REGIONAL PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: 03/18/19 – 03/24/19
A-SOUTH
Player: Jonathan Jemison
Team: Emory
Results: 1-1 Doubles, 2-0 Singles vs Cruz and Williams
Recap: With Emory back in action (and drama following them), let’s take a break and recognize Jemison beating two quality guys in LeDuff and Arturo Kam in singles. The doubles portion of it is just gravy. Jemison is one of the best players in the nation and rolled through his competition this weekend.
What’s next: KZoo, Depauw and Hopkins
Honorable Mention:
Best part of your bracket so far: ANTEATER NATION
Worst part of your bracket so far: not much honestly it’s a chalkfest
Last time you were in a fist fight: We can’t condone this because we are influencing young college players and they don’t know these things happen yet.
NewD3CENTRAL
Player: Leo Vithoontien
Team: Carleton
Results: 2-0 at 1 Singles, 2-0 at 1 Doubles
Recap: Carleton is three (possibly four by the time this is posted) matches through their island vacation. Leo has remained on a tear and has mollywhopped all four of his opponents thus far. His date with Depauw’s Frauenheim should be his biggest test of the trip, as will his and O’Kelley’s doubles match with Frauenheim and McClanahan (a sneaky good team). Vithoontien will absorb any NCAC wins by Gruppuso and Frauenheim (assuming he defeats Depauw prediction: W 6-2, 7-6(1)), which should bode well for his Individuals qualification. Vithoontien decimated two of the NCAC’s 1s thus far on the trip, and he should be looking ahead at the tiger to make it a clean sweep of the NCAC “1”s.
What’s next: Union, Depauw on Spring Break and then at Sewanee on the way back home (I think).
Honorable Mention: Nick Kyrgios’ underhand serve and The Blog’s SEAL Team: AVZ – tasked with investigative journalism
Best part of your bracket so far: Oregon def. Wisconsin, so very easily.
Worst part of your bracket so far: Elite Eight Hopeful Syracuse losing in the first round
Last time you were in a fist fight: Haven’t been in a fist fight ever (I play tennis), but it is on sight with Steven Spielberg for the dumpster fire that was the Ready Player One movie.
NE
Player: Jayson Fung
Team: Amherst
Results: 2-0 at #1 doubles, 2-0 at #3 singles.
Recap: Amherst turned their season around this week with an absolutely massive win over CMS, and also throttled Swarthmore. Fung was a big part of the reason why, going undefeated this week even after getting a new doubles partner atop the lineup, and being moved up from #4 to #3 singles. His wins against CMS were particularly impressive because they came at the expense of CMS captain Julian Gordy not once, but twice!
What’s next: Herst is back in action this weekend when the Mammoths host Tufts on Saturday afternoon.
Honorable Mention: Oscar Yang (Bowdoin), Alex Vanezis (Midd), Isaac Gorelik (Tufts), Deepak Indrakanti (Williams), Adrian Roji/Noah Lilienthal (Wesleyan)
Best part of your bracket so far: Oregon over UC-Irvine in the 2nd round
Worst part of your bracket so far: Belmont to the Sweet 16
Last time you were in a fist fight: Junior year of college. My buddy was (is) an idiot.
NewDIIIWEST
Player: Daniel Park
Team: CMS
Results: 4-0 at #5 singles, 4-0 at #3 doubles
Recap: Quite possibly the best #5 singles player in the country, Park is stepping up for the Stags in a big way this year. He has yet to drop a SET so far in singles this year and has come up as clutch as one can get when the Stags were up against it late in their dual matches out on the east coast. Tough to think of another #5 in the country that can compete with Park at the moment, both in terms of singles and doubles.
What’s next: Biggest week of the year, as they arrive back in Claremont to host Williams, Chicago, and Middlebury.
Honorable Mention: Ryan Dugan (Santa Cruz – two huge wins against Emory), Jed Kronenberg (PP- 4 match winning streak, coming down from 0-6, 1-5 down to take out Sorkin), Brysl Libao (Redlands – shoutout Coach Porter)
Best part of your bracket so far: Did mine even go through?
