REGIONAL PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: 04/08-04/14
This week we debut a new feature as a part of our POTW…an overall Player of the Week! We’ve brought resident Blog curmudgeon Adam Van Zee back into the game. He’s still glowing from Tiger’s win over the weekend, so we’re taking advantage of all his sunshine and positivity while we still can. Today, and hopefully for the rest of the season, AVZ will select an overall Player of the Week from each of our regional choices. For now, his choice will go at the bottom of the article, so you don’t all skip the regional POTWs, but something tells me this is going to be popular so maybe, just to keep AVZ happy, we’ll put his POTW above the fold.
A-SOUTH
Player: Austin Gu
Team: Johns Hopkins
Results: 2-0 in singles and doubles vs F&M and Swarthmore
Recap: While the competition might not have been that strong, there is something to be said about beating your conference rival in Swarthmore. Austin has moved up in the lineup to #2 singles where he took out Lathrop in 3 sets, while also notching a win at #1 doubles. Combine that with a couple of wins at #3 dubs/#1 singles against F&M and you have one of the only Hopkins POTWs I’ll have this year.
What’s next: Conference matches and then the Centennial
Honorable Mention: Patrick Hughes (UMW)
5 word reaction to Game of Thrones premiere: Dany has sucked since S1.
NewD3CENTRAL
Player: Jeremy Yuan
Team: Chicago
Results: 3-1 on the Weekend at 2 Singles (2-0) and 3 Doubles (1-1) against Case and Wash U
Recap: Chicago dominated Case 9-0 this weekend, but it’d be unfair not to mention that Case burned some barns with Wash U in a 3-6 loss (they had real pathways to a 5-4 win). The real match of the weekend was the central’s 1 and 2 playing each other to a 5-4. Yuan was without his running mate, Raclin, so he slotted in at three doubles with former ITA finalist, Max Liu. They faltered. But Yuan salvaged his, and Chicago’s day, by coming back from 1-4 down in the third set against Neves in a 4-4 match. His pentaflip made waves in Pool C that were felt strongest in the NE, and Chicago cemented their 1 seed for UAAs – where they’ll try to defend the UAA Crown for the first time.
What’s next: UAA CHAMPIONSHIP (Apr. 26-28)
Honorable Mention: Ethan Hillis (Wash U), Jaird Meyer Edits (Chicago), Charlie Pei (Chicago), Konrad Kozlowski (Wash U), Patrick Whaling & Chase Johnson (GAC), Kenyon and Denison Singles (36-0), Leo Vithoontien (Carleton), and TIGER WOODS
5 word reaction to Game of Thrones premiere: Lacked elephants, but old friends!
NE
Player: Noah Farrell
Team: Middlebury
Results: 2-0 at #2 singles and 1-1 at #2 doubles.
Recap: Lots of deserving candidates this week, but Midd had the best weekend as a team so that’s the tiebreaker. The Panthers came back from 3-0 down against Tufts and while Cuba gets the headlines for knocking off Sorkin (but Lubo lost twice in doubles this weekend), Noah went about his business and dispatched Pentousis with ease. Against Williams on Sunday, Farrell was the only player to win both doubles and singles, winning 8-3 in doubles and then beating Ananth (Lil’) Raghavan 0&0! Farrell will need to keep this up as his individual matchup with Jerry Jiang (also deserving of a POTW nod, but tough when the team loses 5-4) next weekend should be fireworks.
What’s next: A Maine trip as Midd visits Bates on Friday and a HUGE match at Bowdoin on Saturday.
Honorable Mention: Alex Taylor (Williams), Harris Foulkes (Amherst), Jerry Jiang (Bowdoin), Princeton Carter (Wesleyan), Andrew Finkelman (Wesleyan).
5 word reaction to Game of Thrones premiere: PUMP IT INTO MY VEINS
NewDIIIWEST
Player: Varun Shanker
Team: Caltech
Results: 2-0 at #1 doubles and singles
Recap: Though I wanted to recognize Derik Nguyen, NewRegional claimed him first. Lines are blurred here in terms of Regional/West teams but regardless, a couple players on Caltech need to be recognized for their efforts this weekend, especially after falling in what could be the upset of the year against Cal Lutheran a couple weeks ago. Nguyen may have clinched Tech’s biggest win ever, but Varun continued his inspiring play by winning on both the singles and doubles court against Pomona. His singles win sticks out to me as most impressive among their 5 wins, coming from a set and 0-4 down to beat a tough Jed Kronenberg. If he hadn’t made that comeback, PP would’ve come away with that win
What’s next: More SCIAC play and a soon-to-be highest ranking in program history!
Honorable Mention: Derik Nguyen (Caltech- Clincher over PP), Jack Katzman (CMS- does he lose?), Chase Lipscomb (Redlands- win over Parodi)
5 word reaction to Game of Thrones premiere: Tiger is the real King.
