POTW: 4/27-5/3

NCAA MEN’S REGIONAL PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: April 27th-May 3rd

WHEW! What a blur of a weekend. I apologize for the poor tweeting from NESCACs, I was a bit worried about keeping my identity a secret. It was touch and go there for a bit, and I really wanted to let one or two of my favorite DIII players catch me in action. Maybe at NCAAs? Anyways, it’s Monday so now it’s time to get your POTW fix. After nerding out hardcore last week about Avengers: Age of Ultron, I decided to chill out a bit and stick to tennis-y themes. So boring, right? It might get lost amidst the flurry of bracket activity, which is scheduled to come out later today, but we’ll still have our power rankings coming out at some point tomorrow. A big week in DIII tennis means a big week for The Blog, so check back daily or you’ll be out of the loop! For now, enjoy your Players of the Week!

A-SOUTH

Player: CJ Antonio

Team: Oglethorpe

Results: Qualified for the NCAA Tournament.

Recap: The only team in my region that played anything worthwhile was Hopkins, and I’ve given them way too many POTW’s this year.  I wanted to nominate CJ Antonio, who is the only player not in the big 4 in my region to make the NCAAs this year.  I’m not sure if Regional has given this guy enough love, but I wanted to take some time to recognize a great performance this year.

What’s next: Individual NCAAs, DUH!

Honorary Mention: Someone on Hopkins

Favorite TENNIS moment from the Conference Championships: Rafe Mosetick coming back from THREE match points to win the deciding match in the UAA final.

Favorite TWITTER moment from the Conference Championships: When I told Wade Heerboth “Amherst is gonna win” after they already lost.  Also, when I had better live updates than UAA Tennis 🙂

Central

Player: Jad Abdul-Aal

Team: John Carroll

Results: 3-0 in singles and 2-1 in doubles in the OAC tourney

Recap: I gave Jad some love in my latest article and since there wasn’t a whole lot of conference tournaments that mattered this weekend in the Central, I figured I would pick one that was in doubt. Abdul-Aal is a good player on an average team. Either way, he carried his team to a conference championship for the first time since 2006.

What’s next: NCAAs! Pray for a good draw to have a chance in the first round.

Honorary Mention: Brandon Benedict (Rose Hulman)

Favorite TENNIS moment from the Conference Championships: CMS showing how good their singles really are sweeping Pomona

Favorite TWITTER moment from the Conference Championships: The genius draft idea. Who was it that came up with that?

NE

Player: Palmer Campbell

Team: Middlebury Panthers

Results: 2-0 at #3 singles and 2-0 at #1 doubles

Recap: As much as I wanted to give the POTW to any number of deserving Williams players, @D3TennisBro would not have been pleased with anyone besides Palmer Muriel Campbell. All he does is clinch, clinch, clinch no matter what. PC teamed with Peter Heidrich to take down Trinka/Tercek (Bowdoin), 8-3, and Astrachan/Schidlovksy (Williams), 8-6. In singles play, Campbell came through when his team needed him the most, quelling hopes of a comeback in both the semis vs. Bowdoin and the finals vs. Midd. His win against Wolfe (Bowdoin) was especially impressive because Palmer rallied from a set down, pulling away in the third set after winning a tough second set breaker. If Campbell doesn’t win that match, it looked like #5 singles, and the outcome of the match was a total toss up. As Dr. Quazzo said, Campbell is one of the best four #3’s in the country. From your lips to God’s ears, Quaz.

What’s next: With their win earlier today, Midd earns the NESCAC Pool-A bid to NCAAs. The Panthers will almost assuredly earn a top seed and host a region of NCAAs. The only question that remains is which #2 seed will be going to Middlebury? The likely choices are Bowdoin or Williams (depending if one of these two teams steals the final Pool-C spot). After this weekend, neither will be cakewalks, and both would pose a threat (albeit small) to upset Midd and make the quarterfinals.

Honorary Mention: Gil Roddy (Bowdoin), Ari Smolyar (Middlebury), Brian Grodecki (Williams), Sachin Raghavan (Williams), Rohan Shastri (Williams).

