NCAA MEN’S REGIONAL PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: February 15th-February 21st
Happy Monday, boys and girls, and welcome to the first Players of the Week of 2016! What a #IndoorsWeek it was, chalk-full of excellent tennis, and The Blog is ready to continue it’s high level of play as well. If you’re new to POTW, every week we try to give some props to a standout player (players if you’re D3West) from our specific regions. The level of competition is as high as its ever been, and the players deserve some serious accolades. As the spring progresses, we will try to post POTW every Monday afternoon, and Power Rankings every Wednesday afternoon, in addition to all of our other articles. Just by looking at the Headmaster’s tentative schedule, we have at least 8 more articles for this week! Get excited, people. If you ever have ideas for possible POTW candidates, feel free to email your friendly regional blogger. Your suggestions make our lives easier. Now, let’s get to the players!
A-SOUTH
Player: Jonathan “So hot right now” Jemison
Team: Emory
Results: 3-0 in singles, 2-1 in doubles
Recap: I filled this POTW out before the week even started and my prediction was correct. Jemison had a stellar weekend at Indoors and earns his first POTW of the year. I made a statement that Jemison was the best freshman tournament (ignore the not even close part) and he really was, playing the highest position in the lineup and winning all his matches. Taking out Mike Liu (Kenyon), Daniel Levine (CMU), and Sven Kranz (Chicago) is no joke. Hats off to Jay. I would like to note that Aman Manji was a very close entry into this POTW but since he doesn’t play doubles, I decided against.
What’s next: Emory chills until Spring Break I’m pretty sure. D3NE Note: They actually host Sewanee on 3/6.
Honorary Mention: Daniel Levine (CMU), Aman Manji (Emory)
Favorite part of #IndoorsWeek: Doing absolutely no work at actual work and writing articles instead.
3 words to summarize your Draftkings Result: Damnit Gordon Zhang!
What you did for Valentine’s Day: I hung out with D3Regional in Soho.
Central
Player: David Liu
Team: Chicago
Results: 3-0 in singles and 2-1 in doubles
Recap: This really should be shared between David Liu and CJ Krimbill, but since Chicago finished higher I decided to give Liu my POTW award. We all knew going in that Liu was going to be really tough to beat at #5 singles and he proved this to be true at Indoors. Other than a slow start in the first round against Mayer being down a set and 4-1, Liu then realed off 35 of the next 41 games he played coming back to beat Mayer and disposing of Dong from Case and Goodman from Emory with ease. In doubles, Liu and Chua continued to show how a great returning game can be deadly as no one has a guaranteed service hold against them. Yes, they faltered a bit against Emory, but overall they played very well together and the win over the Trinity top tandem is one to circle. I know this is supposed to be about Liu, but I need to give special shout out to Sam Geier who continues to show his brilliance and the undefeated singles weekend of Carswell and Max Liu. Well done boys.
What’s next: Nothing too terribly frightening as Chicago takes on Denison this weekend.
Honorary Mention: Sam Geier (Kenyon), CJ Krimbill (Case), John Carswell (Wash U), Max Liu (Chicago)
Favorite part of #IndoorsWeek: Group texting with the other bloggers
3 words to summarize your Draftkings Result: Didn’t get last!
What you did for Valentine’s Day: Cried all day because West turned me down for a dinner date. Don’t worry, he agreed for lunch the following day. Too much pressure on VDay.
NE
Player: Ben Foran
Team: Stevens Institute of Technology
Results: 2-0 at #4 singles, 2-0 and #1 doubles
Recap: No NE teams at Indoors, but a couple of worthy candidates from Stevens’ adventures in Virginia. Isn’t it a magical place? Ben Foran is one of Stevens’ two starting seniors, and the proud owner of some wicked facial hair. Over the past couple of years, Foran has had mixed results at #2 for the Ducks, but this spring it appears Ben is slotting in at #4. Foran beat both NCW and UMW in singles this weekend, coming back from a set down against the Eagles. He and Heinrich also won both their doubles matches, before being rested against Washington College. I know it’s only been one weekend, but Ben having the maturity to accept his new position, and battling his butt off to secure an undefeated weekend is very admirable. I have it on good authority that Foran is the kind of guy who will do whatever it takes to help his team win, and also doesn’t know when his lab partner is making DIII DraftKings lineups instead of working on their group project.
