NCAA MEN’S REGIONAL PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: 3/21-3/27
What a great weekend. NCAA tourney, Batman vs Superman, Sonny Dearth and CNU over Hopkins. What a whirlwind. In honor of that extraordinarily mediocre movie, we’re going back to a theme that sits near and dear to my heart, superheroes! The Players of the Week are kind of like the superheroes of DIII tennis, and therefore should be acknowledged with a picture and a blurb. I can think of no greater honor. We’ll be back with a preview of Midd/PP and Williams/CMS in the next 24 hours. Until then, I am Batman.
A-SOUTH
Player: Chiraag Shetty, senior.
Team: Christopher Newport University
Results: Win against Buxbaum/Dubin at #1 doubles and clinched a 5-4 win over Hopkins at #4 singles
Recap: Consider me Shettified. Chiraag (a senior, I must add), decided to put two points on his back this past weekend for the Captains as they took out #13 Johns Hopkins in a match that no one really saw coming. He came out firing with an 8-4 win over Buxbaum/Dubin at #1 doubles with his partner, Steven Boslet. I have no idea why Hopkins changed their lineup once again but that’s their problem. I’m here for Shetty. In his #4 singles match, Shetty took the first set in a tight breaker and ended up winning this one in 3 sets, with the third set not even coming close over Justin Kang. This sent CNU into a frenzy and hopefully a Beer-BQ as I mentioned on Twitter. Congrats to Shetty and the Captains on a great season-defining win. Let’s get that conference championship though!
What’s next: Salisbury on 4/6 and Mary Washington on 4/9. No rest for the weary
Honorary Mention: David Reed (CNU), Sonny Dearth
Favorite Superhero: Nightcrawler from X-Men or D3Regional
Superman or Batman: Superman sucks, I’m sorry. I’d pick Aquaman over Superman. So yea, Batman.
Your super power would be: Controlling some type of element would be pretty sweet. But if not, the ability to hit shots like this.
@SewaneeTigers Eric Roddy vs. Chapman with the shot of the year? #SCtop10 @ITATennis @d3AtlanticSouth #BleedPurple pic.twitter.com/pNlTrWvHQd
— Sewanee Tennis (@USouthTennis) March 27, 2016
Central
Player: Zane Navratil
Team: Whitewater
Results: 5-0 in singles and 2-0 in doubles
Recap: While the Whitewater spring break wasn’t without a little bit of drama, Navratil was perfect for the week in Hilton Head helping the Warhawks escape without a blemish. Navratil picked up key wins against Oberlin and Depauw which were needed after they were down 2-1 after doubles to both. Zane has had a pretty incredible season thus far for Whitewater with only one D3 loss on his spring resume and that was to Luke Tsai from Chicago. I expected Whitewater to be very good this year with doubles and the top two, but didn’t expect the success from 4-6 singles. Navratil, Thompson, and Bisbee have been fantastic and have carried the Warhawks as both Humphreys and Treis are working through some mid-season stumbles. If they all can get on the win track, Whitewater is a dangerous team.
What’s next: Nothing too much until Wash U in three weeks. Talk about a huge opportunity. Whitewater beat Kenyon 6-3, Wash U beat Kenyon 5-4. So you never know.
Honorary Mention: David Liu (Chicago), Dan Rodefeld (Depauw)
Favorite Superhero: Always was a Ninja Turtles guy. Leonardo was the man.
Superman or Batman: Batman
Your super power would be: Anti-aging power so I can stop getting old.
NE
Player: Brian Grodecki
Team: Williams
Results: 3-0 at #3 singles, 3-1 at #1 doubles.
