Hey, hey tennis fans. I‘m back with the ITA West Regional Review!! Sorry about the delay in between posts, unfortunately, I had a prior commitment which took me away from my computer but now y’all have my full attention!!
The West Regional event brought out some awesome tennis and great battles. I would like to specifically highlight the Pomona-CMS battles that brought out some true grind-fests.
As with the PNW Regional post, I am going to be doing a grade system for the teams!!
Starting with…..
Claremont Mudd-Scripps Athenas: Well….I think ITA’s was a pretty good first impression of the newly-coached Athenas. I can already see the impact of Dave Schwarz on the CMS team as they swept all the Singles flights. Caroline Ward specifically had an awesome weekend, taking the “A” Singles title (def. Madrigal of La Verne) and the Doubles with Katie Kuosman (def. Yen/Hruska of Pomona). If things could not get any better for CMS, Lauren Livingston and Kyla Scott (First Years) won the Consolation Draws as well.
Looking deeper into the draw for results:
Singles:
Caroline Ward: Champion
Katie Kuosman: Semifinals
Bria Smith: Quarterfinals
Lindsay Brown: Quarterfinals
Sarah Kukino: Quarterfinals
Sam Nuno: Round of 16
Kyla Scott: Consolation Champion
Lauren Livingston: Consolation Champion
Sanjana Sarankan: First Round
Maddie Ferry: First Round
Doubles:
Ward/Kuosman: Champion
Kukino/Scott : Semifinals
Brown/ Smith: Quarterfinals
Livingston/Nuno: Second Round
Sarankan/Ferry: First Round
What is next for the Athenas? The Small College Nationals this weekend. Ward is the Number 1 seed in Singles and plays Rao of Hopkins first while Ward/Kuosman are also seeded Number 1 and play McGuire/Beck of UW-Whitewater first up. GOOD LUCK CAROLINE AND KATIE!!
MY GRADE: A+
La Verne Leopards: Heading into ITA’s, I was curious to see how La Verne was going to play after a great Spring campaign. Overall, they had a decent tournament capped by Andrea Madrigal’s run to the final. The final saw one of the greatest women’s tennis matches in some time with 6 match points saved by the two players before Ward snatched the breaker. Regardless, Madrigal played very well and deserves credit for her efforts. Fortunately, she received the credit due to her as she earned a berth into this weekend’s Small College Nationals after Williams withdrew.
After Madrigal, the results were decent for the Leopards:
Singles:
Andrea Madrigal: Finalist –WC into Small College Nationals/All-American Status
Bridget Etchegaray: Quarterfinals
Laina Matsuda: Round of 16
Janae Chinn: Second Round
Valerie Lezin: First Round
Areli Martinez: First Round
Doubles:
Matsuda/Etchegaray: Semifinals
Madrigal/Chinn: Second Round
Lezin/Martinez: First Round
Next up for Madrigal: Depending on the play-in match, she’s seeded second or third and will face either Humphreys of UW-Whitewater or Kate Christensen of Vassar. GOOD LUCK ANDREA!
MY GRADE: B
Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens: Alright y’all, I kinda feel like P-P got lost in this ITA tournament in terms of the big name West teams. They only had ONE Singles Quarterfinalist…kinda of concerning? I kind of expected some sort of upset from a young Sagehen. Oh well…Luckily, the Sagehens had veteran Lea Lynn Yen (Regional Doubles Champion last year) and First Year Grace Hruska reached the Doubles Final, a kind of saving “Grace” for P-P (see what I did there? Haha I am so clever)
Singles:
Shivani Doraiswami: Quarterfinalist
Emily Chen: Round of 16
Mary Zhao: Round of 16
Grace Hruska: Round of 16
Emily Kuo: Round of 16
Maddie Gordon: Second Round
Mallory Roth: First Round
Julia Greenberg: First Round
Katie Li: First Round
Doubles:
Yen/Hruska: Finalists
Kuo/Chen: Quarterfinalists
Coyiuto/Zhao: Quarterfinalists
Gordon/Doraiswami: Second Round
Greenberg/Hsieh: First Round
Roth/Li: First Round
MY GRADE: B-
Whittier POETS!! Damn, I really enjoy saying THE POETS!!! Not sure why…..
Alright, time to talk tennis. The Poets had the almost EXACT weekend I expected. Meagan Zamilpa led the charge in Singles and Doubles but lacked that breakthrough match to make a big splash in the draw. While reaching the Semis of an ITA is by no mean an easy feat, I was feeling the big win over Ward in the Semis. The next highest Poet result was Zamilpa and Gabi Etchegaray making the Doubles Quarters. Overall, just an okay weekend for the Poets..nothing to really write home about. I really wish they could have pulled out some magic…I am waiting for it!
Singles:
Meagan Zamilpa: Semifinals
Benay Weintraub: Second Round
Ruthie Kaplan: First Round
Gabi Etchegaray: First Round
Jada Henry: First Round
Ann Balleul: First Round
Alisa Fa: First Round
Doubles:
Zamilpa/Etchegaray: Quarterfinals
Weintraub/Henry: First Round
Kaplan/ Terrianne HA-MA-DA (still love that name): First Round
MY GRADE: C+
Redlands Bulldogs: The Bulldogs showed up at ITAs? Could have fooled me… because I can’t even tell you off of the top of my head what the best result was. As the #18 ranked team in the Nation, I am slightly concerned for the Bulldogs just based on the results of ITAs. I know that CMS are heavy across the board but at least ONE result should favor Redlands here (you would think). I am assuming that the Juniors on the squad (Etchegaray and Villaneuva) are abroad so that may take some of the lineup out of the question. I finally looked up the best result for Redlands this weekend: Second Round of Singles and Doubles…OUCH. I am concerned for the Spring.
Here are the results in a list:
Singles:
Maddie Morton: Second Round
Ceara Sumida: Second Round
Stephany Yang: Second Round
Emily Murnin: Second Round
Julia Pollak: Second Round
Gabby Vasquez: Second Round
Tyler Garant: First Round
Claire Bohoskey: First Round
Doubles:
Vasquez/Morton: Second Round
Sumida/Pollak: Second Round
Bohoskey/Garant: Second Round
Murnin/Yang: First Round
MY GRADE: D
Chapman Panthers: Entering the ITA weekend ranked #30 Nationally, I was wondering what Chapman would bring to the table with specific attention to the Doubles where the squad saw the most success result wise last season. At the end of the weekend, Chapman delivered some lackluster results in Singles and NOTHING, NADA, ZILCH in Doubles. I assume that Rachel Fox is either abroad or injured but she was seriously missed in her tandem with Andrea Hammer. Hopefully, she is back come springtime. Hammer was especially disappointing in Singles as she crashed out First Round after making NCAAs in the Spring. After ITAs, I do not see the Panthers maintaining their ranking later this month…time will tell..
Singles:
Sophia Duong: Round of 16
Sarah McDonald: Second Round
Maddie Saunder: Second Round
Lauren Ross: First Round
Alex Linder: First Round
Andrea Hammer: First Round (after Bye)
Doubles:
All First Round Loses…..
MY GRADE: D
Alright Peeps..that is it for me! I will be making my pics for Small College Nationals soon as well as sending updates all weekend on Twitter. ALSO, be sure to check out the Blog for posts from my comrades on their regions….even though the West is obviously the best one, the others deserve some love too.
Deuces!!
D3WW