NCAA MEN’S REGIONAL PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: March 23rd-March 29th
Most people hate Mondays, but most people aren’t looking forward to their weekly dose of POTW! As D3AS tweeted today, this week is officially Pool-C Week on The Blog. In order to follow the theme, this week’s POTW will include some Pool-C style fun. Enjoy!
A-SOUTH
Player: Jordan Krasner
Team: Washington & Lee
Results: 3-0 in Singles, 2-1 in Doubles
Recap: I’m going to steal one here from D3Regional because my big 4 teams didn’t play that much this week. Krasner, on the other hand, had a stellar week against Depauw, Sewanee, and CMU. He went 3-0 in singles, notching wins over Jackson (Sewanee) and Rodefeld (Depauw). Most impressively, he took a #3 singles match over Wadwani (CMU) this past weekend. Krasner is not my biggest fan on twitter, but it’s just right to respect the great things that Krasner has done this season. I said last year that the kid has a bright future ahead of him, and I still believe that. Hopefully, he doesn’t hate me as much after this POTW nomination.
What’s next: Roanoake but really Bowdoin and Tufts in a couple of weeks
Honorary Mention: None – I don’t want to steal any from Regional.
Most dangerous Pool-C hopeful in your region: Carnegie Mellon, easily. Because they are the only Pool C hopeful in my region.
Your regional Pool-C hopeful likely to just miss NCAAs: Swarthmore, because they probably won’t make NCAAs BUT they are the next Pool C hopeful. And because they are getting better.
One word/phrase to describe your Pool-C thoughts: #7TeamsOrRIOT
Central
Player: Deepak Sabada
Team: Chicago
Results: 4-0 at #3 singles and 2-2 at #1 doubles
Recap: While some of the pundits would say Chicago missed a golden chance to thrust their name into great Pool C consideration by not beating Pomona, the Maroons had a pretty great week out in California. At this point, what team hasn’t lost 5-4 to the Sagehens? The thing that went unnoticed was Deepak Sabada and his come back in the third set against the Hens. He was down 2-5 only to take the final five games to win 7-5 in the third. The third set tiebreaker at #4 wouldn’t have even mattered had it not been for Deepak. That isn’t even considering his win at the top doubles spot over the highly regarded Chudalavada. Sabada has slid to playing #3 singles and he is going to continue to have a lot of success there.
What’s next: Some time off before the Maroons head to St. Louis to take on Wash U, Texas Tyler, and Whitewater in two weeks. I expect the Wash U match to be a thriller.
Honorary Mention: David Liu (Chicago), Andrew Komarov (Case)
Most dangerous Pool-C hopeful in your region: Chicago
Your regional Pool-C hopeful likely to just miss NCAAs: Chicago
One word/phrase to describe your Pool-C thoughts: The “C” in Pool C doesn’t stand for Central, Case, or Chicago right now.
NE
Player: Rohan Shastri
Team: Williams College
Results: 1-0 at #1 dubs, 1-0 at #2 dubs, 1-0 at #4 singles, 0-1 at #2 singles
Recap: Shastri has been all over the lineup for the Ephs on their spring break trip. He paired with Raventos to take down Yaz/Kim at #2 dubs vs. Pomona, and he beat Maassen (D3West’s POTW) at #4 singles. Two wins in the same match against Pomona has been very tough to do this year. For the Ephs’ next DIII match, Shastri and Raventos were moved up to #1 doubles, and took down one of the most dangerous teams in the country of Lipscomb and Cummins. In fact, D3West tweeted out that Williams was the first team to take a doubles lead on Redlands all season long, and Shastri/Raventos are only the 2nd team to beat Lipscomb/Cummins this year (shout out to Fischer and #OldManWooten from UT-Tyler). Throw in a bunch of other wins vs. non-DIII opponents and Shastri had himself a POTW type week.
What’s next: The Ephs will take on the always dangerous Gusties (@CMS) tomorrow, before embarking on the unenviable task of trying to beat CMS on their home courts the following day.
Honorary Mention: Pat Ordway (Bates), Mike Liu (Wesleyan), Ari Smolyar (Midd), Palmer Campbell (Midd)
Most dangerous Pool-C hopeful in your region: Bowdoin
Your regional Pool-C hopeful likely to just miss NCAAs: Williams
One word/phrase to describe your Pool-C thoughts: “NESCACrushing”
WEST
Player: Graham Maassen (and the rest of the revolving door)
Team: Pomona-Pitzer
Results: Clinched the Chicago match 12-10 in the third set tiebreaker
Recap: Pomona-Pitzer is putting me in a difficult position in that I pretty much have to pick one of their players because they keep winning several big matches in a week, but none of their individual players are having outstanding weeks. Yasgoor doesn’t lose singles matches, but picked up a few doubles losses. Chuddy is probably the team MVP, but he’s probably only slightly above .500 on the season in both singles and doubles. Bello would’ve been a good choice, but he actually lost a doubles match or two (and, on moral grounds, I can’t give POTW to a guy who doesn’t keep enough racquets strung no matter how many matches they play). I could give it to someone on another team, but CMS’ dominance is boring, and Redlands hasn’t had anyone win consistently enough to get the award. I’m stuck with Maassen. His emergence as a more permanent fixture of the Revolving Door has been huge for P-P, never more so than when he staved off a couple match points to get the clinching fifth point against a band of feisty Maroons.
What’s next: A relatively light week for the Hens, as they’ve got GAC on Friday and Whittier on Saturday.
Honorary Mention: Patrick Lipscomb (Redlands), Anthony Bello (P-P), Skyler Butts (CMS), Nick Cummins (Redlands), Chad Stone (UCSC)
Most dangerous Pool-C hopeful in your region: You know the answer to this question (P-P)
Your regional Pool-C hopeful likely to just miss NCAAs: You know the answer to this question too (Redlands)
One word/phrase to describe your Pool-C thoughts: “Travashamockery”
REGIONAL
Player: Sherman Uyeno
Team: RPI
Results: 4-0 at #5 singles, 3-1 at #3 doubles
Recap: Although RPI has been up and down all year, Uyeno has been money down at the #5 spot for the Engineers. He had a great California trip, going undefeated in singles, including getting the only point for RPI in the Engineers’ tough loss to Pacific. Uyeno only has two losses all spring for the Engineers, to Skidmore and Stevens, and his depth is extremely important for a team that can struggle up top.
What’s next: RPI heads to Hartford to take on division 1 University of Hartford. They will then take on Hobart, Rochester, and Vassar, with Rochester and Vassar being two matches that could be very close. Rochester and Vassar both drop off down at the bottom of the lineup, so look for Uyeno to play a big impact in these matches.
Honorary Mention: Carl Reid (Colby), for his big time straight-set win over Andrew Yaraghi of Amherst.
Most Dangerous Pool-C Hopeful in your region: Not a pool C team but I have to mention Stevens, who battled Case this weekend and is capable of making a run. They are a lock out of the Empire 8 conference, no disrespect to Ithaca.
Your regional Pool-C hopeful likely to just miss NCAAs: Everybody, #RegionalWriterProblems
One word/phrase to describe your Pool-C thoughts: Conference tournaments, because that’s the only way any of my schools are getting in.