Worst part of your bracket so far: Did mine even go through?
Last time you were in a fist fight: Second grade. A**hole stole my lunch money!
REGIONAL NE/C
Player: Matt Puig
Team: TCNJ
Results: 3-0 at #5 singles, 1-2 at #3 doubles vs Haverford, UWW, and Mary Washington
Recap: Puig your friend played a key role in TCNJ’s wins over UWW and Haverford, keeping them in the driver’s seat for Pool B. Against Haverford, a three set win was the difference in a 5-4 win for the Lions, and against UW-Whitewater, in the biggest match of the year for TCNJ, Puig was clutch, winning 8-4 at #3 doubles with Justin Wain and then providing the clincher 6-0 in the third just as Whitewater was making a push to come back from being down 4-1. As a nice little added bonus, Puig also won TCNJ’s only point against Mary Washington with a superbreaker win over Derek Hagino.
What’s next: A battle with another New Jersey public college! The Lions make the trip to Mahwah to face the Ramapo Roadrunners next weekend.
Honorable Mention: Guilherme Calixto (Augustana), Brendan Pietila (UWW)
Best part of your bracket so far: *check bracket* I’m not in last place among the Bloggers.
Worst part of your bracket so far: I’m not in first place among the Bloggers.
Last time you were in a fist fight: Do you really think I’ve ever been in a fist fight? (hint: no)
REGIONAL AS
Player: Ian Siew
Team: Salisbury
Results: 2-0 at #2 singles, 1-1 at #1 doubles against Cal Lu and Occidental
Recap: This week was pretty darn dead in the ASouth (besides Emory…) whether it be because of cancelled matches or people taking breaks from their long Spring Break trips, so I had to dig deep but I think I found a pretty good one here. Siew has been rock solid on the season for the Sea Gulls with a 7-2 singles record between the #1-3 spots and 6-2 in doubles at the #1 spot. He has been the most successful player for his team this season and definitely deserves this award. This junior has a lot of potential and I look forward to following him the rest of this season and next year.
What’s next: The Sea Gulls begin their back heavy CAC schedule with a matchup against St. Mary’s (Md.) who I know almost nothing about.
Honorable Mention: Nacho Alia-Rodriguez (NC Wesleyan)
Best part of your bracket so far: Being in first place in the blogger group
Worst part of your bracket so far: Maryland falling apart against LSU… At least there are 4 SEC teams left though
Last time you were in a fist fight: My girlfriend punches me whenever I burp or fart if that counts (I don’t punch back)
NEWREGIONAL
Player: Varun Shanker
Team: Caltech
Results: 2-0 #1 singes, 1-1 #1 doubles against Whitman and Williams
Recap: D3 West tweeted it best when he said “Varun has got it going on”. Shanker has been a beast this spring, and his stellar season continued as he picked up wins over Ben Kirsh of Whitman in a 5-4 win and Arturo Kam of Williams. Shanker’s record now stands at 8-2 with his only losses coming to Boris Sorkin (Tufts) and JT Wynne (Skidmore). He and James Wei have also played some solid doubles, it’ll be interesting to see where they fall when the next regional rankings come out. Varun has really taken a step forward this year and it’ll be interesting to see where he ends up in the race to nationals.
What’s next: No rest for the weary! Caltech takes on Colby, George Fox and Redlands this week, and while the Beavers are favorites in all of those matches, Varun will have his hands full at #1 against Scott Altmeyer (Colby), Will Leach (George Fox) and the only man to beat Mr. Sorkin this year – Chase Lipscomb (Redlands).
Honorable Mention: Will Leach (George Fox), Josh Quijano (Bates), Jacob Kauppila (Bates), Noah Williamson (Skidmore)
Best part of your bracket so far: Still got my Final Four at least
Worst part of your bracket so far: Dead last amongst the bloggers with the fewest possible points remaining
Last time you were in a fist fight: I stay away from violence – I play tennis and I bruise easily