REGIONAL NE/C
Player: Mark Kanevsky
Team: Stevens
Results: 2-0 at 3 singles, 1-1 at 2 doubles vs Skidmore and Hobart
Recap: It’s not secret that Stevens has not exactly had a banner year, but their win against Hobart marked a high point for the Ducks, as they took down the nationally ranked Statesmen on their home courts to build some momentum going into the Empire 8 tournament, where they will actually be seeded #2. Kanevsky played a big role in the win, closing out the doubles sweep with an 8-3 win at #2 alongside Gabriel Sifuentes, and then in singles he clinched the match with a 6-0, 6-4 win over Walker Anderson at #3. The previous day against Skidmore, despite losing at #2 doubles, Kanevsky earned a nice win over freshman Noah Williamson 7-6(1), 1-6, 11-9 in what was a 6-3 loss to the JT Wynne-less Thoroughbreds.
What’s next: The Battle of the Hudson, as the Ducks host their cross-river rivals NYU on Wednesday. These two have had some absolute wars through the years (shoutout Steve Wu and Matt Heinrich) and I expect another one this time around.
Honorable Mention: Leo Vithoontien (Carleton), Zach Wood (UWW), Matthew Michibata (TCNJ), Colin Molloy (Hobart), Mark Zolotukhin (Rochester)
5 word reaction to Game of Thrones premiere: Made a great steak instead.
REGIONAL AS
Player: Davis Plummer
Team: Millsaps
Results: 4-0 against Rhodes and Centre including his 100th career win!
Recap: This week was tricky because there were a lot of good matches and plenty of players that could be recognized, but I had to go with Davis Plummer because of his great career and earning his 100th career victory, which is no easy feat. While Millsaps couldn’t squeak out the 5-4 win over Rhodes, Plummer did his part taking down a tough Ritwik Chatterjee in singles while also pairing with Brandon Beck to win at #1 doubles. Plummer is 9-3 at #1 singles and 12-1 at #2 (only loss to Wash U) and it’s truly a shame that he didn’t play ITAs because he could of had a real chance at qualifying for NCAAs with a deep run.
What’s next: The Majors have two more matches against East Texas Baptist and Birmingham Southern before SAAs.
Honorable Mention: Ian Sew (Salisbury), Alex Angradi (Salisbury)
5 word reaction to Game of Thrones premiere: Horrifying White Walker death swirl.
NEWREGIONAL
Player: Derik Nguyen
Team: Caltech
Results: 2-0 vs. Pomona
Recap: Caltech scored their best win in a loooong time (possibly ever?) when they took out Pomona 5-4 on Friday afternoon. The Beavers started strong, going up 2-1 after doubles with wins at #1 and #2. Pomona took two quick singles matches to take a 3-2 lead before James Wei came back from a set down to beat Josh Gearou, and Varun Shanker beat Jed Kronenberg in 3 sets. This set the stage for Nguyen. After dropping the first set to Jacob Schoenherr, Nguyen came back to take the second and third sets 6-4 and 6-2 to complete the upset.
What’s next: CMS on Friday, Whittier on Saturday, then the Ojai and SCIACs
Honorable Mention: Varun Shanker (Caltech), Tyler Barr (MIT), Jeff Chen (Brandeis)
5 word reaction to Game of Thrones premiere: I don’t watch this show.
AVZ’S NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE WEEK!!!
Ah I am back after an injury ridden 11 years only to reclaim the most coveted award in all of sports, the green jacket. Wait…wrong blog. Being that this is my first national player of the week award, I wanted to set some ground rules. I will be essentially picking the player that in my opinion had the largest impact on their team. What that means will vary by region and I will do my best to give the regional players a fair chance at receiving this award, but team implications are clearly going to take a big role in my selection. So for this inaugural decision the National Player of the Week goes to:
Player: Noah Farrell
Team: Middlebury
Justification: This decision really came down to two players. Farrell and Yuan both had a big impact on their team winning. Yuan’s comeback was impressive, but ultimately a Chicago loss to Wash U wouldn’t have kept them out of NCAAs next month. Middlebury however was in a must win situation in my opinion as a loss to Williams or Tufts would have put them on the ropes from even qualifying as a team. A loss to either Williams or Tufts might have put an end to the season for a team with one of the best top two spots in the country, but Farrell made sure that wasn’t happening. When was the last time a defending national champion didn’t qualify the following year? While, Middlebury still has some work to do and the opportunities to do so, this direct win over Williams could be enough to sway the committee to keep them in. For anyone at #2 singles to beat a top 10 team 0 and 0 is outrageous and Mr. Farrell should be recognized for his stellar play. In his last four matches against Emory, Wesleyan, Williams, and Tufts, Farrell has lost EIGHT total games. Wow. I don’t watch Game of Thrones, but this guy deserves to rule over everyone this week.