Hey everyone! NewRegional here with my first solo article of what hopes to be an illustrious blogging career. As I’m covering teams that aren’t considered annual contenders, it’s nice to see a lot of wins coming from the following teams, and they brought home a combined 3 titles! Speaking of titles, the only thing better than LeBron in a Lakers jersey will be LeBron in a Lakers jersey holding the Larry O’Brien trophy after the Lakers shock the world this year. Anyways, I don’t know how to insert pictures yet, so here’s the draws and a team-by-team wall of text recap.
NEW ENGLAND ITA
https://d2o2figo6ddd0g.cloudfront.net/f/f/c8y55jcaz5ktb6/ITAMensTennisFinal18.pdf
Brandeis
Best Result
Tzeng/Kogan to the semis in doubles defeating teams from Wesleyan and Bowdoin along the way. The Deis duo followed up an impressive title at the Midd Invitational with wins over Coast Guard, #Fink/Sweeney (Wes) and Zhao/Fortier (Bowdoin) before falling to third seeded Cuba/Eazor. Tough to complain about still being around on Sunday, so Deis has to be pleased with how their top team performed this weekend.
Other Notable Results
Nikhil Das took a routine first round win against Nichols, and followed that up with an impressive win over the freshman Foulkes from Amherst in a superbreaker. Foulkes played #4 for the Mammoths against Skidmore, and if Das is able to keep up this level of play in the spring, it makes Deis an extremely dangerous team. Das fell to Arturo Kam in the following round, but still a positive tournament for the sophomore; it’ll be interesting to see where he’s placed at the Wallach next weekend and the Tufts/Deis Invitational the following weekend.
Freshman Adam Tzeng score a huge first round win over Bessette in a superbreaker before losing to Mr. Morris from Midd. This is a great sign for Brandeis, and shows how much potential this young team has. We’re still waiting on a breakout from Tzeng, but a win over a senior and former national qualifier should be a big confidence boost heading into the next two weekends.
Final Thoughts
Deis was fortunate enough to place 5 players in the singles draw, but was unable to generate any other positive momentum with Vohra, Coramutla, and Chen losing in either the first or second round. In doubles, Ng/Chen lost to eventual winners Jiang/Wang 8-7(5) in the first round. A little surprising not to see Coramutla in doubles, but assuming Aizenberg is abroad, it makes sense for Coach Lamanna to give his other teams a test in the toughest region in the country.
A positive, learning experience for Brandeis this weekend. A couple of good results, and no bad losses generally makes for a pretty solid weekend. The Wallach is coming up next weekend and will be the most important measuring stick for the Judges. Deis will be the third/fourth strongest team in Lewiston next week (Bowdoin, Amherst, Tufts), and with a month of practice and two tournaments under their belt, I’m excited to see how the Judges perform.
Colby
Best Result
Scott Altmeyer played to his seed, winning two matches before falling to Barr in the third round. Scott had a favorable draw and beat players from Coast Guard and Springfield. I’m sure Scott would have loved to have taken down Barr and made more of a run, but the senior from MIT is a tough out, and not a bad loss by any means.
Other Notable Results
The only other Colby player in action this past weekend was sophomore Sumukh Pathi who had an unfavorable draw in Kevin Ma in the first round. Sumukh fell routinely to Ma, but considering Carl Grant lost 0 and 0 to Ma in the second round, I’m going to guess that this was a result of Ma being in the zone, and not poor performances from Sumukh and Carl. While Ma is certainly a strong player, he’s slated to play #2, so the competition will be definitely be tough for Sumukh this year. The most disappointing part of the weekend for the Mules was the first round doubles loss of the seeded team of Scott and Sumukh. Again, fall doubles play isn’t always indicative of spring performance, but it would do a lot for Colby’s confidence if Scott and Sumukh had a good performance next weekend at the Wallach.
