Players of the Week: 4/25-5/1

REGIONAL PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: April 25th-May 1st

Happy Monday, boys and girls, and welcome to the final POTW of the regular season. Now, I don’t want to get too reflective on you here, as there is still the most important tennis of the season yet to be played, but I thought that this week’s POTW should include some extra accolades. Who doesn’t love more accolades? For all you Blog enthusiasts, don’t worry, we’ll still do our regular awards article at the end of the season, which will be far more in-depth and recognize many more deserving student-athletes. However, the major sports give awards based on regular season performance, so I figured we’d give that a try. Other writers, sorry if this week actually has to make you think about your answers, I know we don’t usually do that here.

A-SOUTH

Jack "" Gray
Jack “Slappers Only” Gray

Player: Jack Gray

Team: Sewanee

Results: 3-0 at #1 Doubles, 2-0 in Singles at SAA Tournament

Recap: There really wasn’t much action in the ASouth this week with Emory, CMU, and Mary Washington all done with their season.  So, I went into the depths of the SAA Tournament where Sewanee took home a title once again.  Jack Gray has been an unheralded player despite being really damn good at doubles, and he showed that strength off again this weekend. However, he has also made a big impact in singles at the #3 spot for the Tigers and was able to take two wins this weekend as well.  Gray has a strong future in the ASouth and it was hard not to pick him for the region’s player to watch in 2017.

What’s next: The NCAA Touranment, where Sewanee will probably be sent to the Wash U region as a #3 seed. I am expecting them to play UW-Whitewater in that region.

Honorary Mention: Avery Schober (Sewanee)

Your region’s Most Valuable Player: Rafe Mosetick, Emory

Your region’s Most Improved Player: Brandon Griffin, Mary Washington

Your region’s Rookie of the Year: Jonathan Jemison, Emory

Your region’s Coach of the Year: John Browning, Emory

Your region’s Player to Watch in 2017: Mark Fallati, Swarthmore

CENTRAL

Jake "" Humphreys
Jake “PP7” Humphreys

Player: Jake Humphreys

Team: Whitewater

Results: 1-0 in singles and 1-0 in doubles

Recap: While I could have easily picked someone who was a bit more active this week, I think it is necessary to give Humphreys some recognition. He has had a pretty rough season and I think the fact that he has held on to be ranked in the top 8 thus far was strictly on reputation and not performance. He did have a win against Carswell, but he isn’t in the top 10 so it didn’t mean much to me. However, this week, Humpheys took down Brady Anderson from Coe that gives the resume win he needed to validate his spot in the national tournament. Hopefully this shows that Jake is peaking at the right time and can make a run into the tournament. If you remember, he made the quarters last year.

What’s next: Whitewater will get a Pool B bid and likely a #2 seed. With that, they can be a dangerous team depending on who they draw as their #1 seed.

Honorary Mention: All of Kenyon’s team, Kevin Brown

Your region’s Most Valuable Player: Sam Geier (Kenyon)

Your region’s Most Improved Player: Dan Rodefeld (Depauw) also see Regional for Brady Anderson

Your region’s Rookie of the Year: Kevin Brown (Denison)

Your region’s Coach of the Year: Roger Follmer (Wash U) or Dan Hopkins (Rose Hulman)

Your region’s Player to Watch in 2017: James Fojtasek (Case Western)

NE

Deepak "" Indrakanti
Deepak “Dostovei” Indrakanti

Player: Deepak Indrakanti

Team: Williams

Results: 2-0 at #5 singles, including the clincher in the last match on vs. Amherst.

Recap: I kind of wanted to give this to Kai Yuen Leung simply because he did what nobody else has been able to do this year, and beat Noah Farrell, but Deepak still gets the nod. The freshman went 2-0 playing a spot above his regular lineup position, and was the last match on against Amherst and fellow freshman Jesse Levitin. Indrakanti was up 5-2 in the 3rd set, but was broken at 5-3. Then, back on serve up 5-4, Deepak broke to win his match, the team match, and keep Williams’ Pool-C bid alive. Coach Greenberg will rely on Deepak’s spot moving forward, especially if Shastri comes back, pushing the POTW back down to #6.

What’s next: NESCACs. Williams should be the #3 seed, pending the seeding announcement early this week, and would draw a likely rematch with Amherst.

Honorary Mention: Kai Yuen Leung (Skidmore), Palmer Campbell (Middlebury), Jay Glickman (Tufts), Rob Jacobson (Tufts), and Matt Heinrich (Stevens)

Your region’s Most Valuable Player: Noah Farrell (Middlebury), gets the nod over Matt Heinrich (Stevens).

