Central Region Post Season Awards

Well I thought I would come out of hibernation and post a fun article. I have been quiet over the last two weeks as real life has gotten in the way and the Central region gets boring in April. Anyways, I thought with all of the post season awards being handed out that I would give some of my own. Some of these categories will be random, but that makes it fun right?

Best Forehand: Viswajit Simhadri (Case Western): Before this season, I had heard of Simhadri’s big ground stroke, particularly after he upset Tim Noack in an ITA a few seasons ago. This year I have gotten the chance to see it firsthand and wow is it huge. He can hit a winner from anywhere with it and is completely unassuming as he crushes it flat footed from way behind the baseline. His solid results this spring after moving way up in the Case lineup are in huge part to his forehand shot. There are a lot of good forehands worth mentioning like Geier, Putterman, and Leung.

Best Backhand: Nicolas Chua (Chicago): Until you have seen Chua play, you cannot understand this selection fully. First and foremost, he is a little guy. Because of that you would assume that he lacks the power necessary to hit through guys. But that assumption would be extremely wrong. Chua won’t win any awards on technique, but his baseball backhand is so good that he was an easy choice for this award.

Most Important Player: Chris Krimbill (Case Western): i try to stay away from naming anyone the most valuable player as every single spot is valuable, but I have to name Chris Krimbill as the most important player because without him, Case isn’t anywhere near where they are now. Senior Will Drougas could probably win this award as well. For Case to be successful on a national level, Krimbill needed to win and win both singles and doubles. He came up big for them most of the time.

Best Senior: Ross Putterman (Wash U) and Wade Heerboth (Kenyon): Both Putterman and Heerboth are huge leaders for their respected teams both on and off the court. Each guy has played an integral role in the program’s success over the last 4 years and deserve a ton of respect for what they have accomplished. These program defining players will be missed!

Best Freshman: Nicolas Chua (Chicago): Chua was going to win this award even if he had a terrible spring which he didn’t. While his spring wasn’t dominate, he did have some great wins along the way. But by winning the fall ITA and then winning ITA nationals in October as a freshman, Chua introduced himself to D3 tennis in a big way. He is going to be a big threat against any opponent and a staple for the Maroons in the next three years.

Biggest Surprise: Mohaned Al-Houni (Gustavus): The younger Al-Houni started the season at #3 and was a solid player there, but wasn’t fantastic. In what I thought was a move to strengthen the team’s chances, he was moved to the top spot mid-year and proved critics (mainly me) wrong by coming up with huge wins against Williams, Pomona, and Chicago (Chua). Those late season wins are likely to get him into individual nationals nudging out some great #2 players like Will Drougas and Sam Geier.

Best Player Under the Radar: Noah Sprinkel (Coe): Sprinkel has quietly had an awesome year. He sat out the fall season so it was hard to determine where he would fall in the Central region rankings spectrum as he has always been on the bubble of the top 8. After an early season loss in three sets to Chua and an average spring break where he lost to Budd (Tyler) and Antonio (Oglethorpe), I thought it would be the same story. But late season wins over Humphreys (Whitewater) and Carswell (Wash U) firmly place him at nationals and potentially a guy who could pull an upset.

Best Player You’ve Never Heard Of: Jad Abdul-Aal (John Carroll): Who is Jad Abdul-Aal? Exactly! The top singles player from John Carroll doesn’t get a whole lot of attention because the OAC isn’t exactly a tennis power conference. Abdul-Aal just led his team to the conference tournament title and automatic qualification bid. The OAC is one of the great conference tourneys because one of five teams going into it can win it. While he doesn’t have any big upset wins, he put together a solid season and competed well against the top competition he played.

Best Season: Carleton Knights: Carleton has always been somewhat of a mystery as they typically are ranked in the 9-12 range in the region. Last season was terrible for them and I am not sure what the problem was. However, they came on strong this year finishing with 23 wins and will once again be back where they belong. Unfortunately they play in Gustavus’s conference so there will not be a post season any time soon, but hats off to the Knights for a great year. Oh and thankfully you are back on twitter!

