REGULAR SEASON EXIT SURVEY: Awards Season
Another regular season has come to a close, but before we look ahead to the remaining conference tournaments and NCAA tournament, your friendly neighborhood bloggers have come together to appreciate some of the best of the 2018 season so far. Here at The Blog, we love previewing big matches, debating Pool-C, and coming up with our own rankings, BUT our absolute favorite thing about covering DIII tennis are the player and team successes! Don’t worry, we will still do our end of season awards, but the postseason will definitely factor into those. As always, if you think we missed anybody, or have a different question you’d like us to answer, please comment below the article or send us your thoughts via email/Twitter
Make a case for a coach from your region as the Coach of the Year?
D3AS: I have already said this a few times in my stream of consciousness articles and elsewhere, but Todd Helbing of Mary Wash deserves big time consideration as Coach of the Year. Yes, his team has suffered two losses to both Swat and Hopkins in the last two weeks, but we’re talking about a team that has beaten Kenyon and Sewanee and has upped their ranking from the high 20s last year. I’ve talked about how they’ve lost players prior to this year as well, so I will let Helbing’s body of work do the talking this year.
D3NE: Many deserving candidates in the NE, ranging from somebody who has become a perennial candidate in Conor Smith to a DIII sibling legend like Dan Greenberg, but I’m going to go with Ben Lamanna from Brandeis. The Judges lost Granoff, Arguello and Bunis last year, their top three and arguably three of their six or seven best players during the past decade. The Judges did have a good class, but considering just how far down the bloggers had them coming into 2018, Deis has both exceeded expectations and seems poised to come on strong for the next couple years! A loss to Case in the UAA 5th place match is the only thing stopping Lamanna from being a national front-runner, as Brandeis achieved their first top-15 national ranking in my memory, and probably for a very long time/ever?
D3RegNE/C: Rob Postma took an Ohio Wesleyan team with no freshmen and led them to their highest NCAC finish since the postseason format changed in 1990. For a school like OWU to compete—and improve—in the increasingly strong NCAC is extremely impressive. The Battling Bishops are never going to bring in the most talented recruiting classes, but they’ve done a good job developing players and getting the most out of them.
DIIIWest: Mandy Gamble from Caltech has catapulted the Beavers into national ranking talk. Damn, even 2 years ago, I never thought I would see Tech not only competing for an Ojai doubles title, but finishing third in SCIACS. Hats off to Gamble and look forward to this team reaching new heights.
AVZ: Because I don’t necessarily have a region anymore, I can really pick whomever I want. Since I filled this out before NewCentral (D3NE Note: LOL expecting NewCentral to fill this out), I get to choose between Valentini and Coach Tee with Chicago. I have been super hard on Coach Tee for many years just because the talent was there to achieve the success. After this weekend, he deserves all the credit in the world. His senior class and talented roster took down Emory to win the UAAs! It caps off a huge shift in how this Chicago team has been viewed in the last decade. It’s a team full of talent, but more importantly classy kids who are great D3 ambassadors. That wasn’t the case before Coach Tee came to Chicago and big props to him. I am sure there are more things to come from the Maroons, but I am a fan of a team that can not only win, but win with class.
CHB: I agree with DIIIWest’s selection of Coach Gamble, but I will also add Billy Porter from Southwestern. He lost a transformational player in Niko Snovely as well as a couple regular players. His prize 2017 recruit Baskerville is no longer on the roster, and his still managed to nab a win over Trinity TX this season. He was also a monster on the recruiting trail, mining the Houston area for three top-400 recruits.
Who is the front runner for MVP of your region?
D3AS: This is quite an easy one for my “region” as I only have 4 teams, assuming that RegAS gets to his portion of this article (D3NE Note: c’mon man, what we even doin out here man?). Daniel Levine of CMU is the front-runner for MVP in my region and for good reason. Levine has two dual match singles losses all year, and it’s not surprising that when Levine loses in doubles, CMU loses as well. CMU is 0-6 when Levine takes a doubles loss. On the flip side, CMU is 9-0 when Levine notches a doubles win, including wins over Wash U and Wesleyan.