Your region’s Most Improved Player: Luke Tercek (Bowdoin), gets the nod over Ben Rosen (Bates).

Your region’s Rookie of the Year: Grant Urken (Bowdoin), gets the nod over Hamid Derbani (Midd, technically a rookie) Indrakanti (Williams), and Bessette (Amherst). Urken was 19-0 at #5&6 singles, with 16 wins against players from ranked schools.

Your region’s Coach of the Year: Mike Fried (Wesleyan), gets the nod over Conor Smith (Bowdoin).

Your region’s Player to Watch in 2017: Steven Chen (Wesleyan).

WEST

Jake "" Yasgoor
Jake “”Throwing Knife” Yasgoor

Player: Jake Yasgoor

Team: Pomona-Pitzer

Results: 2-0 at #2 singles and #2 doubles against Redlands

Recap: A light week in the West region makes for an easy week for me. The blockbuster match this weekend renewed the rivalry between the two SCIAC foes, and only one player won both of his matches. Yasgoor teamed with Kim to take an 8-6 decision over Lipscomb/Wilson before outlasting an impressive Jake Ly at #2 singles to clinch the match for the Hens.

What’s next: The SCIAC tournament! (See my post later this week)

Honorary Mention: Bryan Mehall (CMS), Joey Fischer (UT-T)

Your region’s Most Valuable Player: Skyler Butts, CMS

Your region’s Most Improved Player: Graham Maassen, Pomona-Pitzer

Your region’s Rookie of the Year:  Chase Lipscomb (Redlands) over Fagundes (UT-T)

Your region’s Coach of the Year: Paul Settles, CMS

Your region’s Player to Watch in 2017: Zach Hewlin (Whitman) over Hull (CMS) and Lambeth (Trinity)

REGIONAL

Sean "" Ko
Sean “Klobb” Ko

Player: Sean Ko

Team: MIT

Results: 2-0 at #2 doubles, 2-0 at #4 singles in wins over Brandeis and MIT

Recap: MIT answered their critics in a big way this past week, getting wins over #28 Brandeis and #13 Tufts.  They currently are not ranked, but they should shoot into the year-end rankings with those wins.  Freshman Sean Ko had the best week for the Engineers, going undefeated in those two matches.  Ko teamed up with Kevin Wang at #2 doubles to beat Danny Lubarsky/Brian Granoff of Brandeis 8-6, and then Jay Glickman/Rob Jacobson 8-4.  Ko got it done on the singles court as well, beating Tyler Ng (Deis) 2 and 1, and Rob Jacobson (Tufts) 6-3 in the third.  Ko has one D3 singles loss this year (Ben Fife, Amherst), and only two doubles losses (Amherst and Bates).  Ko along with the freshman Tyler Barr at #3 have both had very strong freshman years, which should set MIT up for success for years to come.

What’s next: MIT has the NEWMAC tournament this weekend, where they will take on Springfield College in the first round, and most likely Babson in the finals.  They did almost lose to Babson mid season (down 5-2 in the third in the last match I believe), but after these two wins, I think MIT’s confidence level is much higher, and I like them to come through the tournament.

Honorary Mention: Sebastian Sikh (NCW)

Your region’s Most Valuable Player: Michael Holt (W&L)

Your region’s Most Improved Player: Eric Roddy (Sewanee)

Your region’s Rookie of the Year: Raed Attia (Lewis & Clark)

Your region’s Coach of the Year: Brian Jackson (Pacific)

Your region’s Player to Watch in 2017: Brady Anderson (Coe)

 

7 thoughts on “Players of the Week: 4/25-5/1

  1. Johnny D

    Just thought your award should be reserved for freshmen. Not sure if it would have been fair to consider Alex Johnston for a rookie of the year award when he first came to Midd.

    1. D3AtlanticSouth

      It’s kinda like the whole Hideki Matsui/Japanese/International debate in the MLB. No one’s really happy either way. Let’s just sit back and say hey, all these dudes had great years. NE picked Urken anyways!

      1. Johnny D

        No controversy here. Congrats to Urken on a well-deserved award

    2. D3 Northeast

      That’s a fair thought. Perhaps we’ll make the post-season award for the freshman of the year instead of rookie.

  2. Johnny D

    Might want to look into Derbani’s profile pre-Midd before putting him in rookie category

    1. D3 Northeast

      The award, this article, and to my knowledge this whole Blog tend to focus on DIII tennis, where Derbani is, for all intents and purposes, a rookie. I’m afraid you might have to look into another site for your NAIA or Juco rookie of the year awards.

      1. D3AtlanticSouth

        Literally says Derbani (technically a rookie) so obviously it’s been noted, lol.

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