REGIONAL PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: 04/23-04/29
Happy Monday, boys and girls! The final POTW of the regular season is here, and now we turn our attention to the remaining conference championships. We are just one week away from Selection Monday, so check back all week as we continue to ramp up coverage (as if that were even possible). Most importantly, congrats to every senior who finished his or her career over the weekend, we are proud of each and every one of you.
A-SOUTH
Player: Vishnu Joshi
Team: Johns Hopkins University
Results: 2-0 in singles, 1-1 in doubles
Recap: Welcome to the tank n’ tree. Joshi came into this weekend with no big wins over any ASouth opponents at the #1 singles spot, only to notch huge victories over Fallati (Swat) and Miles (UMW). Hopkins took his cue and ended up beating two top 20 opponents in a weekend. Quite amazing how Hopkins will always be a dangerous team at the end of the year and that does not seem to change with new players. Joshi also notched a doubles win at #3 doubles against UMW in a 5-4 match.
What’s next: Centennial Conference Championships
Honorable Mention: Austin Gu (Hopkins), Daniel Levine (CMU), Andrew Harrington (Emory), Shaw Speer (Colby)
Which upcoming/hypothetical conference tournament matchup excites you the most: The UAA already is completed. So none.
One individuals matchup in your region to keep an eye on: Joshi/Fallati round 2 in the Centennial Conference finals, assuming both get there.
NewD3CENTRAL
Player: Jeremy Yuan
Team: Chicago
Results: 6-0 at UAAs
Recap: Jeremy Yuan went 6-0 at UAAs and clinched Chicago’s first ever UAA Championship. Yuan brought out his best on the biggest stage. Yuan has turned himself into an automatic two points for the Maroons, and if Chicago is to win it all: Yuan will play a massive part in that endeavor. While the matchups against Emory were a little different due to Jemison’s absence, it doesn’t dampen the Yuan’s heroics in clinching in three tough sets.
What’s next: NCAA TOURNAMENT, maybe individual doubles as well
Honorable Mention: Austin Diehl (Kenyon), Leo Vithoontien (Carleton), Jonathan Powell (Case), Bernardo Neves (Wash U), Levi Kimmel (Oberlin), Alhouni (GAC), Shaw Speer (Colby), Cooper Miller (Allegheny)
Which upcoming/hypothetical conference tournament matchup excites you the most: NESCAC (not nescafe @ autocorrect) et al.
One individuals matchup in your region to keep an eye on: Alhouni v Vithoontien: Doubles specifically.
NE
Player: Bowdoin singles
Team: Bowdoin…duh
Results: 6-0 at Tufts and 6-0 and Wesleyan
Recap: A very dominant display by the Polar Bears over the weekend, including two singles sweeps. The Polar Bears had no trouble at Tufts, taking all six matches in straight sets, and they followed it up on Sunday at Wesleyan with another sweep, this time including two three-setters and a superbreaker. It was an especially big superbreaker for Luke Tercek who might have punched his ticket to NCAAs with that win (however see below as a bunch of the NESCAC #2’s are fighting for NCAA berths!)
What’s next: NESCACs! The Polar Bears should get the top spot in the conference tournament according to my following of their tiebreaking procedure, but who knows. If so, that means a semifinal date with the winner of the Amherst/Wesleyan quarterfinal.
Honorable Mention: Shaw Speer (Colby), Cam Daniels (Wesleyan), Boris Sorkin (Tufts)
Which upcoming/hypothetical conference tournament matchup excites you the most: The fans LOVINGLY refer to me as D3NESCAC for a reason…
One individuals matchup in your region to keep an eye on: All of the #2 singles matches at NESCACs. Between Luke Tercek, Andrew Finkelman, Noah Farrell and Austin Barr, you’re looking at anywhere between 1-4 bids to NCAAs depending on how the wild-cards work out. Wins over each other at the conference tournament will go a long ways.
NewDIIIWEST
Player: Niko Parodi
Team: CMS
Results: Defended both his singles and doubles crown at the 118th Ojai Championships
Recap: Well, Parodi is now 18-0 at Ojai (in singles and doubles); rarely dropping sets in singles and winning the doubles each year with a different partner. Ojai puts on an incredible tournament and many have never had the privilege of accepting a trophy at Libbey Park. Parodi has been on the right side of that podium now 4 times and I don’t see that streak stopping anytime soon.
What’s next: SCIACS! Before the Stags head to nationals on their home courts.
Honorable Mention: Julian Gordy (CMS), Jed Kronenberg (PP), Shanker/Wei(Caltech), Shaw Speer (Colby)
Which upcoming/hypothetical conference tournament matchup excites you the most: Gustavus/Wash U (if they are sent to the same region) will be a barnburner. Gustavus has proven week in and week out that they are a team to keep an eye on. And we all know Wash U… they play their best tennis in the big moments and their recent 5-4 loss to Emory in the UAA semis shows they can compete with any team. A matchup between these two teams for a spot in the quarters of nationals? Wow.
One individuals matchup in your region to keep an eye on: If Whitman and CMS are placed in the same region come nationals, a Katzman/Kirsh #2 singles matchup is a match to keep an eye on. Katzman can’t afford any losses if he wants a individual national bid and Kirsh hasn’t lost a DIII match since Tercek took him down over a month ago. Both are playing well and tons on the line for each player.
