It’s bracket time again people. This week’s POTW is March Madness themed with Wooden Award Candidate nicknames given to some of our sport’s very best. This week featured a heck of a lot of excellent tennis, from Stag-Hen to teams on spring break, and even a couple of season debuts. Congrats to this week’s winners, and continue checking the site over the next couple days as we monitor the madness that is DIII tennis.
Atlantic South
Player: Rafe Mosetick
Team: Emory
Results: 3-0 at #1 Singles in Stag-Hen, 3-0 at #2 Doubles in Stag Hen
Recap: This was one of the easiest POTW’s I’ve ever written. DId you see Rafe Mosetick’s weekend? He took out CJ Krimbill, Skyler Butts, and Jake Yasgoor and gave up like 8 games total in 6 sets. That’s downright ridiculous. To top it all off, he won all his matches at #2 doubles with Jonathan Jemison. Easy stuff.
What’s next: Some Atlanta matches against Oglethorpe and stuff.
Honorary Mention: The Whole Emory Team
Your predicted March Madness champion: BUDDY HIELD OR BUST (Oklahoma)
The unlikely team (#4 seed or worse) that could make the Final Four: Watch out for Seton Hall!
“Good” team most likely to get upset in the 1st weekend: Kentucky, they’re too young
Central
Player: Mohanad Al-Houni and James Fojtasek
Team: Gustavus and Case Western
Results: 3-0 at #1 singles against Stag Hen Competition for Al-Houni and 2-0 at #2 singles and 2-0 at #3 doubles for Fojtasek.
Recap: I had to give Co-POW awards because there were two standouts for me. Al-Houni bounced back after a pretty bad loss to Depauw last week to go 3-0 at the top spot against some top competition. Mohanad took down victories against Yasgoor from Pomona, Krimbill from Case, and Budd from Tyler. It seems that outdoor tennis suits the Gustie quite well as I can remember him having a poor start of the season (indoor) last year as well. These wins will go a long way in negating a bad loss and likely getting him into nationals with relative ease. The in region win over Krimbill being the biggest key. As for Fojtasek, he picked up a big win at #2 against Emory’s Jemison 11-9 in a super breaker and also got an important doubles win against the Eagles as well. We concentrate so much on Krimbill that we tend to forget his teammates who also are darn good. Fojtasek went undefeated across all of his spring break matches in both singles and doubles.
What’s next: Not much for Case, but Gustavus heads to San Antonio to play Trinity, Wash U, and Texas Tyler in a couple of weeks.
Honorary Mention: Sam Geier (Kenyon)
Your predicted March Madness champion: Why would I give away my winning pick to the rest of the blogging team? I won all the money last year.
The unlikely team (#4 seed or worse) that could make the Final Four: Duke
“Good” team most likely to get upset in the 1st weekend: #3 seed Utah
NE
Player: Steven Chen
Team: Wesleyan
Results: 3-0 at #2 singles, 2-0 at #1 doubles, 0-1 at #3 doubles.
Recap: The sophomore stud who self-identifies his style of play as emulating Martina Hingis, had a heck of a week. Although it started with a tough loss at #3 dubs against a PP team of Bello and Chadalvada, Chen rebounded in the singles to beat Maassen 6-4 in the 3rd set. Maassen already has wins this year over Liu (Kenyon), DLJ (UMW), Jemison (Emory), Saenz (GAC) and Deuel (Trin Tx). The next day, he was switched up to #1 doubles against Redlands and responded with a big time 8-6 win over Dulle/Ly. He then took down Bryant Johnson 2&6 in singles to help secure the Wesleyan upset. On Saturday, Chen lost a total of 4 games between doubles and singles against George Fox, cementing his POTW candidacy. The Cards are going to lean on Chen again on Monday, as the #1 dubs and #2 singles spots are likely where Trinity Texas is strongest (depending on if Krull plays #1 or #2 and if Deuel has recovered). D3NE Note: Chen won his dubs match against TU this afternoon, but I don’t think he finished his singles match. He was in a 3rd set with Deuel, but the final score says 6-2 and I don’t see a Chen result.