D3NE: Again, so many candidates, but it’s going to be tough for me to pick against Brian Grodecki at this point. The Williams senior won the New England ITA and finished 3rd at Small College Nationals with wins over Jemison and Lipscomb. This spring, he is undefeated in region, with wins over Chen, Cuba, Urken and Wei, the #2, #3, #4, and #5 players in the region, and has gone 5-0 in a 3rd sets/superbreakers. In fact, all three of his three-set regional wins this spring were deep in the 3rd. 7-6 over Cuba (in a tight match Williams won 5-4), 7-5 over Urken (in a tight match Williams lost 5-4), and 7-5 over Wei (in a not as tight match that Williams won 7-2). In addition, BG has played with three different doubles partners at the top spot this year, and he always gives the Ephs a chance to win that spot. Big game, senior, clutch, nice guy, BG has all the makings of an MVP.
D3RegNE/C: It might actually be Leo Vithoontien from Carleton. His impact has brought Carleton back into the top 10 in the Central region and the top 40 nationally. The majority of Carleton’s lineup is the same as last year, but with Leo winning consistently at #1, the Knights have taken a major step forward. His value has been massive.
DIIIWest: Hard to go against Parodi. He is the undisputed #1 player in the West and his recent Ojai win proves he is the player to beat.
AVZ: Again, leaving some easier layups for NewCentral to choose, I want to pick a guy who is most “valuable” to their team and not necessarily the best player in the region. I came down to two choices and that is Bernardo Neves from Wash U or Austin Diehl form Kenyon. Both guys play #2 singles and #2 doubles and both had incredible years. I am giving the nod to Neves even though Diehl went undefeated. Neves started the season a #5 and finished at #2 with wins over Bowdoin, Pomona, Amherst, Wesleyan, Gustavus, Emory, and Carnegie Mellon. His only loss was a third set super breaker against the former ITA national champion Nick Chua. Pretty incredible year for him and I look forward to seeing how well he does at individuals.
CHB: Niko Parodi, hands down. This spring he’s 20-5 at #1 doubles with Julian Gordy and 23-3 at #1 singles against one of the toughest schedules in the country with all-American status in doubles in the fall and two Ojai championships. That’s a good career, let alone a good season.
Who has been the freshman of the year in your region?
D3AS: This is another easy one and it has to be Hayden Cassone of Emory. Cassone has been a rock wherever he’s been placed in the lineup and even stepped into #1 singles this weekend against Chicago and beat Erik Kerrigan. Cassone started the year notching big wins against GAC, Chicago, and CMS at Indoors at #4 singles and it’s just gotten better from there. His partnership with Jemison at #3 doubles has also proven very fruitful. Cassone represents one of the spots that Emory feels most comfortable about and that will be similar for years to come. I’d also like to shoutout Ray Boppana of CMU and Cole Tecce of UMW as two guys who have been so consistent as freshmen and really deserve to be mentioned.
D3NE: Lil Barr and #Fink are both great options, Eazor has stepped up big for Midd, Arturo Kam has been the surprise freshman of the year, but the front-runners should be Boris Sorkin from Tufts and Sean Wei from Amherst. Sorkin totaled 30 wins for Tufts this year, playing mainly #3, but he closed the year at #1 and went 4-1 with wins over Skidmore, RPI, Colby and Babson, with his only loss coming to Urken. He also had wins over de Quant, Burney, and Ko at #3. Wei played top dog for the Mammoths this year, and should be locked into NCAAs. He went 17-7 in singles this year, with all of his losses coming to players who should make NCAAs as well. He also has wins over Cuba, Jemison, Urken, Hewlin, Wu and Rosen. Look for these two kids to be battling at the top spots in their lineups for much of the next three years!
D3RegNE/C: Leo Vithoontien from Carleton, for sure. First of all, making the transition for Thailand to Minnesota at all deserves praise. To do so and play some sick tennis is even more impressive. Leo is 18-1 this spring, with his biggest win coming over Brady Anderson (Coe) and his only loss to Mo (GAC). He’s also put together an extremely solid doubles season, with his only loss alongside Jordon O’Kelly coming to Alhouni/Whaling (GAC). It’s rare for anyone from the teams I cover to make NCAA individuals, and to do so as a freshman? Even more uncommon. Leo is definitely the D3RegionalNEC Freshman of the Year.