Favorite TENNIS moment from the Conference Championships: The Bowdoin/Middlebury match was really exciting. Even more exciting to be able to see such great tennis in person! While I want Bowdoin to get the final #1 seed so my region has a real shot at three quarterfinalists, the sadistic side of me wants to see these two teams play again with a spot on the Elite 8 on the line!

Favorite TWITTER moment from the Conference Championships: As great as NESCACs were, seeing the twitter love for MIT and Stevens was pretty cool. Both teams won their respective conferences today as well.

WEST

Player: Patrick Lipscomb and Nick Cummins

Team: Redlands

Results: 8-0 in SCIACs

Recap: At this point, the words “Lipscomb and Cummins” are so firmly associated with Redlands in my mind that it will be difficult to imagine a Redlands team without these two guys on it. The senior duo likely completed their illustrious team career this weekend in style, going undefeated over the course of SCIACs against some stiff competition. Lipscomb was a game away from finishing off Dancu before picking up wins over Hudson and Cardenas in singles, while Cummins lost seven games in singles all weekend against Kazangian, Kim, and Scott. To put it all together, the two seniors teamed up to go 3-0 against Oxy, P-P, and CLU in doubles, with their closest match being 8-5 against the Kingsmen. Simply put, Redlands would not have been in the top 20 either of the past four years without these two guys heading the lineup, and I think they will struggle next year without them. It is particularly gratifying to see Cummins make doubles nationals this year after his knee injury spoiled what should have been a great run last year. Kudos to these Top Dawgs

What’s next: Redlands will probably be left begging tomorrow when team selections are announced (unfortunately, they would probably be in the field right now if they had been able to hold on to that lead against Bowdoin), but Lipscomb and Cummins will get to gear up for individual nationals.

Favorite TENNIS moment from the Conference Championships: While the CAC’s had the drama, the SCIAC’s had a nice moment when Marino picked up his 105th singles win to break the all time CMS singles record. That’s A LOT of singles wins. I definitely didn’t even play that many matches in my career.

Favorite TWITTER moment from the Conference Championships: Putting the team on my back for the Williams/Amherst upset special.

REGIONAL

Player: Jeffrey Sperling

Team: MIT

Results: 4-0 in the NEWMAC tournament at #4 singles and #3 doubles

Recap:  I know my regional-flavored adrenaline might still be coming down a bit, but Sperling had a fantastic NEWMAC tournament, practically willing the Engineers to the title.  Sperling won both of his doubles matches over the weekend with partner Kenny Gea as well as both his singles matches.  His second singles match was the most clutch of the four wins, as Sperling and Felix Wee were the last match on with the match tied at 4, and Sperling clinched the match 6-4 in the third.  Sperling has actually had a terrific year moving between #3-5 in MIT’s singles lineup, with a 13-3 record, and wins over Alec Siegel (Brandeis), Henry Lee (Bates), and Matt DeMichiel (NYU).  Sperling is a senior, so it is great to see him peaking at the end of his career.

What’s next:  NCAAs!!!  Most likely, that is.  The NEWMAC conference does not receive an automatic bid, but MIT should be safe for a Pool B birth.  The real question is whether Babson or TCNJ will be the last Pool B team.  I am leaning TCNJ at this point after looking over both team’s resumes, as Babson’s only remotely good win (besides MIT, who they just lost to) is 8-1 over Vassar, and TCNJ beat Vassar 9-0.

Honorary Mention: Sherman Uyeno (RPI).  I know RPI lost to Skidmore in the Liberty League finals, but the guy went 4-0 in two matches, including 2-0 vs. Skidmore.  Uyeno finishes his season with a ten match win streak.  Look out for the rising senior next year!

Favorite TENNIS moment from the Conference Championships: Sperling clinching!!!  Also following NESCACs.  Crazy stuff.

Favorite TWITTER moment from the Conference Championships:  D3 tennis fantasy draft conversation.  How can we make this happen for next season!