REGIONAL PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: 02/25/19-03/03/19
What could be better than Power Rankings on a Monday? Power Rankings and POTW on a Monday! Well, Monday on the West Coast at least. There has been much discussion about food in the blogger group chat of late, so today we’ve included our bloggers’ favorite tennis trip eatery and post-match snack. I need to find a 24-hour Chipotle like right now…
A-SOUTH
Player: Cole Tecce
Team: Mary Washington
Results: 2-0 in singles vs. CMS & Whittier
Recap: While the Eagles lost to CMS this past Sunday, Cole Tecce went HAM on Vemuri of CMS at the #5 singles spot to the tune of a 6-1, 6-2 victory. Not only is this an extremely strong victory for the young player, it wasn’t even that close and that’s what surprises me the most. With a few 5-4 clinches under his belt in previous years and some marquee wins this year, Tecce is a guy that has a lot of potential this year and years to come.
What’s next: vs. UMW rivals Pomona Pitzer and Redlands
Honorable Mention: Matt Miles (UMW)
Favorite place to eat on a tennis trip: Roundtable Pizza
Favorite post-match snack for the ride home: Welch’s Fruit Snacks all day
NewD3CENTRAL
Player: Tim Cianciola
Team: Denison University
Results: 4-0 @Hope and @Kalamazoo (1 Doubles, 2 Doubles, and 3 Singles x 2)
Recap: Cianciola and Thai are quietly creating a very nice resume (though they carry their one’s loss to Hope, I think) and it was essential in Denison’s win over Kalamazoo this weekend. Cianciola went 2-0 in an 8-1 victory over Hope and 2-0 in Denison’s 6-3 victory over Kalamazoo. Cianciola and Thai moved up to 1 Doubles where they defeated Yi and Henry, and then he clinched the match in singles coming from a set down to defeat Allen Vinson. Denison defeats Kalamazoo for a second consecutive year and should move up in the rankings after felling #24 Kalamazoo.
What’s next: Conference match with Ohio Wesleyan on a Wednesday – the Wednesday match date should be enough of a preview.
Honorable Mention: Patrick Whaling et al. (GAC: 18-0 on the weekend), Casey Johnson (Kalamazoo), Kevin Brown (Denison)
Favorite place to eat on a tennis trip: Frosty Frog
Favorite post-match snack for the ride home: Banana Chips + whatever gets us home fastest (*spoiler* it was always Chipotle, order ahead on the app).
NE
Player: Josh Quijano
Team: Bates
Results: 1-1 at #1 doubles and 2-0 at #1 singles.
Recap: Josh earned a straight-set win over Wheaton on Saturday, something he usually struggles to pull off, and then won a big 3-set match on Sunday against #10 Brandeis when he took out David Aizenberg in three sets, 6-7, 6-0, 6-1. They played out the full third, so I doubt the match had already been clinched at that point. That’s a big win for Q, as Aizenberg already has wins over Kronenberg (PP) and Lipscomb (Redlands) this spring. Bates will need more wins like this from their senior captain if they are going to push for NESCACs this year.
What’s next: Bates travels to Conn College this weekend which should put them back on the right track, and then has a weekend off before making their annual atlantic-south pilgrimage to take on Hopkins, UMW and a new foe in UWW (@UMW).
Honorable Mention: Vid Yadav (Bates), Adam Tzeng (Brandeis) & Sahaj Somani (Rochester).
Favorite place to eat on a tennis trip: The bagel place at Middlebury. I don’t remember the name, but it was the best breakfast by far, even if we had to get up earlier to get there. Fresh bagel sandwich with bacon or sausage and scrambled eggs and a sharp vermont cheddar cheese. Delicious.
Favorite post-match snack for the ride home: I’ve never eaten more skittles in my life than I did between February and May for a few years. Don’t know why, but they hit the spot.
NewDIIIWEST
Player: Jack Katzman/Robert Liu (Doubles)
Team: CMS
Results: Round of 16 finish at the Pacific Coast Doubles Championships in La Jolla
Recap: Though this doesn’t affect or have any DIII implications, this feat needs to be recognized as this Stags duo almost matched the farthest a CMS team has ever come in this event (Dorn/Wood – Quarters). The most noteworthy win, however, had to be their third round win over the current UCLA #3 doubles team. Call me impressed.
