REGIONAL PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: 04/24-04/30
Happy Monday, boys and girls. Just one week left until Selection Monday and the debate over the final Pool-C spot rages on. I was recently thinking about just how much time each of the writers still devote to DIII tennis (let’s be honest, at this point we’re no longer “bordering” on unhealthy obsession), and it made me think about just how nerdy a hobby/passion this really is. So this week, we honor the nerds/geeks/whatever you want to call yourselves and their great debates. Yes, reader, you are included, because while we continue to write/debate/follow, you are the ones still reading!
A-SOUTH
Player: Emerson Walsh
Team: Johns Hopkins
Results: Undefeated against Swarthmore
Recap: So, three of my teams are already done with the regular season (Emory, CMU, UMW), and that leaves two other teams for me to choose a POTW from. Those two teams played this weekend, luckily, so this makes things a bit easier. Hopkins def. Swarthmore 7-2, so obviously the award must go to a Jay. Since I believe I’ve already given this award to Jeremy Dubin, I decided to go with his highest placing teammate, Emerson Walsh. The other senior on the Hopkins squad, Walsh has now moved up to #3 singles and made quick work of Simon Vernier of Swarthmore. Walsh also teamed at #2 doubles to get two fairly routine wins on the day. Walsh is a clear X-Factor go forward for the Blue Jays, as some think he should be able to have success at #2 singles.
What’s next: The Centennial Conference Championships (prob against Swarthmore)
Honorable Mention: Jeremy Dubin (JHU), David Perez
Star Wars vs Star Trek: Star Wars, but it’s really close since the new Star Treks are pretty damn good.
Lord of the Rings vs Harry Potter: Easy. Harry Potter. Lord of the Rings (although good) is the story of a small man throwing a ring into a fire pit after a 500 year trek.
Superman vs Batman: Was a really bad movie.
MIDWEST
Player: Zane Navratil
Team: UW-Whitewater
Results: 2-0 at #1 Doubles and 1-0 at #2 Singles
Recap: Navratil came up big in the clutch, again. After cruising past Coe at #1 doubles 8-1, he battled back from 2-6, 2-4 at #2 singles against a tough Nate Ackert to win 2-6, 7-6 (7), 7-5. Best of all, the comeback victory clinched the UWW monster win over Coe. Navratil’s and UWW’s efforts as a whole may be enough for the Warhawks to garner the final Pool B bid. All season long, Navratil has stepped up when his team needed him, and I’m pretty excited about Whitewater’s probable NCAA berth.
What’s next: The Warhawks await their NCAA fate.
Honorable Mention: Rory Calabria (UW-Whitewater)
Star Wars vs Star Trek: Star Trek
Lord of the Rings vs Harry Potter: Harry Potter
Superman vs Batman: Batman
NE
Player: Nathan Kaplan
Team: Amherst
Results: 2-0 at #6 singles and 2-0 at #3 doubles (with Arnaboldi) against Williams and Midd.
Recap: This week was a toss up between Kaplan and Scaff. Seeing as I deprived Kaplan last week, he gets the nod this week. Hopefully the trend continues and Zach will get it next week for his NESCACs performance. Kaplan has been really quite fantastic since being moved into the lineup after Herst’s last loss (to Bowdoin about a month ago). The freshman was less heralded than Fung and didn’t have the fall or Burney or Marchalik, but has contributed as much as anybody. He’s now 7-0 at #6 in the last month, with all seven wins coming against ranked teams. He and Arnaboldi are now 5-0 at #3 dubs with wins over Midd, Skid, Wes, Bates, and Swat all in the last two weeks.
What’s next: NESCACs! Amherst is likely to be the #3 seed and take on Tufts in the first round before a possible rematch with Middlebury in the semis.
Honorable Mention: Zach Schaff (Tufts), Hamid Derbani (Midd), Tiago Eusebio (Wesleyan), Luke Carstens (Bowdoin).
Star Wars vs Star Trek: While the new Star Trek movies have been fun, nothing in Star Trek is nearly as cool as Darth Vader. Star Wars sweeps doubles and holds on for a close win. Wars def. Trek 5-4
Lord of the Rings vs Harry Potter: While the Lord of the Rings movies have been fun, nothing from Tolkien will ever be as good as The Prince’s Tale, one of the best reveals of all time. JR keeps it close through doubles, but JK pulls away early in singles. HP def. LOTR 7-2
Superman vs Batman: While the new Superman movies have not been fun, neither have the new Batman movies (I’m pluralizing bc all new Batman movies with Ben Affleck are bound to be mistakes). Hmmm, this one didn’t really fit the pattern. Nolan Batman were the best superhero movies of all time so it’s gotta be Batman. Batman takes an early doubles lead and never looks back. BW def. CK 6-3
WEST
Player: Niko Parodi
Team: CMS
Results: Winner of both singles and doubles at the Ojai
Recap: This week offered me the rare opportunity to write the POTW without even looking at any results. Parodi basically came off the bench to win the Ojai when Hull was forced to pull out late in the week. He survived a stiff challenge from Pacific’s Oscar Wight in the second round, but won his next couple wounds relatively quickly before avenging his ITA finals loss to Mork in the singles finals. In doubles, the unorthodox freshman-senior combo had to battle all the way into the final, winning 9-7 matches in the first and third rounds against Whittier and Pomona-Pitzer, respectively. Once they got to Libby Park, however, they rolled against one of the top-ranked doubles teams in the region with a 6-3, 6-1 win. That’s not a bad way to start an Ojai career for the freshman.
