Regional Players of the Week: 5/2-5/8

REGIONAL PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: May 2nd-May 8th

With all the NCAA hullaballoo yesterday, we decided to postpone POTW for a few hours. Some of the answers will seem a little out of date, but it’s fun to see what we said before the release of the bracket. For future reference, you can now find the men’s bracket and the women’s bracket on the BLOGROLL on the left side of the homepage. Before we totally devote ourselves to NCAA coverage (which I assure you that we will), we first must recognize a few standouts from last week’s conference championship action. Don’t worry, we will have at least one more POTW for you (most likely after NCAA Regionals and before the quarterfinals) before the season ends. Given D3Central’s tendency to go slightly off-topic and rant, I’ve decided to make this week’s theme about sports rants. Enjoy!

A-SOUTH

Player: Nicholas Garcia

Team: Hopkins

Results: 2-0 in the Centennial Conference final vs. Swarthmore

Recap: Garcia was a big addition to the lineup as he’s missed a few matches here and there this year due to undisclosed reasons.  Against Swat, he played #2 doubles and #3 singles, filling an important void in the Jays lineup and taking both of his matches in a 5-1 victory over the Garnet.

What’s next: NCAAs, where Hopkins should be a 2 or 3 seed going to a potential variety of places.

Honorary Mention: Jeremy Dubin, Hopkins

What are you looking forward to most about NCAAs? A potential CMU/Bowdoin matchup in the Elite 8.  I think the top 3 teams are really damn good, but this is a match in the Elite 8 that could definitely get sneaky.

What is your favorite NCAA moment since you became a blogger? Probably Bryan Chow’s amazing comeback against CMS in either 2010 or 2011 (I forgot which one).  I remember staying up with some friends on the live stream because we knew Bryan and rooting hard for him to stage that incredible comeback.

CENTRAL

Player: John Carswell

Team: Wash U

Results: Did Not Play

Recap: So this may ruffle some feathers, but I am taking this as my opportunity to plead to the NCAA selection committee to pick Carswell over Ancona from Wheaton for the 8th and final spot. Carswell’s best win this season is over Al-Houni (#5 in the region) and has out of region wins over Budd from Tyler and Bunis from Brandeis. The one loss that is hurting him is to Anderson from Coe (#7 in the region). Ancona’s best win is over Anderson (#7) in the region and has a loss to Treis (#18 in the region) with no national level wins. So Carswell has a better direct in region win and Ancona has a worse in region loss. Carswell also has national level wins whereas Ancona has only a close loss to Antonio from Oglethorpe. If the committee is looking at close losses, which they shouldn’t, then Carswell trumps Ancona there as well as he has three set losses to Deuel and Chua and has another three set unfinished match to Chua. You can also look at Ancona’s close three set wins against unranked players from Wisconsin Eau-Claire (who?), Carthage, and Augustana this weekend which was unfinished. I am not trying to downplay Ancona’s year. I am just trying to compare stats and Carswell has had the better year. It’s now on you NCAA to make the right decision. Sadly I don’t see them doing it which is absurd.

What’s next: Hopefully the NCAAs for both team and individuals. Otherwise just the team tourney.

Honorary Mention: Me

What are you looking forward to most about NCAAs? The Elite 8. While the rest of the tournament should be chalk, I expect the Elite 8 to have some fireworks. I also wrote this before I read Regionals and NE’s answer.

What is your favorite NCAA moment since you became a blogger? I am trying to think of some of the epic matches that I watched on the stream the past few years. Watching Warren Wood playing Alla sticks in my mind because he hated every second of that match, but knew what he had to do to win. Also the Case win over Carnegie Mellon win a few years ago sticks out when a relatively unknown freshman James Fojtasek clinched the match. Or maybe you can count the continual success that Wash U has had in reaching the Final Four only missing one year in the past seven or eight.

NE

Player: Noah Farrell

Team: Middlebury

Results: 2-0 at #1 singles and 2-0 at #2 doubles against Wesleyan and Bowdoin.

Recap: Farrell did what he does, and for that he gets rewarded. He dropped the first set against Chen, but came storming back and eventually clinched the team win. He then went out and beat Tercek without any issue. Both Chen and Tercek are top-6 players in the region, maybe higher, but there is a reason Farrell is still #1. In doubles, he teamed with Smolyar to go 2-0 as well. That team lost the last time they played Bowdoin, and Midd’s #2 team lost the last time they played Wesleyan. Crucial points in both matches, that allowed Midd to relax (at least somewhat) and avoid the upset.