Final Thoughts
It’s a shame that Colby is unranked and therefore can only get 2 singles players in the draw because it would have been nice to see either Max Schuermann or Garrett Reiter get some experience. Nothing too alarming or inspiring from Colby’s weekend, and the whole team will be in action next weekend at the Wallach and we’ll get another look at their depth and doubles.
Babson
Best Result
Albert (De?) Mendiola took out Rajan Vohra 6-2 6-2 in the first round before falling to Cuba. Albert had a fantastic freshman year two years ago which saw him win the ITA Northeast Rookie of the Year and finish #32 nationally. After missing a lot of last year due to injuries, here’s hoping Albert is healthy this year and will be able to compete at a high level. A win over Vohra is a good sign that he can still be the player he previously was.
Other Notable Results
De Mendiola partnered with Brandon Rosenbluth to take out the seeded pair from Colby 8-2 in the first round. Rosenbluth and De Mendiola played fantastic doubles two years ago, finishing the year #21 nationally, and for what it’s worth, when healthy last year, the pair went 5-0. Although they took a tough loss to Wesleyan in the second round, this team has a lot of potential and could be a dark horse to compete for a sport at nationals. Sophomore Andrew Libnic, who played ahead of De Mendiola in Babson’s duel match against Eastern Nazarene, also played in the singles draw, taking a loss to Guo from Midd.
Final Thoughts
Babson will be an interesting team to follow this year. I wish we could have seen more of them this fall outside of ITAs, an 8-1 win over Eastern Nazarene (Shoutout to EN #1 doubles on the great win) and the tournament at Conn.
Everyone Else
Outside of James Kaynor and Chris Bilicic of Trinity having close first sets with Cauneac and Reich and Honda of Springfield playing Altmeyer close, there were no Hamline-like upsets in New England, with players from well-known programs doing the majority of the winning
NORTHWEST ITA
George Fox
Best Result
How about 3 of 4 singles semifinalists?! An amazing tournament for a George Fox team that lost its best player in school history in Spencer Watanabe. Will Leach has taken the throne from Watanabe in the Pacific Northwest becoming an All-American in singles and partnering with Keaten Baker to take home the doubles title. Leach beat Kirsh from Whitman in the semis, and then teammate Luke Lemaitre in the finals, after Lemaitre took out Baker in the previous round.
Other Notable Results
George Fox had five seeded players in this ITA and the team didn’t disappoint. Lemaitre was the #1 seed as a freshman and he rolled through three Whitman players before taking out Miyagawa from Pacific and then Baker. #8 seed Alex Namba fell to Kirsh from Whitman in the quarters, and Keaten Baker took out Alex Hwang and Raj Chikkalingaiah en route to a semifinal appearance. On the doubles side of things, the Bruins had two semifinalists, with Leach/Baker taking out Van Os/Namba 8-5. George Fox had an additional doubles quarterfinalist in Justin Barton and Pete Gibson, who fell to the #1 seeded Kirsh/ Chikkalingaiah
Final Thoughts
I might be getting a little overly excited about the Bruins’ performance, but they really did dominate the regional and the tournament couldn’t have gone any better for them. Whitman has won the NWC the past 11 years, but maybe we’re in for a change this year. The Northwest ITA has historically been one of the weaker regionals though, so mark down October 13 on the calendar when #31 UCSC visits for what should be a great match between teams ranked in the 30s.
Pacific
Best Result
Unseeded Sean Murphy made the round of 16 scoring a three-set upset over the #4 seed Attia of Lewis & Clark
Other Notable Results
#5 seed Reyn Miyagawa made the quarters with a win over Rogers from George Fox, but then was quickly taken care of by Lemaitre. #16 seed Rayden Murata made the round of 16 before losing to Kirsh. In doubles, the MurataBros™ dropped a tough 9-7 decision to Carter/Hwang in the quarters.
Final Thoughts
Pacific graduated Oscar Wight last year and I think they’ll struggle to replace the top dog. Pacific is a team that always fights hard and plays good doubles, so it should be a good match when UCSC comes to town on October 14.