Recap: The Eph sophomore had a heck of a week, and he more than cemented his spot in the top ½ of the Williams lineup. After playing the majority of his freshman year at #5 singles and #3 doubles, Grodecki has made a sizable leap, and is now playing #1 dubs and #3 singles. BG had a good fall, and this week he went undefeated in singles and close to it in doubles. He had singles wins against Redlands, Pomona-Pitzer, and Point Loma, and boy was that PP win a biggy. The one they call “Beeeeg” was the last guy on the court in a 4-4 match. He was up a set and served for the match at 5-4 in the 2nd set. His opponent, known wily veteran and senior Jon Kim, broke twice to take the 2nd set. Then, the 3rd set started with 4 straight breaks, two from each player, followed by 6 straight holds, three from each player. This included Grodecki holding at 4-5 down. Brian got the late break, held to take his match 7-5 in the 3rd, and push the Ephs onto the right side of the Pool-C bubble (for now). Huge mental toughness, and an obvious choice for POTW.
What’s next: The Ephs take on Westmont on Monday afternoon, but the real doozy is their match with CMS on Wednesday before they head back to the east coast. The CMS match is a great scenario for the Ephs. A win over CMS would put Williams at the top of the Pool-C list (with Bowdoin), but a loss does not move them out of the top-5 (just yet).
Honorary Mention: Jay Glickman (Tufts), Dan Coran (Tufts), Matt Heinrich (Stevens)
Favorite Superhero: If Rorschach doesn’t count, I’ve always liked the Flash. Underrated superhero.
Superman or Batman: Gotta be Batman. He is human. Plus think about the Alfreds. Michael Caine, Jeremy Irons, and Michael Gough? Some pretty sweet company.
Your super power would be: Flight, teleportation, super-speed. Just something that might help with my commute.
WEST
Player: Graham Maassen
Team: Pomona-Pitzer
Results: 2-0 at #1 singles against Raventos and Heinrich. 1-1 at #1 doubles with a win over Williams’ #1 team.
Recap: You really just can’t say enough about the season Maassen is having right now. Coming off a semester abroad, he started the season strong and has gotten consistently better as the season has gone on, culminating in an excellent week this week at #1 singles with wins over two prominent guys on the national scene. His stellar play allows Bickham to move Yaz down to #2 where he appears to be more comfortable. The Hens have also been playing with doubles lineups in an effort to get back to the dominance they had last year with mixed results, though the pairing of Maassen and Simonides at #1 appears to be a good one going forward. The two juniors already have wins over Emory, Skidmore, and Williams on their resume. Maassen’s mettle as a #1 singles player will be tested this week in massive matches against Middlebury and CMS, but his season so far has to be considered a monumental success.
What’s next: P-P has matches against Middlebury and CMS this week. A win in either match will put them back in Pool C, as they are currently on the outside looking in.
Honorary Mention: Jake Ly (Redlands), Skyler Butts (CMS)
Favorite Superhero: Batman. He’s just a dude in a costume (and not a super-costume that lets him fly around and shoot rockets and crap)
Superman or Batman: Batman
Your super power would be: A magic wand and the ability to use it
REGIONAL
Player: Carl Reid
Team: Colby
Results: 6-0 at #1 singles, 3-4 at #1/2 doubles on Colby Cali trip and against Amherst on Sunday
Recap: Colby had a tough go of it on their spring break trip in Cali (0-6 overall record), but Reid simply had a sensational week, especially on the singles court. He started the week with straight-forward wins over Brennan Faith (Pacific) and Raid Attia (Lewis & Clark). He then defeated Carl-Philip Lindqvist (Westmont) in a super breaker, who is actually the #1 ranked NAIA player in the west region. He finished the trip with impressive straight-set wins over Adrian Sirovica (UCSC) and Nik Telkedzhiev (Tufts). On Sunday against Amherst, he took out Anton Zykov in straights yet again. Reid actually is not ranked in the northeast’s latest singles rankings, which I don’t quite understand because he finished last season ranked #3 in the NE. Regardless, he is playing at an incredibly high level right now, and should certainly be in the next NE singles rankings coming out on 3/31.
What’s next: Colby takes on Bates on 3/31 and Trinity CT on 4/2.
Honorary Mention: Ruthwick Pathireddy (Cal Tech)
Favorite Superhero: Spider-man
Superman or Batman: Batman
Your super power would be: Either flight or super speed. Either of those would be so awesome.