REGIONAL PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: 05/07-05/13
Welcome, boys and girls, to what is likely our final POTW of the year! This is always one of our favorite pieces of weekly content, as we love both recognizing the outstanding play from the previous week, and having some fun with it. This week The Blog is going to be chalk-full of NCAA coverage. We will have a roundtable tonight, and will start in our QF team profiles either Tuesday or Wednesday, before bringing you the dreaded match-by-match previews over the weekend. Also, look out for D3AS “Players of the Quarterfinals” article, that should drop tomorrow. For one last time this season, congrats to our POTW!
A-SOUTH
Player: Adrien Bouchet
Team: Emory
Results: 2-0 in doubles, 1-0 in singles
Recap: Bouchet took care of business this weekend with two strong wins at #2 doubles with a new partner, fellow junior Jonathan Jemison. He also was one of the singles points against W&L and was leading in his match against NCW. Not really much to choose from this week given three of my teams were knocked out, but Bouchet came to play and was ready despite Emory being favorites.
What’s next: vs Williams, Elite 8
Honorable Mention: Joseph Cartledge (Hop), Ryland Byrd (UMW)
Biggest surprise from the weekend (other than Whitman over GAC): Hopkins doubles performance versus Middlebury. The Jays showed that they could at least hang with the best teams in the country, in doubles.
How’s your bracket doing: I mean… I’m right where I belong. In first place.
QF you’re most excited about: Emory vs. Williams. Everyone is down on Emory this year, which is fair, but to discount the Eagles is usually a recipe for disaster. Williams is my national title pick, but this match could go either way.
NewD3CENTRAL
Player: David Liu
Team: Chicago
Results: The Return. 4-0 over the Regional Weekend (3 Doubles, 5 Singles)
Recap: In what could’ve been the toughest sweet sixteen matchup for a top seed (GAC x Whitman proved otherwise) the roons went 5-1 over Augustana and 5-2 over UAA rival: Carnegie Mellon. Liu went 2-0 in the sweet sixteen and helped ensure that the CMU match shifted from dangerous 50-50 to a comfortable 5 -2 win.
What’s next: ELITE EIGHT DATE WITH THE HOSTS: CMS
Honorable Mention: Chase Johnson (GAC), Nick Chua (Chicago), Austin Diehl (Kenyon), Pohl & Totten (Augustana), Jason Haugen (Wash U),
Biggest surprise from the weekend (other than Whitman over GAC): Jeremy Yuan lost at 2 Doubles and Midd’s singles clinic against Hopkins, Williams singles clinic against Amherst.
How’s your bracket doing: meh – chose Kenyon in a big sweet sixteen upset over a central King…should’ve gone more north for that result. I was perfect through the first update.
QF you’re most excited about: CMS v Chicago
NE
Player: Arturo Kam
Team: Williams
Results: 2-0 at #3 doubles and 1-0 at #6 singles against Goucher and Amherst in this weekend’s NCAA Regional.
Recap: The Eph freshman showed no nerves during his first NCAA matches, going undefeated over the weekend AND earning two points against Amherst. Without Kam’s doubles point, the Ephs would have been swept in doubles. Yes, Williams owned the singles portion of the match, but it’s a heck of a lot harder to come back from a doubles sweep. In addition, Arturo won his match at #6 singles in straight sets, paving the way for Lil’ Raghavan to get the clinch and send Williams to back-to-back Quarterfinals.
What’s next: Williams takes on the defending champion Emory Eagles in a blockbuster quarterfinal that you will read more about in a moment…
Honorable Mention: Gil Roddy (Bowdoin), Andre Xiao (Midd)
Biggest surprise from the weekend (other than Whitman over GAC): Amherst taking a doubles lead on Williams was surprising, and the way the Ephs fought back and demolished the Mammoths in singles was also a little surprising. Other than that, I was pleasantly surprised with how RPI and Hopkins fought during the doubles portions of their matches against the top two teams in the country as well.
How’s your bracket doing: Top-20, but not picking Whitman over GAC kills for two reasons. 1) Given I went fairly chalky from this point on it’s going to be tough to make up points and 2) D3AS is now in first…horrifying
QF you’re most excited about: Williams vs Emory has all the makings of a barn burner. Strength at the top of the singles lineup. Williams strong but inexperienced depth vs Emory’s national championship experience and upperclassmen at the bottom of their lineup. Solid dubs on both sides. This one really could be epic.
NewDIIIWEST
Player: Chase Friedman
Team: Whitman
Results: THE BIG CLINCH FOR WHITMAN’S FIRST ELITE 8 APPEARANCE IN 20 YEARS
Recap: Big ups to the Whitman Team hailing from the PNW. An up and down season is culminating in what is most likely the most successful season for a Blues team in quite some time. Their win over a talented Gustavus team shows us that Whitman can take down any team on any given day and I look forward to seeing how they’ll fare against a solid Midd lineup. Nothing to lose going ahead for Whitman and really no better team to be representing the PNW in the final 8! Friedman has been in many clinching situations but none so big as the one this past weekend. Despite cramping and obvious nerves, he was able to play inspiring tennis in the deciding set to solidify the upset. Snaps for the senior!