Favorite Villain: Case Western: Stealing a page off of the MTV movie awards, I had to award Best Villain to the Spartans. Whether it is their “nobody wanted me as a recruit” mentality, poor sportsmanship they reportedly had at Stag-Hen, or how they toe the line on a lot of practice/match rules, everyone loves to hate Case Western. I think this team invites such a title and enjoys it, but I also believe they may have realized it has gone too far this season as they have been rather quiet on twitter and the blog as of late. Either way, the only way you become a villain is by being good enough to make people mad and Case is definitely that. Unfortunately in Hollywood, the villain never wins in the end.

Biggest Upset: Chris Bertolini (Depauw) over John Carswell (Wash U): This was one of the first matches of the spring so I didn’t know what to expect from either player. We knew Carswell struggled in the fall so at the time while it was an upset, I wasn’t sure how big it really was. Bertolini has gone on to have a very average season and really the only reason he is still in the regional rankings is because of this one win. Carswell has been a bit better and has buoyed Bertolini’s resume since this match.

Best Coach: Coach Jay Tee (Chicago): The Chicago stigma is no more. No longer can we just assume that Chicago is going to choke away all the talent they have. Coach Tee has come in and changed things drastically. Not only are the players performing close to their talent (I say close because I still think they haven’t lived up to it yet), but Chicago is no longer known as a team full of bad apples. This team is full of class and that has to be a reflection of Coach Tee. With another top recruiting class on it’s way in, the Maroons will be even more dangerous next year.

Best Team: TBA: How can I have this at TBA? It has to be Wash U right? Well yes it should be and very well may be when all is said and done, but I wanted to leave this open to see if Chicago does any damage in the tournament (saying they get in via Pool C which they should). Wash U typically is great in May and Chicago is relatively new to post season play so I am interested to see how it all shakes out.

So there you have it. Another great regular season is in the books. Looking forward to the draw coming this week! Oh and still waiting for ASouth to pay me $20 bucks….

 

10 thoughts on “Central Region Post Season Awards

  1. Money Team Floyd

    What about best match of the year?
    I’d have to nominate that freshmen battle back at Fall ITAs with Chicago’s Liu winning in a third tiebreak over Oberlin’s Little Drougas.

    1. D3CentralTennis

      It’s hard to pick what I thought the best match of the year would be because I would have to be at those matches to give my opinion. I was at the match you mentioned and it was crazy for sure. I also would say the match that was going on two courts away between Putterman and Chua was just as good. Tons of great matches to choose from.

  2. Central Superlatives

    Who do you think takes Best Serve, Best Return, Most Improved Team, and Most Clutch Performance?

    1. D3CentralTennis

      As soon as I posted this, I thought to myself why didn’t I include Best Serve. There are a lot of big serves in the region so that makes it tough to pick one. Biggest serve in the region I would probably say Kevin Chu from Wash U, but overall best serve I would say Putterman. He has a pretty big first serve and a nasty kick serve that throws people off. Best return I would go with a couple of choices. Sabada (Chicago), Wu (Wash U), Haugen (Wash U), Krimbill (Case), or Reifeis (Wabash) all have a return that is a weapon. Most improved team is between three teams: Carleton, Oberlin, and Wabash, but I would probably say Oberlin gets my choice because 1) they are my favorite and 2) unlike Carleton they haven’t been a fixture in the rankings over the years. Finally, most clutch performance in my mind is Kenyon’s Davis Thrailkill in the Santa Cruz match winning in a third set breaker to avoid a bad loss as a team. He was down 4-2 in the breaker and pulled it out 7-5. You have to give Sabada a shout out for clutch performance at UAAs.

      1. Walrus aficionado

        Mr. Heerboth has a pretty nasty return if I may say so myself

  3. Tennisfan

    Who do you think wins sportsmanship as a team and individual? Interesting award to give

    1. D3CentralTennis

      Individual sportsmanship is difficult to give because thankfully there are so many people who deserve the award. In terms of team, even though they haven’t been as good over the past few years, Hope College has some of the nicest players you will ever meet.

  4. Best Bench mob?

    I think we are all wondering Who has the best benchmob in the central region?

    1. Billy Mayer

      Good question, who is the best bench mob in the country? There a lot of great ones, and they have such an influence on every match. Who’s the best?

      1. D3CentralTennis

        Go Lords!

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