What’s next: NCAAs! After earning the NESCAC’s Pool-A berth, Middlebury will certainly host their own region and my guess is that they earn the overall #3 seed. It will be very interesting to see who they match up against in a hypothetical quarterfinal.

Honorary Mention: Cam Daniels (Wesleyan), Sam Rudovsky (Wesleyan), Alex Cauneac (MIT),  Steven Koulouris (Skidmore), Jesse Levitin (Amherst),

What are you looking forward to most about NCAAs? Other than the bracket? The quarterfinal round. Usually I love the regional finals, but with this year’s tournament I’m expecting multiple quarterfinal matchups to go down to the wire.

What is your favorite NCAA moment since you became a blogger? It’s going to sound sappy, but the run of NCAA winners since I started has been awesome. Williams with their seniors in 2013, Amherst pulling the upset and taking down the CMS giant in 2014, and CMS finally getting the monkey off their back in 2015 and winning it with so many important seniors. I can’t wait for the 2016 version.

WEST

Player: Glenn Hull

Team: CMS

Results: Only player on either team to go 2-0 in the SCIAC final

Recap: The SCIAC final was a phenomenal match between two top ten teams. I can’t speak to quality of play, but in terms of drama, this one definitely had the UAA and NESCAC finals beat this year. Glenn Hull was the only player on either team to go 2-0 in the final. He and senior Byran Mehall teamed up for a crucial 9-8 win over the Gearou twins at #3. Give the Gearou’s credit for coming back from down 5-7 to force the breaker, but the more experienced Stag duo was able to pull it out against the equivalent of a Yoshi/Birdo Mario Tennis doubles team. After that, Hull turned around and dominated JK who was playing his best tennis of the year. JK is listed in the honorable mention because he saved his team in three sets against Dulle yesterday and teamed with a new(ish) partner to beat one of the better doubles teams in the country today. That’s a pretty good way to end a stellar career.

What’s next: The Stags await their NCAA fate, a likely first round date with an old nemesis in Cruz

Honorary Mention: Jon Kim (Pomona-Pitzer)

What are you looking forward to most about NCAAs? This is a lame answer, but I’m just interested to see if anyone can push Emory. They’ve had a couple semi-close matches this year, but they haven’t had their back up against the wall. I’m interested to see how they respond if that happens. The only team to win two singles matches against them without a 10-pointer (P-P) this season will be sitting out the tourney.

What is your favorite NCAA moment since you became a blogger? I’m going to have to point to the Amherst-Trinity semifinal from a couple years ago. The Lords got swept and appeared to be down and out after falling down early in four first sets. They managed to come back in epic fashion. I don’t think I’ve seen a team come back from that far down and go on to win a championship.

REGIONAL

Player: Joe Siami

Team: Washington & Lee

Results: 2-0 at #3 doubles, 1-0 at #5 singles in ODAC semis and finals

Recap: The Generals certainly had their doubters, including yours truly, but Siami helped the Generals get yet another ODAC title.  W&L faced off against VA Wesleyan as the #2 seed, and in their first matchup, Joe Siami had a bad day, falling 8-2 at #3 doubles and 2 and 0 at #5 singles.  He really turned it around in this match, winning 9-7 at #3 doubles with Michael Lukas and 6-0 4-6 6-1 over Brendan Kelleher at #5 singles.  Siami’s third set win clinched the 7th straight ODAC title for the Generals, continuing a great streak.  VA Wesleyan had a great season, but the Generals turned it on in this tournament for yet another title.  Congrats to the Generals!f

What’s next: NCAAs!  It’s very possible that W&L will host a regional in Lexington with Emory as the #1 seed.  We will find out tomorrow!

Honorary Mention: Sam Farmer (Whittier) had a great SCIAC tournament, 2-0 at #2 singles with a dominating win over Joey Dulle of Redlands.

What are you looking forward to most about NCAAs? I think the team finals will be the best final in quite some time, given how close Emory, CMS, and Midd are looking.  The Elite 8 is awesome just because of the four matches going on, but I think the final is going to be amazing this year.

What is your favorite NCAA moment since you became a blogger? Warren Wood’s triple crown last year.