An excellent day of tennis yesterday got me stoked to hit the Blogosphere today, so y’all are getting a NW Regional wrap-up. There’s not a ton to discuss about the regional, so I’m just going to write a quick blurb about the top four teams.
Whitman
Grade: B+
This tournament was basically dominated by the second year Whitman players (Locklear counts as a second year player because he transferred in last season). Six second year players made the round of 16, 5 made the quarters, 3 made the semis, and the two doubles partners (Locklear and Hewlin) duked it out in the singles finals. Two more sophomores lost in the second round (one to Hewlin and one in a 10-pointer). In dubs, Locklear and Hewlin obviously one with another sophomore team losing in the semis and another sophomore team losing in the quarters. All told, I think it’s pretty safe to say that that class is doing pretty well for itself. So that’s the positive. The negative is that all the other classes are pretty much non-existent. Whitman’s freshmen don’t seem to be up to snuff, their one true senior (Alex Noyes) bowed out early, and their two junior starters are abroad. Friedman also put himself in the ignominious position of being known as “the guy who cramps,” which is not exactly what you want to be known for, but hey, that’s something he’s got control over. Lastly, things wouldn’t be nearly as peachy if Hewlin and Locklear hadn’t come back from the 4-7 double-break hole they dug themselves in the semis.
It would be uncharacteristic of me not to point out that I predicted the winners of both draws. Hewlin impressed me a lot last season, and he’s quickly becoming one of those guys that steps up in the big moments. I know it’s the Northwest regional, but I can’t think of a lot of guys who have managed to win the singles and doubles titles in their regional two years in a row other than him (actually, I can only think of one other guy), so that’s nothing to sniff at. Congrats to Locklear for earning an all-American honor in his last season! Well done.
George Fox
Grade: B
The Bruins seem to do just a little bit better in this regional every year. Last year, they managed to get a singles players into the semifinals for the first time, and they took one more step forward this season when Spencer Watanabe and Chris Lilley made the finals of the doubles bracket. They might not think of that as much of a victory since they had the #1 seeded doubles team, but I think we all knew they weren’t really the favorites. Watanabe backed up his great doubles performance with a semifinal run in singles where he came back from down a set and 5-6 (returning), saving a match point in the process, to beat Friedman in the quarters (we won’t talk about the part where he was up 6-2 in the breaker). The Bruins also had Andrew You make a nice run to the quarters to give them a little depth.
The problem for George Fox is that after those top three players, they don’t really have a whole lot going for them. One other guy made the round of 16, but I think the rest of the Bruins lost in the first round of what is probably the weakest regional in the country. Even though they outperformed every team in the tournament except Whitman, they might have a hard time finishing second in the conference if they can’t win matches at 5 and 6 singles. The crucial next step for them is to schedule some teams in the 20-40 range to try to pick up a big win and their first national ranking. As we saw when they swept Whitman in doubles last year, they’re capable of playing some good tennis on the right day.
Lewis and Clark
Grade: C
I’m going to be completely honest and tell you all that I have a big Pioneer fan that likes to talk my ear off about how great they’re going to be every year. I drank the Kool Aid last year and I almost did it again, but again they didn’t live up to their own lofty expectations. They didn’t get a player into the quarters of singles, despite having three guys get to the Round of 16. The one highlight of the tournament for them was the semifinal showing from the doubles team of Ross and Attai (a freshman), but it could have been so much more, as they were up 7-4 in that match and got broken while serving for the match twice. Chalk it up to freshman jitters. Nevertheless, the Pioneers can remain optimistic about their Spring season, as their #1, Brewer, was presumably abroad for the tournament, and they have two other 3-stars on their TRN page who weren’t in the tournament.
Looking forward, the Pios are one of the few teams that has a published schedule, and it looks like Coach Dreves has concocted the perfect schedule for them. They’ve got matches against Swarthmore, Cal Lu, Redlands, and Chapman on their schedule, and two of those will be played in Walla Walla. They probable won’t pick up a big win, but those are exactly the sorts of matches they need to be playing. In between, they will battle it out with Pacific and George Fox to see who will be this years’ NWC salutatorian.
Pacific
Grade: C-
The Pacific Boxers actually currently have a national ranking of 40, but they were probably the fourth best team in the tournament after graduating their top two singles players from the squad that nearly took out Whitman last season. The highlight of their tournament was Brennan Faith making a nice little run to the quarterfinals in singles. Outside of Wight, the rest of their singles seeds got upset in the early rounds, and they were generally a non-factor in doubles. There’s really not much I can do to sugarcoat the performance. Graduation has clearly taken its toll on Pacific, and they will have to do some serious work in the off-season if they are hoping for another second place finish in the NWC.