What’s next: A fun DI matchup against Quinnipiac, followed by a Stag Hen to kickstart a stacked Spring break run.
Honorable Mention: Raed Attia (L&C), Julian Gordy (CMS)
Favorite place to eat on a tennis trip: Jersey Mike’s. Club Sub, add bacon and mayo bishhhh.
Favorite post-match snack for the ride home: Sour Straws!!
REGIONAL NE/C
Player: Jack Hibbard
Team: Ohio Wesleyan
Results: 4-0 at #1 singles and doubles
Recap: This was one of the hardest POTW’s to do in a while. I hate to say it, but no one was really that obviously deserving. I usually try and give it to someone who did well in both singles and doubles in a close match, ideally multiple matches. After a lot of digging through Northeast and Central teams, I am choosing Jack Hibbard for a hard fought 6-4, 7-6 win at #1 in a 6-3 win for the Battling Bishops over Earlham. He followed that up with a 6-1, 6-0 victory over one of the Blog’s favorite teams: Thomas More (shoutout to my keyboard jockeys). Doubles wise, Jack cruised in both matches at the #1 spot. So while Hibbard is my POTW, it’s many of his teammates who also deserve some recognition for their excellent names. We’ve got Pako Alevizopoulos, Omar Santiagonunez Ahumada, and Miller Buckholz, just to name a few.
What’s next: Denison on Wednesday and then five matches next week in lovely Orlando.
Honorable Mention: JT Wynne (Skidmore), Alan Dubrovsky (Hobart), Alvaro Leal (Augustana), Ionnis Binopoulos (Union),
Favorite place to eat on a tennis trip: Post match: Chipotle. Pre match: Any decent grocery store (all I want is fruit/nuts/bars pre match).
Favorite post-match snack for the ride home: The true top choice might reveal me to some, so I’ll say either raspberries and a cup of tea or if that’s not feasible just something like an RX Bar.
REGIONAL AS
Player: Davis Plummer
Team: Millsaps
Results: 2-0 vs. Bellhaven
Recap: Not many of my teams had individuals with highly significant results, so I had to dig a little deeper for this one. The nomination isn’t really for his results against Bellhaven, but more so his results on the season as a whole. He is a perfect 9-0 at #1 singles and doubles this spring. Sure you can argue that most of the teams that they have played haven’t been amazing, but winning all of your matches at the top of the lineup is always hard because you are almost always guaranteed to play some pretty tough matches. Kudos to last year’s NCAA qualifier continuing to produce results this season!
What’s next: A brutal spring break schedule against some F&M, OWU, #8 Wash U, #14 Case, #13 Kenyon. That undefeated streak might be a little tough to keep going…
Honorable Mention: Mark Fallati (@ASouth and West)
Favorite place to eat on a tennis trip: The local Italian restaurants
Favorite post-match snack for the ride home: Peanut butter stuffed pretzels
NEWREGIONAL
Player: Anupreeth Coramutla
Team: Brandeis
Results: 2-0 @ Bates (#1 doubles and #2 singles)
Recap: Brandeis went into Lewiston on Sunday afternoon and came away with a 7-2 win indoors at Merrill Gymnasium. Coramutla and Aizenberg continued their solid doubles play, taking down Kauppila and Quijano 8-5. Anupreeth then took out Kauppila 6-4 in the third, a great win on the road. Brandeis took down Bates for the second year in a row, and clear another hurdle as they continue to play for a Pool C bid.
What’s next: A battle for Boston bragging rights against Tufts next Saturday. This will be our first look at the Jumbos, and they will no doubt be looking to start their spring season with a top-10 upset.
Honorable Mention: Josh Quijano (Bates), Nick Kyrgios (Australia), Ian Yi (Kalamazoo)
Favorite place to eat on a tennis trip: Steak n’ Shake
Favorite post-match snack for the ride home: Any baked good brought by a parent. Nothing like taking down a box of chocolate chip cookies
Nice job Preeth!