What’s next: SCIAC championships next weekend, as the Stags will attempt to defend their title.
Honorable Mention: Wilson Lambeth
Star Wars vs Star Trek: I’m not really all that familiar with Star Trek, so I have to go with Star Wars by default.
Lord of the Rings vs Harry Potter: Longtime readers of the blog will know that I’m a rabid Potterhead and proud Ravenclaw
Superman vs Batman: Superman’s perfection is a total snoozefest. Give me the billionaire in a bat outfit.
REGIONAL
Player: Tanner DeVarennes, senior
Team: Springfield
Results: 2-0 at #2 doubles and #1 singles against Wheaton (MA) in NEWMAC tournament
Recap: There wasn’t a ton happening in the New England and West regions this past week (other than the Ojai), but one big match was the opening round of the NEWMAC tournament, which has five teams in it. The opening round had the #4 seed Springfield College facing off against #5 seed Wheaton (MA) for the chance to take on MIT this coming weekend in the semis. Springfield came away with the 5-1 win, and DeVarennes, a senior, was right at the forefront, winning easily at #2 doubles (with partner Justin Danielewicz) and at #1 singles, taking out Jeremiah Ryser of Wheaton. DeVarennes has had a very strong senior year for the Pride, sporting an 11-2 record at #1 singles, including a pretty darn good win over Sean Ko of MIT, 10-7 in a super. He also has a strong win over Thomas Hackett of Coast Guard, and an 11-9 super breaker loss to Rutendo Matingo of Trinity (CT). DeVarenneas and his partner Justin Danielewicz also have wins over Babson, Trinity CT, and Wheaton (MA) twice this year, so his doubles results have been strong as well.
What’s next: Springfield will travel to Cambridge to take on #1 seed MIT in the semis of the NEWMAC tournament, with the winner taking on the winner of Babson / Coast Guard in the other semi. MIT took out Springfield 6-3 back on 4/8, though the Engineers also rested their top three starters.
Honorable Mention: Clark Wininger (Pacific), took out Dara Kashani (Cal Lu) and Alex Namba (George Fox) in run to the quarters at the Ojai
Star Wars vs Star Trek: Neither, but probably Star Wars
Lord of the Rings vs Harry Potter: Harry Potter definitely
Superman vs Batman: I’m not a huge superhero fan but I will go Superman.
REGIONAL AS
Player: Michael Feldman
Team: Stevens
Results: 4-0 in conference play
Recap: This week all my teams got together and said, “We’re going to mess with RegASouth and either take the week off or play teams that aren’t worth mentioning.” This pick was made purely on the fact that I absolutely had to choose someone. I gave this award to the Stevens senior because he lost 1 game total this weekend at 3 singles and 2 doubles. Is that as impressive as it sounds? Probably not since the two Empire 8 teams that they played are 4-19 this season… Hopefully these late season conference drubbings that the Ducks are handing out will help them get back into more of a rhythm going into NCAAs , but that is very unlikely.
What’s next: The Empire 8 Tournament where the Ducks will continue to roll through the “competition”
Honorable Mention: All the coaches who got back to me about the recruiting hub
Star Wars vs Star Trek: This shouldn’t be a question… Star Wars.
Lord of the Rings vs Harry Potter: While LotR is quite entertaining, I think Harry Potter takes this hands down. The books as well as the movies I think are better. Avada Kedavra Bilbo.
Superman vs Batman: Batman hands down. I’ve been fairly disappointed by the Superman films as of late, but Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy might be at the top of the list for greatest superhero movies of all time.
REGIONAL NE/C
Player: Ian Paik
Team: Oberlin
Results: 2-1 at #1 singles, 2-1 at #2 doubles in NCAC Tournament
Recap: Paik started off his weekend with a key doubles victory alongside Michael Drougas against Wabash’s Jordan Greenwell and Michael Makio, preventing the doubles sweep and keeping Oberlin in position for their eventual comeback win. Against DePauw, he had a nice singles win at the top spot against Dan Rodefeld, who has struggled of late but is still a very solid #1. In the third place match, Paik went out with a bang, winning in doubles with Drougas again and then finishing his career with a 1-6, 7-6, 6-4 victory over Kevin Brown of Denison to clinch the third place result for the Yeomen, an undeniably nice way for them to finish the year. The win also gives Paik to end the season in the top 15 of the central region singles rankings.
What’s next: That’s it for Ian! The senior’s career comes to a close on a high note for himself and the Yeomen. This team has grown a lot in the past four years, all while Ian was holding down a spot up high in the Oberlin lineup and being a faithful blog reader and excellent tweeter. This guy deserves a lot of credit for his contribution to this program’s development, as well as for this great idea he suggested a few weeks ago.
The Blog should host their own NIT in May
— cultural amnesiac (@IanZPaik) April 23, 2017
So long, Mr. Paik. We’ll miss you!
Honorable Mention: Alan Dubrovsky (Hobart), Stephen Grupposo (Oberlin)
Star Wars vs Star Trek: D3 Tennis
Lord of the Rings vs Harry Potter: D3 Tennis
Superman vs Batman: D3 Tennis