What’s next: The Ducks host Swarthmore on Wednesday in a battle of up and coming/strong willed squads, and host RPI on Sunday.
Honorary Mention: Matt Heinrich (Stevens)
Favorite part of #IndoorsWeek: Rooting for players on opposite teams purely because it helped my DraftKings squad
3 words to summarize your Draftkings Result: Stupid Chaz Downing
What you did for Valentine’s Day: I don’t go out on Valentine’s Day. It’s like a Dominican teenager at the Little League World Series, just too easy. Also, I saw Zoolander 2…obviously.
WEST
Player: Paxton Deuel and Adam Krull
Team: Trinity TX
Results: Both went undefeated in singles and 1-2 in doubles at Indoor nationals
Recap: The idea of Trinity as a national title contender this season has always been predicated on the idea that Deuel and Krull would be a nearly unstoppable 1-2 punch at the top of the lineup. While nobody second-guessed Krull’s ability to win at #2, most (myself included) were less convinced that Deuel would be able to win consistently at the top spot. This past weekend, these two guys showed that the unstoppable 1-2 is more than a pipe dream. With Niess and Mayer playing well, Trinity should be able to find wins against just about any team in the country, provided they start taking the 2-1 doubles leads that they are accustomed to.
What’s next: The Tigers have a couple weeks of conference matches and non-DIII competition before heading to Claremont for the Stag-Hen, which will basically be Indoors Round 2
Honorary Mention: Eliot Guin (TU), Marko Mandic (PP)
Favorite part of #IndoorsWeek: Live streaming so I can actually write pseudo-knowledgeably from here on out
3 words to summarize your Draftkings Result: Well-planned, poorly executed
What you did for Valentine’s Day: Tried not to think about the fact that Central asked me out on Valentine’s day during a mixed doubles, double date (won 11-9 in a 10-pointer from down 4-9)
Regional
Player: Tyler Ng
Team: Brandeis
Results: 2-1 at #5/6 singles, 1-1 at #3 doubles on the Judges’ Spring Break trip
Recap: Ng had a very solid spring break in his dual match debut for the Judges, debuting at #6 and moving up to #5 singles and #3 doubles with Granoff’s injury in the Chapman match. Against Chapman, he had an easy 3 and 0 win over Brock DeHaven. His best match was against Redlands, where he won 8-3 at #3 doubles with sophomore Ethan Saal and won the Judges’ only singles match, 1 and 6 against Cooper Lacertera at #5 singles. Ng did not fair well against CMS but, regardless, he looks to be a solid #6 guy who should provide much more depth than the Judges have had in previous seasons.
What’s next: The Judges take a couple weeks off to get used to cold weather and indoor courts once again before traveling to New Jersey to play Stevens on 3/12 in what should be a great match. They also will play NYU the day after in a match that will be important for UAA seeding. Don’t want to have to play Emory or Chicago first round of UAAs after this past weekend!
Honorary Mention: Michael Gardiner (Ithaca), a talented freshman who went 2-0 at #1 singles and #2 doubles in their big win over Rochester.
Favorite part of #IndoorsWeek: The live stream. Man, that thing was great, and the number of viewers they had was a great thing for D3 tennis! It also gave me a reason to not leave my house all weekend, which I always appreciate.
3 words to summarize your Draftkings Result: Not satisfied yet! Can’t wait to start planning the next blog Draftkings so I can redeem myself.
What you did for Valentine’s Day: A bit of FaceTime with the significant other and watching the mediocrity that is the NBA All Star Game.