2017 Season Preview: #24 Whitman College

We’ve found a potential D3West replacement, and we’re trying him out with a preview of the newly-appellated Whitman College Blues (though they’ll always be the Fighting Squirrels to me). I think he did a pretty good job, but please let him know what you think in the comments.

Coach: Jeff Northam (17th or 18th season)

Location: Walla Walla, Washington

ITA Ranking: #24

Blog Power Ranking: #21

Twitter: @whitmantennis, very active except when they’re losing (D3W interlude: savage)

Team Hashtag: #oneteam

Overview: After a bright start to last year’s season with wins over Swarthmore and Redlands, Whitman suffered a massive let down against Tufts, which was followed by a loss to Lewis and Clark College for the first time in a million years, and a loss in the first round of NCAA’s to a Texas-Tyler team that had not won a match against a ranked opponent all season. However, the brief Fall season has shown that their additions could impact the line up in a big time way this year, and more than compensate for the loss of Phil Locklear. However, with their conference rivals continuing to narrow the gap in talent, a trip to NCAA’s may no longer be a lock for the Squirrels.

Key Additions: Alexander Hwang (#280, UTR 10.28), Ben Kirsh (#316, UTR 11.37), Daniel Foster (#408, UTR 11.78). Rajul Chikkalingaiah (#132, UTR: 10.16)

Key Departures: Phillip Locklear (#2 singles, albeit as a ‘sacrificial lamb’ #2)

Lineup Analysis:

1: Zach Hewlin (Jr.) UTR 11.77: Zach had a tremendous year last season reaching the semifinals of the NCAA singles tournament, falling to the hometown hero Brandon Metzler. However, he followed this up with a rather disappointing Fall ITA with a loss to Michael Brewer of Lewis and Clark College in the Quarterfinals. The Fall ITA is not the best indicator of what is to come, and Hewlin should ride the success of the 2016 individual tournament to some big wins at the top spot, and maintain a top-8 ranking in the west region.

2: Chase Friedman (Jr.), UTR 11.91: As expected, last year’s #3 made a deep run in the Fall ITA but didn’t fare any better than teammate Kirsh in falling to Watanabe. Chase has had some impressive results over the years, but missed the majority of last season due to injury following the Tufts match. With experience at the #3 position, expect Chase to have a solid year, and maybe find a few upsets along the way.

3: Daniel Foster (Fr.), UTR 11.78: Another freshman looking to make a name for himself by jumping straight into the middle of the line up. This Fall, Foster had the ITA performance we expected him to have, winning a tight round of 16 match against Clark Wininger of Pacific, only to fall to teammate Friedman in the quarterfinals in two tight sets. With a UTR of 12, I think we can expect some big tennis out of the freshman this season, but also expect a few tight losses along the way against the seasoned veterans in their ranked matches.

4. Gary Ho (Jr), UTR 11.10: Yet another Whitman quarterfinalist in the ITA and yet another victim of Watanabe. However, Ho picked up an impressive round of 16 win over Lewis and Clark’s Raed Attia (#1 last year). He also travelled to the Boise State Invitational and picked up a win in the B-flight. Expect him to be a solid 5, beating who he is supposed to beat but nothing more than that.

5. Petar Jivkov (Sr.), UTR 11.28: While Jivkov fell to teammate Kirsh in the quarters of the ITA, he also travelled to the Boise State Invitational and picked up a number of wins over D1 competition in the backdraw. Given that Jivkov has played in the bottom half of the lineup over his last three years, I expect him to come up with some huge wins at the spot for his team. He’s a fiery player, and he is as good as good at getting into his opponents heads as he is a striking the ball. He will be tough out at #6 no matter who he plays.

6. Robert Carter (Jr.), UTR 11.21: Rob had an uninspiring performance in the Fall ITA; however, I wouldn’t lose my faith in him just yet. Last season he fared well at the bottom of the line up against ranked competition with wins against Tufts, Redlands, and Texas-Tyler in the regular season. The #6 singles position could end up to be one of Whitman’s strengths this year and I imagine Carter will build off of the following year with a positive 2017 season.

Contenders: Jake Hoeger (Sr.), Robert Carter (Jr.), Alexander Hwang (Fr.), Rajul Chikkalingaiah (Fr.)

Doubles: Whitman has been a traditionally strong doubles team, and you can expect them to get a point in almost* every match they play. They entered the Fall ITA with the same top two teams that were on the court last season.

*Cough cough getting swept by Texas-Tyler in NCAA’s

1: Jake Hoeger/Robert Carter: Jake Hoeger is somewhat of a doubles specialist and a fiery player on the court. Him and Robert Carter finished the year at #1 Doubles, and made a run to the finals of the Fall ITA falling to Watanabe and co. Expect this team to start the year at #1

2: Zach Hewlin/Gary Ho: As I mentioned previously, this team closed out the year at #2, and paired up again in the Fall ITA falling to a Lewis and Clark team in the quarterfinals. Hewlin at #2 is pretty huge for the Squirrels.

Not even going to try, pick any of the remaining players out of a hat and this will be Whitman’s #3 team.

Schedule Analysis:

Here is the schedule

Whitman begins their season against some D1 competition mid-January, before they host Gustavus, Pacific (Ore.), and Pomona-Pitzer at home. If they can handle Gustavus, a team that should not be written-off just yet, the match against Pomona-Pitzer will be one for the ages. Expect this to be a nail biter and I actually favor Whitman in this match given their home court advantage. Whitman’s indoor facility (featuring newly resurfaced courts!) is one of most difficult places to play in the country, and while PP is a fiery team, expect the mental side of the game to play and equal role to the physical side in this match up.

From there, Whitman will split their team by traveling to Pennsylvania to play Swarthmore, Haverford, and CNU while leaving half the team at home to play against Pacific Lutheran and Willamette. This is something that Amherst College has done in the past, but expect one of theses matches to be close given that Whitman does not have nearly the depth that Amherst has had (D3W Interlude: Expect this to be an A-squad/B-squad split, with Whitman’s B-team being more than enough to handle PLU and Willamette. I think the newbie is massively underestimating the Garnet, particularly on their home courts, and I would be surprised if Whitman walked away from this weekend without a loss).

After that, they begin a long road stretch which includes the Stag-Hen where I would be surprised if they returned with a record better than 0-3. Then, they will then split the teams once more with half going to Texas to avenge last years NCAA loss to Texas-Tyler and to challenge Trintiy (Tx.), while half will remain at home to play Univ. Puget Sound.

They conclude their regular season with their conference tournament which they haven’t lost in nine years, and are probably still a step ahead of their conference rivals in Pacific and Lewis & Clark.

Conclusion:

Whitman returns almost all of their line-up players from last year and add’s a couple freshman which should immediately impact the lineup. Their home matches against Gustavus and Pomona-Pitzer are MASSIVE, could go either way, and are their most realistic opportunities to better their current ranking. A rematch against Texas Tyler will also hold the same implications for finishing inside the top 20 or outside of the top 30. If they can avoid an upset like last year’s loss to Lewis and Clark, they should find themselves defending their conference title, and making their annual trip to NCAA’s. However, I don’t see their ranking changing much unless they can beat Gustavus, Pomona-Pitzer, and Texas-Tyler. Even one loss to one of these teams will leave them outside of the top 20 looking in. (D3W Interlude: I think wins over Swarthmore, GAC, and Tyler would be more than enough to get them back in the top 20, with a win over P-P pushing them into the top 15 or higher. Those are some pretty lofty goals with a young team.)