REGIONAL PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: 03/11/19 – 03/17/19
March Madness is officially upon us, which means RegNEC will continue his inane annual tradition of picking DIII tennis teams to win the DI basketball tournament. As for the rest of us…it’s bracket time!
A-SOUTH
Player: Vishnu Joshi
Team: Hopkins
Results: Undefeated in W&L match
Recap: Not many good things happened for my five teams this past week so I am limited to picking the top dog for Hopkins. Joshi beat Harry Shepherd in straights and also won at #3 doubles. Joshi picks up a win against a likely NCAA regional contender which is big.
What’s next: Emory
Honorable Mention: my vacation
Gut reaction, give us your favorite 1st round upset: New Mexico State over an overrated Auburn team that cannot defend the three.
Gut reaction, give us your Final Four: Duke, Houston, UVA, Gonzaga
Gut reaction, give us your National Champion: Gonzaga
NewD3CENTRAL
Player: Chase Johnson
Team: GAC
Results: 6-0 @ Staghen: 3-0 at 1 doubles, 3-0 at 2 singles
Recap: GAC did not have the Staghen of their dreams, but Chase Johnson flexed all weekend. GAC went 1-2 defeating Swarthmore, but losing to Skidmore and Sewanee (why did GAC play only S-Teams?). Johnson and Whaling continued to show that quality doubles travels well unlike the Fries Quatro Queso Dos Fritos of Santa Barbara fame (You know, the ones where they inject potatoes with a four cheese mixture, fry them three quarters of the way, pull them out, batter them, fry them again, and then serve them with bacon and an ancho chili sour cream). GAC didn’t shake off their indoors stereotype, but with another California trip on the docket they’re bound to improve. A win over Trinity Tx on their second trip west could toss a stick of dynamite into a relatively clean central regional ranking.
What’s next: A triple header on March 23 against two saints and the better side of the bed, then they go back to California – no April Fools.
Honorable Mention: Austin Diehl (Kenyon), Jonathan Powell (Case), Ethan Hillis (An Avenger),
Gut reaction, give us your favorite 1st round upset: OREGON def. WISCONSIN
Gut reaction, give us your Final Four: Duke and three others.
Gut reaction, give us your National Champion: Duke.
NE
Player: Grant Urken
Team: Bowdoin
Results: 4-0 at #1 doubles, 3-1 at #1 singles
Recap: Before Bowdoin’s spring break I was slightly concerned about the need for Urken to “shake off the rust” considering he hadn’t played an official match since the beginning of September. Consider the rust shook. Urken and Jiang made quick work of the #1 teams from CMS, PP, and Southwestern, and beat Skidmore in a breaker as well. Similarly, Urken knocked off Wynne, Dimanche, and Kronenberg and took his only loss of the week to Parodi (who won after the match was already clinched). CMS exposed Bowdoin’s new weaknesses during the Stag Hen finals, but Urken is, unsurprisingly, not one of those things.
What’s next: The rest of the spring break trip to Cali including matches with Babson, Whitman, Trinity Ct, Redlands, and Denison.
Honorable Mention: Harris Foulkes (Amherst), Justin Patel (Bowdoin), Zach Lieb (Wesleyan), Princeton Carter (Wesleyan)
Gut reaction, give us your favorite 1st round upset: Oregon over Wisconsin
Gut reaction, give us your Final Four: Duke, Virginia, UNC, Buffalo
Gut reaction, give us your National Champion: Ugh…Duke
NewDIIIWEST
Player: Jack Katzman
Team: CMS
Results: 3-0 at #2 singles, 3-0 at # doubles with partner, Robert Liu
Recap: Let’s start by saying this. The Stags put on quite the singles performance against Bowdoin and frankly shined throughout the week as the event’s best. But to put one player over the others, Katzman shines bright as the sophomore lost just NINETEEN games over the course of his six matches this weekend. His closest singles set was 6-4 (against Skidmore) and he took care of business on the doubles court against formidable doubles teams.
What’s next: A NE spring break trip where the Stags will face Wesleyan, Amherst and MIT.
Honorable Mention: Sam Gearou (PP), Alex Hwang (Whitman), Matthew Gonzalgo (Caltech), Alex Joseph (Southwestern)
Gut reaction, give us your favorite 1st round upset: UC Irvine over Kansas St
Gut reaction, give us your Final Four: Duke, Michigan, Kentucky, Purdue
Gut reaction, give us your National Champion: Kentucky
REGIONAL NE/C
Player: JT Wynne
Team: Skidmore
Results: 4-1 at #1 singles, 3-2 at #1 doubles during spring break in California
Recap: Thank you to JT for making my POTW selection easy this week. The energetic junior had himself a heck of a spring break trip, scoring wins over Parodi (CMS), Whaling (GAC), Dimanche (Southwestern), and Shanker (Caltech) with his only loss coming to some guy name Urken (Bowdoin). Wynne and freshman Noah Williamson also had some solid doubles wins, topping GAC, Southwestern, and Caltech. It was unquestionably a very successful trip for the Thoroughbreds, and Wynne’s ability to beat some of the best players in the country was a huge part of that success.
What’s next: The always highly anticipated match against RPI—a team that has been trending in the opposite direction so far this spring.
Honorable Mention: Max Zimmerman (Hamilton)
Gut reaction, give us your favorite 1st round upset: Yeshiva over Nichols
Gut reaction, give us your Final Four: Chicago, Emory, CMS, Middlebury
Gut reaction, give us your National Champion: Chicago
REGIONAL AS
Player: Zach Levin
Team: Franklin and Marshall
Results: 2-1 at #3 singles and 3-0 at #2 doubles
Recap: I am very glad I started paying closer attention to this F&M team recently because it made my choice for PotW fairly easy. Zach Levin had himself a very good Spring Break trip down in Florida going 5-1 in 3 matches against Millsaps, Ithaca and Ohio Wesleyan. His only loss was to Ithaca in a third set superbreaker that has been a thorn in the Atlantic South’s side all season. He has also notched an impressive win earlier this season over W&Ls Noah Tapp. Levin will play a key role for this team moving forward in Centennial conference play and will be one to watch the rest of the season.
What’s next: Wilkes next weekend
Honorable Mention: Davis Plummer (Millsaps), Ritwik Chatterjee (Rhodes)
Gut reaction, give us your favorite 1st round upset: Oregon over Wisconsin
Gut reaction, give us your Final Four: Duke, Kentucky, Virginia, Texas Tech
Gut reaction, give us your National Champion: Duke
NEWREGIONAL
Player: Max Zimmerman
Team: Hamilton
Results: 2-0 against Colby
Recap: To get things started, Zimmerman partnered with Danny Tsyvin to take an 8-7 win at #2 doubles to allow Hamilton to salvage a doubles point, which would turn out to be huge as Hamilton took 4 singles matches, including all 3 3-setters in a 5-4 win. Zimmerman had the biggest win of the day, taking out Scott Altmeyer 7-5 in the 3rd. A massive win for Zimmerman which should give him confidence as the Continentals head to Spring Break.
What’s next: Hamilton heads to Florida for matches against Colordado College, Illinois Tech, Bethel, Brooklyn and Whitworth.
Honorable Mention: Alex Joseph (Southwestern), Patryk Kozlowski (Caltech)
Gut reaction, give us your favorite 1st round upset: Northern Kentucky over Texas Tech
Gut reaction, give us your Final Four: Duke, Villanova, Michigan, Kentucky
Gut reaction, give us your National Champion: Duke