REGIONAL PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: 03/27-04/02
As we roll along into April it’s time for another edition of POTW! It’s Opening Day for the MLB, the NCAAB title game is tonight, the Masters is just days away, but the real important news of the day is that Amherst is mascotless no longer! The team formerly known as Lord Jeffs will henceforth be known as the Mammoths. I’ll bet there are more than a few of our cavemen ancestors who would have been offended by that mascot choice. I was going to do this week’s nicknames as rejected mascot suggestions that Amherst should have chosen over Mammoths, but that would have just been seven guys with “Hamster” typed out between their first and last names…
A-SOUTH
Player: Kiril Kirkov
Team: Carnegie Mellon
Results: 2-0 in singles against L&C and Kenyon
Recap: My job here is not to give this award to the best player in my region every week. Or so I believe. I’ll mention my honorary mention later, but I did want to take this time to shoutout Kiril Kirkov of CMU. For those unfamiliar with his history, Kirkov was a strong #3 singles player his freshman year, but suffered a wrist injury over the summer of his sophomore year. A quick recap is that he has been working his way back from that ever since and has finally come back into the Tartan lineup. This weekend, he went 2-0 against L&C at #4 singles and Kenyon at #5 singles, with a big win against Pete Dakich at #6 singles in a 5-4 win vs. Kenyon. While his wins are not overly impressive, Kirkov deserves to be mentioned.
What’s next: Matches against UMW and Hopkins this weekend
Honorary Mention: Josh Goodman (Emory), John Larkin (Swarthmore)
Gonzaga or UNC: I want the Zags to win but Tree wins the bracket if they do, so UNC
Opening Day or the Masters: NBA Playoffs
Fed fan or Nadal nut: Federer, please.
MIDWEST
Player: Weston Noall
Team: Kenyon
Results: 4-0 at #1 doubles and 2-0 at #5 singles
Recap: Kenyon didn’t get off to the best start this season in doubles, but Weston Noall has stepped up as of late to provide big wins for the Lords at the #1 spot. He and partner Alex Rieger amassed a 4-0 record over the weekend, with convincing victories over Carnegie Mellon, Lewis & Clark, Ohio Wesleyan, and Alleghany. Noall also performed well at the bottom of Kenyon’s singles lineup. Interestingly, the junior was not somebody I thought would make key contributions to the Lords’ lineup, but he has proven me wrong. Kenyon has looked solid as of late, and if Noall continues his winning ways, good things are on the Lords’ horizon.
What’s next: Kenyon hosts Wooster tomorrow and Oberlin on Saturday to wrap up its regular season.
Honorary Mention: Michael Liu (Kenyon)
Gonzaga or UNC: UNC
Opening Day or the Masters: Opening Day
Fed fan or Nadal nut: Federer
NE
Player: William de Quant
Team: Middlebury
Results: 3-0 at #1 doubles and 3-0 at #2 singles.
Recap: No big deal really. All de Quant did was overcome a 6-1 doubles deficit against Trinity TX, smoke Emory and CMS’s top teams, and win all three of his singles matches, WINNING ALL THREE IN 3-SETS including a 7-6 in the 3rd set clinch over none other than Mr. 10K Jonathan Jemison and the #1 team in the country. De Quant has always been a gamer, but I’ll admit that I was skeptical about whether or not he could make the leap from good #4 to good #2. With 3-set wins over Jemison and Mork on consecutive days, I’d say he’s done that and then some. It should also be noted that Schlanger also went 6-0 at the Texas Quad, and is having a fantastic start to his spring.
What’s next: The pressure never eases as Midd hosts Williams on Saturday and Tufts on Sunday
Honorary Mention: Kyle Schlanger (Midd), Lubo Cuba (Midd), Zach Bessette (Amherst), Chris Ellis (Bates)
Gonzaga or UNC: My brain says UNC but my heart says Przemek Karnoswki (also my brain can’t spell that).
Opening Day or the Masters: Both? I guess I’ll take the Master’s over Opening Day, because it’s the best golf weekend of the year and there are 161 more regular baseball games after today.
Fed fan or Nadal nut: Fed. Then. Now. Always.
WEST
Player: AJ Flora
Team: UC Santa Cruz
Results: 4-2 at #2 doubles and #3-4 singles against Caltech, Pomona-Pitzer, and Redlands
Recap: Scrolling through the results from this past week, I can’t find any one player that makes me go, “man, he had a really great week.” I see a lot of guys that had good weeks, but all of the Tyler, CMS, and Trinity players picked up at least a couple losses along a brutal stretch (or only played a couple matches). With that in mind, I decided to share the wealth in a way that has nothing to do with my fantasy team. UC Santa Cruz has been flying under the radar this season because of their crappy schedule that I don’t think we’ve mentioned on the blog yet. They very nearly came up with the big win they were looking for against a PP team that rested Yasgoor in singles. Flora was a huge part of that closeness. In doubles, he and Levchenko beat the Revolving Door of Doubles 9-7 before he hit Gearou off the court in singles, 3 and 0. He also went 2-0 against Caltech and came close-but-no-stogie against a resurgent Tom Suchodolski against Redlands. Hats off to a solid week.
