Regional Players of the Week: 4/4-4/10

NCAA MEN’S REGIONAL PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: April 4th-April 10th

Happy Monday, boys and girls, and welcome to another edition of POTW. We’re diving headfirst into spring, which means we’re soon to be surrounded by all kinds of sports. The Masters were last weekend, and with that in mind its time to recognize last week’s Danny Willetts (and Jordan Spieths) of the DIII world. If you ever have any golf questions, feel free to message D3central on twitter. The dude naps to golf under a light blanket almost every Sunday.

A-SOUTH

Player: Chaz Downing

Team: CMU

Results: 2-0 on the weekend at #3 singles against JHU and UMW

Recap:

Chaz was down 3-6 in second set tiebreak, and won 5 straight points to send it to three. Down 3-4 in third, wins 3 straight games to clinch.

— Carnegie Mellon Tennis (@cmutennis) April 9, 2016

What’s next: The UAA Tournament

Honorary Mention: Mary Washington for throttling CNU 9-0.

Team in your region that seems to be on the rise: It used to be CNU, but now it seems to be Swarthmore.

Team in your region that needs to step it up: Johns Hopkins no doubt

Opening Day, The Masters, NBA Playoffs, Stanley Cup Playoffs?: NBA Playoffs for sure. Nothing like NBA players actually trying.

Central

Player: Brady Anderson

Team: Coe

Results: 2-0 at #1 singles

Recap: While Coe failed to win either of their team matches against Case or Depauw, Anderson made a big case for himself to be considered in the top 8 in the region. His win over Fojtasek was impressive as I am sure the whole reason Case sat Krimbill was to get a good win on Fojtasek’s resume. Anderson took a three set war and put a scare in Case. The very next day, Coe fell short once again, but Anderson won in straights over Rodefeld. Both these direct wins are impressive, but it also gives Anderson a lot of solid indirect wins including Al-Houni, Humphreys, and Pei. Anderson’s only loss thus far is to Wheaton’s Justin Ancona. It’s not a terrible loss, but it also hurts Anderson. Right now I think he squeaks in the top 8, but he will need to continue to prove his worth as the season moves on.

What’s next: In terms of what’s next for Anderson, he has a shot against Carswell and Humphreys later on this season. The Humphreys one is of interest because if the Warhawk loses, he might be out of the tournament all together.

Honorary Mention: Luke Tsai (Chicago), Chris Krimbill (Case)

Team in your region that seems to be on the rise: Wash U I guess? Only because they were so low on the totem poll earlier. Kenyon seems to be headed up.

Team in your region that needs to step it up: Chicago? High expectations are at play here.

Opening Day, The Masters, NBA Playoffs, or the Stanley Cup Playoffs?: The Masters all day every day. I took days off of work Thursday and Friday. Who can get me on Augusta National? I would give a limb, maybe two.

NE

Player: William de Quant

Team: Middlebury

Results: 2-0 at #4 singles, 2-0 at #3 doubles

Recap: De Quant came up big for the Panthers against two ranked conference foes this weekend, going undefeated against Williams and Tufts. Pairing with Schlanger, the sophomores tandem won both doubles matches 8-5. De Quant also brought in the drama this weekend, dropping the first set to both Raghavan (Williams) and Ali (Tufts), before rallying to win 6-2 and 6-4 in the 3rd, respectively. De Quant has been as good as advertised this season with his only DIII losses coming to Samson (Wesleyan) and Macey (CMS, 7-6 in the 3rd in a decided match where his teammate got a point penalty called against him). He’ll have to bring his A-game again next weekend though…

What’s next: Midd hosts Bowdoin, for both the NESCAC #1 seed and Pool-A edge. Saturday at 11:30 a.m. Should be a fun one.

Honorary Mention: The entire Bowdoin team, Steven Koulouris (Skidmore), Lucas Pickering (Skidmore), Matt Heinrich (Stevens)

Team in your region that seems to be on the rise: BOWDOIN!!! We knew they were going to be good, but the Guru had a great tweet yesterday, when was the last time Amherst lost a match 9-0? I don’t even want to spend the time to look that up.