What’s next: Wesleyan takes on Trinity Tx on Monday afternoon, and then heads home to prep for a Saturday date with Middlebury.
Honorary Mention: Charles Drake (Stevens), Dhruv Yadav (Wesleyan), The entire Middlebury team (Midd).
Your predicted March Madness champion: Michigan St
The unlikely team (#4 seed or worse) that could make the Final Four: Kentucky
“Good” team most likely to get upset in the 1st weekend: Iowa St.
WEST
Player: Adam Krull and Sam Malech
Team: Trinity and Pomona-Pitzer, respectively
Results: Krull went 6-0 over the Stag-Hen. Malech went 4-0 at #5 singles
Recap: I hate to be the guy who always picks multiple players, but how can you go against either of these two? Malech dropped just one set in four singles matches against Wesleyan, GAC, Emory, and Trinity at #5 singles. It’s not like he’s playing chumps, and he’s winning consistently. Perhaps it’s time for Bickham to find a place for him in the doubles lineup. Krull, on the other hand, kept his team afloat this weekend by winning all three of his singles matches (including a #1 singles win over Yaz that will cement his nationals position) and teaming with Tyer for three wins at #1 doubles. Of all the guys that had great weeks, these were the two players that I couldn’t go, “well, maybe if they had won this doubles match, I could make them player of the week,” because, obviously, they both went undefeated. Kudos to both!
What’s next: Pomona-Pitzer starts its Northeast gauntlet with consecutive matches against Skidmore, Amherst, Stevens, Williams, and Middlebury. Trinity has one more Spring Break match against Wesleyan (that I covered in my weekly preview) before heading back to San Antonio
Honorary Mention: Graham Maassen (Pomona-Pitzer), JK (Pomona-Pitzer), Lester Yeh (CMS)
Your predicted March Madness champion: Michigan State
The unlikely team (#4 seed or worse) that could make the Final Four: Duke (unfortunately)
“Good” team most likely to get upset in the 1st weekend: Given the way this season has gone, I’m sure multiple will, but I’m looking at Xavier in the second round and Cal in the first (4 seed, really?)
Regional
Player: Eric Roddy
Team: Sewanee
Results: 2-1 at #2 singles, 3-0 at #1 doubles, not including today’s match vs. Whittier
Recap: Roddy had a great week for the Tigers. I’m including last Sunday’s match vs. Emory, where he pushed Jemison, falling 4 and 5. He then had an excellent 4 and 4 win over Daniel Levine of CMU and beat Sam Mitteldorf of Chapman 2 and 0. Most impressively was his doubles, where Roddy and partner Jack Gray went 3-0 with wins against the three teams above. All three of these wins were 9-8, meaning the Tigers beat three good teams with some very clutch play. The CMU and Emory wins were over the #3 and #4 teams in the region, putting Roddy/Gray in excellent shape to make NCAAs as a doubles team. It’s easier to get upsets in doubles, so it’s definitely possible Roddy/Gray will have some losses before the season is over, but it will be hard to move them out of the top 4 when they have wins over the #3 and #4 teams. Sewanee fell 7-2 to Emory after taking a 2-1 doubles lead, fell 6-3 to CMU, beat Chapman 7-2, and Whittier 6-3 (this box score was not available so I’ll use it for next week’s POTW).
What’s next: Sewanee is still out in Cali, and will play Trinity CT tomorrow in a great match. Trinity started their year with a 9-0 loss to Bowdoin, and Sewanee has a ton more match experience under their belt this year, so they have to be excited for this one.
Honorary Mention: Ryan Bunis (Brandeis)
Your predicted March Madness champion: UNC
The unlikely team (#4 seed or worse) that could make the Final Four: Has to be Kentucky
“Good” team most likely to get upset in the 1st weekend: Oregon