What’s next: Midd in the final 8
Honorable Mention: Zach Hewlin, Whitman
Biggest surprise from the weekend (other than Whitman over GAC): Not so much a surprise, but just how good Williams is. Going down in doubles to a dangerous Amherst team in Nationals could have called for disaster. However, the Ephs were able to regroup and take singles quite convincingly. Watch out for this team; they may be in the shadows of their NE foes in Midd and Bowdoin, but Williams is just as dangerous.
How’s your bracket doing: Middle of the pack. Nothing to call home about.
QF you’re most excited about: CMS vs. Chicago.
REGIONAL
Player: Courtney Murphy
Team: Wilkes
Results: 1-0-1 at #1 singles
Recap: Wilkes advanced to the second round of NCAAs over the weekend, getting a solid 5-3 win over Colby Sawyer before falling 5-0 to Midd. The junior Courtney Murphy led the way in the first round win, getting a 3 and 2 win over Gustav Jigrup, which ultimately clinched the match. The next day, against Midd, Murphy took on Noah Farrell, and although he lost the first 6-1, he was up 3-0 in the second when Midd won 5-0, so it would have been interesting to see how that finished. Although Murphy went 0-2 at #1 doubles over the weekend, it was his singles leadership that got Wilkes through the first round, and his battle with Farrell was also nothing to scoff at.
What’s next: Wilkes season is finished and Murphy unfortunately did not qualify for NCAAs in singles this year as he did last year. However, he is only a junior so he will have one more year to make some noise!
Honorable Mention: David Aizenberg (Deis), Anupreeth Coramutla (Deis), Spencer Watanabe (George Fox) – all qualified for NCAAs!
Biggest surprise from the weekend (other than Whitman over GAC): Yeshiva’s 5-0 win over Ramapo. I did not see that coming. Also Hop’s relatively easy win over MIT
How’s your bracket doing: Pretty poorly overall. I wanted to take Whitman but didn’t have the guts. That’s on me guys.
QF you’re most excited about: CMS v Chicago. Both teams playing incredibly well right now. Should be some awesome tennis!
REGIONAL AS
Player(s): Ioannis Brokakis and JD Telles
Team: NC Wesleyan
Results: 2-0 Against Sewanee in the NCAA Round of 32
Recap: The Battling Bishops were able to turn around a 1-6 loss to the Tigers earlier this season to another great win that solidified this team’s spot in the top 20. Ioannis Brokakis and JD Telles led the charge locking up 4 points for their teams at 1 doubles, 2 singles, 2 doubles and 3 singles. The last time these two teams played, Brokakis and Telles combined for just 1 point. This is an unbelievable turnaround and a testament to what peaking at the right time can do. Congrats to Coach Brice and the boys on one hell of a job down the stretch and I sincerely hope we continue to see this positive trend continue with this team.
What’s next: Unfortunately for NC Wesleyan the team season is over after a loss to a title contending Emory team, but Sebastian Sikh will be heading out to California to represent his team at NCAAs! Watch out for the Swede, he could definitely be a dark horse in this tournament.
Honorable Mention: Artyom Nabokin (Wilkes), all my RegASouth seniors (article coming soon)
Biggest surprise from the weekend (other than Whitman over GAC): MIT continuing to be mediocre at best.
How’s your bracket doing: Third place out of the bloggers. I’ll take it after two years of atrocious Draft Kings showings.
QF you’re most excited about: CMS vs Chicago
REGIONAL NE/C
Player: Eric Pohl and Sam Totten
Team: Augustana
Results: Unbeaten in singles and doubles in NCAAs
Recap: I’ve written a lot about these two lately, and they deserve it. I love the story—two seniors lead their team, both on court and off, to NCAAs for the first time, and once they get to the dance they keep on rolling. Pohl and Totten helped Augustana win their first match against John Carroll with an 8-1 win at #1 doubles and then Totten won at #1 to set up the clinch for Pohl at #4. The final score was 5-2 for Augie, but the remaining matches were all tight, so getting that clinch was big time! The next day against Chicago, the writing was on the wall. While the Vikings’ run came to an expected end, Pohl and Totten went out with one final hurrah, topping Kumar/Kerrigan 8-5 for an excellent win to finish off their doubles careers. And in one final small victory, both hung around long enough in singles that their matches weren’t finished when Chicago clinched, meaning the two can always say that their last full college match was a win over Chicago at #1 doubles.
What’s next: The real world.
Honorable Mention: Andrew Imrie and Sebastian Castillo-Sanchez (RPI)
Biggest surprise from the weekend (other than Whitman over GAC): Besides the topic of my POTW, it would be Yeshiva avenging a 7-2 loss to Ramapo with a 5-0 win.
How’s your bracket doing: 19 out of 118. Not bad!
QF you’re most excited about: Williams vs Emory