Team in your region that needs to step it up: Amherst. So much talent, but running out of time. Wesleyan, Middlebury, and Williams all still to play before NESCACs.

Opening Day, The Masters, NBA Playoffs, or the Stanley Cup Playoffs?: I should say the Masters, but it’s gotta be the NBA Playoffs right now. Spurs vs Warriors has the potential to be the best playoff series you’ve ever seen.

WEST

Player: Mario Jelev

Team: UT-Dallas

Results: 4-0 at #2 doubles and #5 singles in victories against McMurry and Hardin-Simmons

Recap: I wanted to pick a player from UCSC or Whittier here, but since I don’t have the box score from that match and I’m on the deadline, I’m forced to reach deep into the netherregions of DIII tennis. UT-Dallas is best known in DIII tennis circles for stunning the Ybarra-Brown UT-Tyler Patriots in 2012 in the ASC championship to steal the Pool A bid, effectively pushing UT-Tyler into Pool C and bumping CMU out of the tournament. That team was senior-heavy, and they haven’t been good since. This week, they won the battle to be the ASC salutatorian by beating McMurry (not in the ASC) and Hardin-Simmons (in the ASC, but not to be confused with Mary Hardin-Baylor, which is also in the ASC). Jelev was instrumental in the pair of victories, especially against Mary Hardin-Baylor he and Hrudhay Ravula won 8-6 at #2 doubles before he returned to the court to win 7-6 6-3 over Keenan Nash in a 6-3 team victory.

What’s next: The Comets have to survive tests against Sul Ross State and Austin College this weekend before getting summarily thumped by the Pats in the ASC championships next weekend.

Honorary Mention: Andrew You (Whittier), Derek Levchenko (UCSC)

Team in your region that seems to be on the rise: CMS. After losing their first two dual matches in four years in the same week, the Stags have bounced back with consecutive wins over Amherst, Chicago, Pomona-Pitzer, and Middlebury. They might be rounding into championship form.

Team in your region that needs to step it up: All of them. P-P has had a good season, but now needs to beat CMS to make the Dance. Redlands is in the same boat. UT-Tyler hasn’t won a ranked match this season and they only have one more decent chance in the regular season. Whitman lost to Lewis and Clark and then went down in doubles against Whitworth. Trinity just lost its most consistent player for the season and appears to be incredibly mediocre without him. Dark times.

Opening Day, The Masters, NBA Playoffs, or the Stanley Cup Playoffs?: Normally, I’d go with the Stanley Cup, but the NBA Playoffs are just too intriguing this year.

REGIONAL

Player: Jack August

Team: TCNJ

Results: 3-0 at #3 singles, 2-1 at #1 doubles

Recap: There were no crazy regional upsets this past week, and even though TCNJ lost to both Hopkins and Skidmore, Jack August had a heck of the week.  The junior started his week by taking out Scott Thygesen of Hopkins.  He then beat Kit Sanderson of Skid in a super, and also won 2 and 2 over Nate Wolf of Ithaca.  August and Mike Stanley also had a nice week at #1 doubles, winning against Ithaca and Mike Buxbaum/Jeremy Dubin of Hopkins.  August was coming off of three straight losses to Mary Washington, NYU, and Haverford, so it’s great to see him rebound this past week.  He will be essential if the Lions hope to take out NC Wesleyan on Tuesday.

What’s next: The Lions take on NC Wesleyan on Tuesday.  Although NC Wesleyan is not ranked, they are still a tough team, and TCNJ will likely need to win to keep their national ranking.

Honorary Mention: Michael Arguello (Brandeis)

Team in your region that seems to be on the rise: I’m not positive this is one of my teams, but I’ve been writing about them a lot lately, and D3Central stole Brady Anderson from me for POTW, so I’m going with #24 Swarthmore.  They have gotten better and better as the year has gone on, and they are graduating no starters.  Garnet all day.

Team in your region that needs to step it up: Chapman

Opening Day, The Masters, NBA Playoffs, or the Stanley Cup Playoffs?: I love baseball, but it’s a long season.  Have to go with The Masters.