. (more…)
Boise State Wrap-up and Mobile, AL
Been a busy few days for Whitman tennis. Last weekend David Deming and Conor Holton-Burke traveled to Boise for the Boise State Invite (mainly a DI event). What a wonderful event: great facilities, fun people and incredible tennis! Conor had a great weekend of play. In his first match he defeated a LCSC player 6-3, 6-1 but then lost by the same score to talented University of Portland freshman Jackson Martin. The following day Conor wrapped up his tournament with a straight set win over a sophomore from U of Montana. David went 0-2 but played some pretty good tennis considering he has been out most of the fall with a sore back. In his first match he lost 7-5, 6-4 to a very good freshman freshman from Montana State and then lost to a freshman from Idaho State 10-8 in a 3rd set match break.Currently I’m in Mobile, AL with Matt Solomon for the ITA Small College National Championships. Tomorrow at 10am Matt squares off in a play-in match against the winner of the Texas region. Winner makes it into the final eight tournament grouping. One very exciting and interesting aspect to this tournament is the winners of DIII, DII, NAIA, and JC play-off in the “Small College Superbowl” Winner of this Superbowl gets to play in the NCAA DI National event.I’ll try to provide twitter updates during the match.
Looking ahead
Going to be a busy week for some Whitman players. This weekend David Deming and Conor Holton-Burke are traveling to Boise State to play in the BSU invite. Will be great experience for the two since the majority of teams are DI (we are the only DIII school playing). On Monday Matt Solomon leaves for the ITA Small College National Championships in Mobile, AL.
I’ll try to update match scores via Twitter and provide recaps on the blog.
Squirrels Sweep final home matches
Great weather and some great tennis for our final home matches of the year. Only bummer for the day was illness took three Whitties out of the line-up (Jake Cappel, Christoph Fuchs and Reid Bennett). This was especially disappointing for senior Reid Bennett who was scheduled to play in his last EVER home match.
Our matches yesterday were against conference opponent Whitworth University. Whitworth is a solid team that will be the #4 or #5 seed in the upcoming NWC conference tournament. They have had some impressive doubles results this year including sweeping all three doubles against a very good PLU team. Also, the previous day Whitworth played very close against Linfield — a team that always plays great doubles. Even though Whitworth was swept in doubles against Linfield they lost 9-8 at #1 and #2. Obviously getting off to a good start in doubles was going to be key to the match. After our long spring break trip we are in the process of reevaluating our doubles. One doubles team that doesn’t need any reevaluation is Justin and Dan. Yesterday they kept their undefeated streak alive with a convincing 8-3 win at #1. At #2 Jasper and Quin played very well together posting a solid 8-4 victory. For their first match together I was really impressed with how well they moved and communicated. At #3 Thomas and Conor struggled a early in their match but after being knotted at 5-5 they won the last 3 games for earning an 8-5 victory.
In singles our line-up was #1 Dan, #2 Quin, #3 Jasper, #4 Justin, #5 Thomas and #6 Conor. Dan was positively chomping at the bit to play #1 and get a chance to avenge […]
Whitties finish spring break
Whitman 9 Oberlin 0
DePauw 7 Whitman 2
Long last day of matches on Hilton Head. Started off by picking up group B at 7:30am (4:30 pacific time) for our morning match against Oberlin. Against the OC I decided to move Thomas and Conor up to one doubles and put a new pairing of Jasper and Quin at #2 doubles. The blustery winds didn’t allow for either team to play their best tennis. Despite the wind we were able to post an 8-6 win at #1 doubles, 8-0 win at #2 doubles and David/Reid won 8-1 at #3 doubles.
In singles Jasper continued his torrential play posting a quick 6-0, 6-0 win at #2 singles. In his last 3 matches his scores has been 6-2 6-0, 8-0 and 6-0 6-0. This break has been very good for his game. Quin had a very competitive first set against the OC’s #1 player. After breaking to go up 6-5 Quin only dropped 1 game for a 7-5, 6-1 victory. Thomas looked a bit bewildered in the wind but still managed to win 6-3, 6-2 at #3. Conor and David both posted routine wins at #4 and #5. Reid was especially impressive in his 6-2, 6-0 victory in the last spring break match of his career.
As we were finishing up with Oberlin, Coach Jennifer took the rest of the team to warm-up for our show down with #18 DePauw. Myself and group B was able to catch-up with the rest of the team with about half an hour left in the warm-up.
I was really looking forward to our match with DePauw. Not only is DePauw traditionally one of the best programs in DIII but they are a good group of […]