WEST ITA
http://www.r2sports.com/website/division-list.asp?TID=29642&display=YES&link=../drawsOut/drawOut.asp
Caltech
Best Result
Break out the hardware! Sophomores Varun Shanker and James Wei came into the tournament as the #1 seeds and didn’t disappoint, winning the doubles title by taking four tiebreakers along the way. In the finals, the pair took out Katzman/Gordy (CMS) 1-6 6-3 7-6(6) in what I’m sure was a match full of shotmaking and great tennis. Wei/Shanker put together a great freshman year campaign and it’s great to see them already building off that success.
Other Notable Results
Wei took a big win over Gordy in the first round, winning 7-5 in the third, but then fell to Meister (CMS) in the following round. Shanker had a great win over Cummins from Redlands, but then fell to Bellet in two tight sets. Other Beavers in action in A singles play were Miha Valencic, who pushed Vemuri to 7-6 in the third, and Patryk Kozlowski who lost easily to Liu (CMS). Caltech had decent success in B singles play with Connor Soohoo and Matthew Gonzalgo each winning two matches, and the other two Beaver doubles teams lost in the first round.
Final Thoughts
This was our first time seeing Caltech under new head coach Jason Cohen (formerly of Colby), and he has to be happy with his team’s debut. The only thing that could have made the tournament even more successful would have been a singles run from Wei or Shanker to complement the doubles success, but this is a good first look at this exciting, young team. Wei and Shanker will be playing in Rome in a week and a half, but other than that, the Beavers are out of action until February.
Also, I love the consolation draws, getting players more match experience is never a bad thing. I don’t consider the scores and results of consolation to be as important because I’ve seen some massive consolation tanks, but still a great idea.
SOUTHWEST ITA
http://www.r2sports.com/website/division-list.asp?TID=29638&display=YES&link=../drawsOut/drawOut.asp
Southwestern
Best Result
Having 4 A flight singles quarterfinalists. We (I) may have gotten a little too hyped at this point in the tournament as only one Pirate (Hunter Bajoit) won his quarterfinal match, but having 4 of the last 8 players in the draw shows Southwestern’s depth.
Other Notable Results
Bajoit got stronger as the tournament went on and took out Wilson Hamilton in the quarters which is a really good win. #1 seed Alex Joseph started the tournament strong before having to retire to eventual winner Joshua Bode in the second set. #3 seed and national qualifier Alexis Dimanche won his first three matches before falling 6-3 in the third to Alex Hunt from Hardin-Simmons. The last Pirate in the quarters was Dean Dulthummon, whose draw opened up after Cameron Krimbill (Now Trinity TX) suffered an early exit, but he lost badly to Pitts. Doubles was a little bit of a surprise as the #2 seeded team of Dimanche/Joseph went out in the quarters to a team from Austin College, and the #4 seeded team of Bajoit/Lekovic went out to Krimbill/Zigman in the same round.
Final Thoughts
First of all, I expected this tournament to lack depth with Tyler moving to DII. While Tyler would have added a lot of quality players to the draw, there certainly wasn’t a lack of excitement, with Joshua Bode of Concordia taking home the singles title 6-4 in the third over Pitts. This was an up-and-down tournament for the Pirates. After coming out so hot, it’s a little disappointing to leave without a title, or at least a finals appearance. Southwestern is going to need Dimanche and Joseph to be studs in both singles and doubles this year if they hope to knock off Trinity and win the SCAC.
I’m sure I probably missed a few things, so leave a comment below or on Twitter and let’s talk tennis.
“…Dimanche/Joseph went out in the quarters to a team from Austin College.” Really?? Those AC players have names. Entering the tournament they happened to be the #14 regionally ranked doubles team. They made it to the semis of the 2017 ITA as a #4 seed but were inexplicably unseeded in 2018. Just because the SW ITA seeding process snubbed them doesn’t mean you have to.