DIIIWest: No doubt this award goes to Kronenberg of PP. His 25-6 record this year is outstanding for any player, let alone a freshman playing at the top of the lineup. His losses have come from some of the best in the country (Parodi (2x), Cuba, Al Houni), but Jed is sure the face of the program as the Hens look to penetrate the top 10 next year.
AVZ: Again, because I am regionless, I get to pick whomever I want. There are a couple of freshmen who are the second best in their region and deserve some credit. Jack Katzman from CMS and Andrew Finkelman from Wesleyan both had fantastic years that bode well for future success within these top programs.
CHB: No question, Kronenberg is the man, but Varun Shanker and James Wei deserve mention after their Ojai finals run.
Who has been the most improved player in your region?
D3AS: Wow, this is a really tough one. I think this honor would probably have to go for either Alec Josepher of Emory or maybe Andrew Harrington of Emory. In the end, I’m going to go with Josepher who played #5 singles last year and initially shot all the way up to #2 in the singles lineup. He has been steady at #3 all year and it seems as if Browning is very comfortable with him in that spot.
D3NE: This is always one of my favorite questions. We have seen a bunch of Bowdoin guys win this award recently, looking at Urken, Tercek, and Trinka specifically, but this year I think the front-runner is Ananth Raghavan from Williams. Lil’ Rag is 10-1 on the year in singles, and that includes a 6-1 record against teams ranked in the top 12 in the country. He was in and out of the lineup last year, so to move from a #7 to one of the best #4’s in the country is a huge jump. Young Nanth and Frosh Kam are two of the less heralded Eph players, but the two have been absolute stars for that team in 2018.
D3RegNE/C: I’ll give it to JT Wynne from Skidmore, who played a good #4 last year and this fall surprised everyone by winning the Northeast ITA in singles and double and winning a singles match at Small College Nationals. He’s followed that up with a very strong year at #2 singles (wins over Bessette, Farrell, Salita, Niemiec) as well as a great year at #1 doubles with Steven Koulouris, where the duo is currently ranked #5 in the Northeast.
DIIIWest: Le Duff from Cruz has played incredible tennis and has been a steady point for the Slugs at the top of the lineup. Chad has been in the middle of the lineup since his freshman year and when I saw that he would be playing #1, I was a bit skeptical. Well, he proved me wrong and has improved game to the point where he is considered one of the better players in the West (with a win over Parodi as well). Hats off to Le Duff!
AVZ: Spreading the love across regions, Atlantic South needs some love. While it’s not a huge jump, to see the Milsaps duo of Centurion and Plummer make the top 4 in doubles is pretty awesome. It’s not easy for a lesser known school to bust into the national conversation, but these guys did it and look to secure All American status with a win in California. I will always cheer for the regional teams so let’s get it done!
CHB: LeDuff is an excellent selection, and probably the best selection from a true West region writer. I’m gonna pick Oscar Burney. Last season, the dude went 7-5 at #4-6 singles for Amherst. This season? 16-5 at #3 singles. 20-4 at #2 doubles. It’s worth noting that two of those singles losses came at indoors. Clearly, a change of scenery did him good.
Finally give us a couple seniors from your region to keep an eye on as we move towards the NCAAs?
D3AS: They really all come from Emory, and that would be the aforementioned Josepher, Harrington, as well as Scott Rubinstein. These three really need to step up given Emory’s recent struggles against top teams – all three play important roles in the lineup and Rubinstein is a two-way player.
D3NE: Too many to choose from, as Midd/Williams/Bowdoin all have multiple seniors. Picking one from each let’s go with the #3 player on each team. William de Quant (Midd), Sachin Raghavan (Williams), and Kyle Wolfe (Bowdoin). All three guys have tough roads ahead of them, as each of the “national contenders” have a very strong #3 player. (e.g. Josepher, Burney, Chua, Whaling/Johnson, and even Boppana, Bessette and van der Sman), but whichever of these three guys plays the best tennis in May might find himself holding a national championship trophy.
D3RegNE/C: Sam Totten and Eric Pohl (Augustana), Danny Polk and Will Persson (Stevens), Brady Anderson (Coe)
DIIIWest: Zach Hewlin (Whitman), Chad Stone (Cruz), Sam Malech (PP)
AVZ: All of the Chicago seniors last stand.
CHB: Alex Flora (Cruz), Gary Ho (Whitman), Bob Carter (Whitman)