What’s next: A trio of riveting non-divisional matches before THE OJAI
Honorary Mention: Alex Brenner (CMS), Jordan Pitts (Trinity), Jose McIntyre (Tyler)
Gonzaga or UNC: Gotta go with the Zags
Opening Day or the Masters: Umm, neither?
Fed fan or Nadal nut: In the aughties, I found Fed’s dominance boring, so I was quick to root for anyone who could take him down. Now, I root for Fed when he’s playing anyone but Nadal because he’s such a legend, but Nadal has fought through so much adversity. You gotta love him. Hard to be the GOAT when someone leads the head-to-head against you 23-14.
REGIONAL
Player: Jackson Powell
Team: Lewis & Clark
Results: 4-0 at #4 singles, 4-1 at #3 doubles on the Pios spring break
Recap: The Pios did what they had to on their spring break, getting good wins over Denison and Oberlin, and competing well against Case and Kenyon. Powell was right in the middle of every win, going undefeated (in both singles and doubles) against Case, Denison, Kenyon, and Oberlin. Powell took each of his singles matches in straight sets, winning against Kevin Dong (Case), Colin Bahin (Denison), Austin Diehl (Kenyon), and Stephen Gruppuso (Oberlin). Powell was down 4-6, 4-3 to Vayum Arora at #3 singles versus CMU but that match was stopped as they played to decision. Powell, a freshman, has been one of the most consistent players for this upstart Pios team, with a record of 10-2 this spring in singles, and 12-2 in doubles. The Pios do have a couple of important seniors in their lineup in Michael Brewer and Ben DeLuca, but with Powell, the future is bright for Coach Dreves and his six assistant coaches.
What’s next: The Pios have a big NWC clash against Pacific this Saturday, followed by a match against Puget Sound and the NWC Championships in a few weeks.
Honorary Mention: Miha Valencic (Caltech)
Gonzaga or UNC: ZAGS! After covering the Northwest Conference in D3 tennis for the past few years, I feel like a true Zags fan
Opening Day or the Masters: I know I’m in the minority nowadays but I’m a big baseball fan. Opening Day!
Fed fan or Nadal nut: So for years, I really disliked Rafa. I’m not really sure why but I just did. Probably just because I loved Fed so much and Rafa always beat him. But in the past few years, with Nadal’s injuries mounting, I’ve really come around to him and would love to see him win some more slams. However, I can’t go against the Goat in any match. Fed fan 4eva.
REGIONAL AS
Player: Kai Yuen Leung
Team: Skidmore
Results: 2-0 against Stevens
Recap: This week was a tough choice for POTW because a lot of teams are in the midst of conference play taking on somewhat weaker competition. In a battle of two nationally ranked teams (barely), Skidmore blanked the Ducks and Leung was very close to putting up bagels across the board. At 1 singles and 1 doubles he lost 1 game… Kai is playing on an elite level and apparently the Ducks could not touch him. With loads of talent behind him, look for Kai to lead his team to a Sweet 16 appearance at NCAAs and give any 1 seed a run for their money.
What’s next: Good luck Hobart and remember to just have fun out there.
Honorary Mention: Andres Carro (Sewanee)
Gonzaga or UNC: UNC, cause why not?
Opening Day or the Masters: Both are conducive to mid afternoon naps, but probably opening day.
Fed fan or Nadal nut: Fed. GOAT. Maybe I’ll photoshop his face onto a goat, who knows?
REGIONAL NE/C
Player: Blake Burstein
Team: Denison
Results: 7-1 in singles and doubles vs Lewis & Clark, Wooster, Allegheny, and Oberlin
Recap: Some weeks, your POTW is obvious, and other times it takes a bit more thought to see who is really deserving. While Burstein didn’t have a perfect record or any huge individual wins, seven wins in a week is still nothing to scoff at. He paired with Kevin Brown to win all four matches at #1 doubles, including wins over regional ranked duos from L&C and Oberlin, and in singles, his only loss came 11-9 in a super tiebreaker against Wooster. No one in the NCAC is all that deep, so surely if Denison is to compete for the conference this year, continuing to win lower in the lineup—where Burstein plays, I should add—is imperative.
What’s next: Only four more regular season matches remain according to Denison’s website, but surprisingly there is still no match against Kenyon listed. Not sure if they are actually not playing or what, but what Denison does have ahead of them is a matchup next Sunday with D-1 Cleveland State and a mid week matchup against Wittenberg. Their regular season finishes in two weeks when they host Wabash and DePauw.
Honorary Mention: Stephen Gruppuso (Oberlin), Austin Perry (Rose-Hulman), Vishal Walia (NYU)
Gonzaga or UNC: Gonzaga, unenthusiastically.
Opening Day or the Masters: Opening Day, no contest!
Fed fan or Nadal nut: I like them both, but I don’t really get that invested in who wins or loses. You’re not going to catch me with one of those “RF” hats or “Vamos Rafa” shirts. I just like to watch the tennis.