REGIONAL
Player: Shaw Speer
Team: Colby Mules
Results: 1-2 at #4 singles, 1-2 at #3 doubles
Recap: Shaw Speer has been one of our favorite players over the past four years, and although other bloggers stole him for honorable mention, I’m going to one-up them and pick him as my POTW! Shaw played his final matches for Colby over the past week, as the Mules lost a tight match against Bates (6-3) on Monday and then fell to both Wesleyan and Tufts 7-2 over the weekend. Despite these losses, Shaw deserves this POTW for a couple of reasons. First of all, the way he finished his career, which was with a fantastic win over Dan Coran of Tufts, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4. Second and just as important is the leadership that both Shaw and fellow senior Jeremy Mendoza provided to Colby this season. We love seniors at the blog, and Shaw and Jeremy took a Colby team that lost three important seniors in Vlad Murad, Carl Reid, and Cam Hillier, and drove the team to a solid season, a winning record, a great win over Pacific (OR), and a very tight loss against Texas-Tyler (5-4) among other highlights. Shaw came into Colby a two-star recruit from Connecticut, and was a solid contributor for four years to the Mules. He also probably favorited more of our articles on Twitter than any other player, and D3AtlanticSouth loves to joke that his favorite way to start the day is by eating breakfast, brushing his teeth, and getting a Like from Shaw Speer. Congrats to Shaw on a great win over the weekend and we will miss him next year!
Last point Shaw Speer will ever play in a Colby uniform gets him the 3 set win @sspeer203 @D3Northeast #finishstrong #endwiththeW pic.twitter.com/A05WTzWgle
— Colby College Tennis (@ColbyTennis) April 29, 2018
What’s next: The Mules’ have finished their season, and both Shaw and Jeremy have finished their careers. Colby has a good recruit in Max Schuermann coming in next year and we look forward to following them next year!
Honorable Mention: Spencer Watanabe and Will Leach (George Fox) – Strong performances at the Ojai. Watanabe should be in good shape for a NCAA berth in singles.
Which upcoming/hypothetical conference tournament matchup excites you the most: It might not be the one that excites me the most, but I’ll give a nod to the NEWMAC tournament coming up this week / weekend. We are into the semis, where MIT will take on Wheaton (MA) and Babson will take on Coast Guard, both on Wednesday. The finals are on Sunday, and while MIT is the heavy favorite, Babo did get 2 doubles matches against them and lost a couple of third sets when they played last week. It isn’t the most exciting matchup out there, but definitely something to keep an eye on, as MIT is coming off tough losses to Brandeis and Bates.
One individuals matchup in your region to keep an eye on: I’ll go with the doubles selections out of the northeast. Coramulta and Aizenberg from Brandeis jumped from #5 to #3 with the most recent rankings, knocking Bates and Skidmore down a spot. The Brandeis team went 1-2 at UAAs, with the only win being against Rochester, so it will be interesting to see what the final selections end up being.
REGIONAL AS
Player: David Reed
Team: Christopher Newport
Results: 2-0 against W&L at 1 singles and 1 doubles
Recap: While the Generals might not have had a full lineup, they still had their #1 singles and #1 doubles players and David Reed picked up arguably his best wins of the season this weekend. As I mentioned in my last state of the region and recent twitter thread, Reed needed a “signature win” to have a chance at making NCAAs so why not make it in the last match of the regular season against the #5 singles player in the region. On top of that, he needed some help. Well, it just so happens that #5-7 in the ASouth all lost. Talk about some good luck. The senior finds himself in a very good situation moving forward and maybe this 8-1 drubbing of the Generals will be the spark that ignites this team going into the CAC tournament.
What’s next: The CAC tournament and most likely a finals appearance against Mary Washington
Honorable Mention: Simon Vernier (Swarthmore), Shaw Speer (Colby)
Which upcoming/hypothetical conference tournament matchup excites you the most: Hopkins vs. Swarthmore Round 2, duh.
One individuals matchup in your region to keep an eye on: Miles/Reed rematch if they make the CAC finals. HUGE individual implications.
REGIONAL NE/C
Player: Sahaj Somani
Team: University of Rochester
Results: Clinched Rochester’s 5-4 win over NYU in the UAA 7th place match
Recap: I usually try and give POTW to someone that had a big week, not just one big match, but I had to make an exception this week and show some love to Sahaj for helping to break the streak of last place finishes for Rochester in the UAA that’s been going on since 2010. The sophomore fought through cramps in the match that is being called “Rafe vs Kratky 2013 2.0” to beat Josh Piatos 7-5, 5-7, 7-5. You’ve gotta hand it to both of these teams for leaving it all out there just for the distinction of not finishing last. Major respect to both teams for the battle. And lastly, I hate to be a debbie downer, but no one has pointed this out yet, and it has to be said: For whatever reason, NYU pulled two singles starters after the doubles. Whatever the reason, both teams put out a lineup of six guys and tried to win, so to the victor goes the spoils. Congrats to Sahaj and the Yellowjackets for ending the season on a high note. (Side note: Rochester alum and loyal Blog reader Ben Shapiro messaged me to say that senior Jun Yuminaga won his last point at #2 singles with a volley winner, despite the fact that ASouth called his volleys “tremendously awful.”)
What’s next: That’s all she wrote for the Jackets this season, who graduate Yuminaga and doubles specialist Damani Eubanks. They’ll return much of the same core as they try to get back into the regional rankings and build from there.
Honorable Mention: Shaw Speer (Colby), Yifan Shen (Rochester), Mackenzie Knowlton (Allegheny)
Which upcoming/hypothetical conference tournament matchup excites you the most: Wheaton vs Augustana (CCIW) and RPI vs Skidmore (Liberty League)
One individuals matchup in your region to keep an eye on: Leo Vithnoontien (Carleton) vs Mohanad Alhouni (Gustavus). It’s not really that interesting, as both are locks to make NCAAs, but a win over Mo could potentially give Leo a chance to get seeded and automatically earn All-American honors.