REGIONAL PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: 05/06-05/12
And just like that we’re down to eight NCAA Quarterfinalists! Before we move onto our 2nd week of NCAA coverage, we must look back and honor the players of the week and another group without whom none of them would be possible! Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there, and especially to all the Blog Moms!
A-SOUTH
Player: Derek Hagino
Team: Mary Washington
Results: 2 wins against Stevens in Round of 32
Recap: Given that Emory will be my only team that is in competition next week, I wanted to give this award to a player on Mary Wash, who had a banner year that should not be overlooked. Derek Hagino, a senior, ended his career with a solid weekend, notching two of the wins against Stevens in the Round of 32 in both singles and doubles. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to get on the court prior to Amherst clinching over the Eagles, but he will forever have his last singles match be a win at the Tournament. A nice end to a great season for both Hagino and the Eagles.
What’s next: Showing off his summer bod
Honorable Mention: Emory I guess, Scott Thygesen (Hop)
Favorite story about your mom: The Salt & Pepper Shrimp Incident
Best lesson you learned from your mom: Never let David Benioff and D.B. Weiss write anything for you.
NewD3CENTRAL
Player: Joshua Xu & Charlie Pei
Team: Chicago
Results: def. Derbani & Aney 8-7(6) at 2 & def. Derbani 6-1, 6-2 at 3; def. O’Neil 7-5, 6-2 at 4
Recap: I have an embarrassment of riches to choose from: Diehl went 2-0 against Wesleyan: pairing with Zalenski to win a breaker 10-8 to prevent a Wesleyan sweep and then following it up with a third set breaker win (8-6) over Anker to keep Kenyon alive. Kozlowski and Neves paired up to deliver 3 of Wash U’s five points in their walk-in-the-park Regional. The duo dropped a collective nine games on the day. If the NCAA at-large bid was a ladder, then Chase Johnson stole Yuan’s at-large bid in his comeback win. The player(s) of the week for the central are Charlie Pei (senior) and Josh Xu (first year) of Chicago. Chicago had the tougher Regional between the central’s one seeds and were playing a GAC team that had beaten them twice in a row. Xu and Pei helped complete the doubles sweep winning a breaker at 2. Both Xu and Pei (like Kozlowski and Neves) combined for three of the gang’s five points in this 5-2 victory. Pei clinched the fourth point quickly dropping three games to the big hitting Gustie, while Xu overcame a tight first set to cruise to the clinch.
What’s next: An Amherst team who just stomped Mary Wash – it will be the first matchup between Chicago and Amherst this season.
Honorable Mention: Austin Diehl (Kenyon), Konrad Kozlowski (Wash U), Bernardo Neves (Wash U), Chase Johnson (GAC), CJ McCollum (PDX), Steph Curry’s 4th Quarter (GS), Divock Origi (Liverpool), Lucas Moura (Spurs), Vincent Kompany (Man City)
Favorite story about your mom: The Salt & Pepper Shrimp Incident
Best lesson you learned from your mom: It’s ok to ask for help
NE
Player: Lubomir Cuba
Team: Middlebury
Results: 2-0 at #1 doubles and 2-0 at #1 singles against MIT and Goucher.
Recap: Midd was obviously favored in these matches, so it wasn’t that much of a shock, but Cuba has been extremely dialed in over the past month and appears to be closing his college career with a bang. It’s tough to be the one who finishes after a doubles sweep, especially when you’re playing the other team’s best player, but Lubo notched two singles wins and two doubles wins to help Midd avoid any chance of the championship hangover. He also beat Tyler Barr twice on Sunday, which was even more impressive given how the bloggers feel about Tyler’s senior season.
What’s next: Cuba and the defending champs get an NCAA Quarterfinal against a surging conference foe in the Wesleyan Cardinals. The teams split their two matchups this spring so Monday in Kalamazoo should serve as the rubber match!
Honorable Mention: Oscar Yang (Bowdoin), Evan Fortier (Bowdoin), Adrian Roji (Wesleyan), Noah Lilienthal (Wesleyan), Zach Bessette (Amherst), Jayson Fung (Amherst).
Favorite story about your mom: Once she left her car keys in the refrigerator
Best lesson you learned from your mom: Life is about balance
NewDIIIWEST
Player: Nik Meister
Team: CMS
Results: Provided the clinch to send CMS to Kalamazoo
Recap: Meister has had a quiet freshman year essentially dominating at #6 singles all year. His 1 n 3 win over Trinity sent the Stags to the quarters.
What’s next: Nationals – final 8!
Honorable Mention: Going with teams here. Great fights from Trinity (TX), Whitman, and UT-Dallas this weekend!
Favorite story about your mom: Peeing in our pants laughing when we watched The Proposal for the first time
Best lesson you learned from your mom: Always take a jacket with you (even when it’s July in So. California)
REGIONAL NE/C
Player: JT Wynne
Team: Skidmore
Results: 2-0 vs TCNJ, 1-1 vs Bowdoin
Recap: JT came through with solid wins against TCNJ to help the T-breds move past the Lions efficiently and set up a Sweet 16 match against Bowdoin. While Skidmore was a bit overmatched, Wynne gave defending national champion Grant Urken an absolute beating, crushing Urken 6-2, 6-1. That’s certainly a bit concerning for Bowdoin and gives Wynne a ton of confidence going into NCAAs. With a win like that, he’s a dark horse to make a deep run.
What’s next: NCAA Singles Tournament
Honorable Mention: Caio DeRezende (Augustana)
Favorite story about your mom: Basically every story of me procrastinating and waiting until the last second to do stuff has a parallel story from my mom.
Best lesson you learned from your mom: Walk a lot.
REGIONAL AS
Player: JD Telles
Team: NC Wesleyan
Results: 2-1 against Emory and Sewanee at 3 Doubles and 6 Singles
Recap: Telles capped off a very good season with a great effort against Sewanee in the second round of the NCAA tournament. He secured two points against Sewanee with a convincing with at 3 doubles followed up with a straightforward singles victory over Sewanee’s Olps. On top of that, he hung very tight against Emory’s Esses at 5 singles before the match was decided. I would have loved to see the end of that one.
What’s next: The season is over unfortunately, but next year!
Honorable Mention: Giannis Brokakis (NC Wes), Roberto Puig (NC Wes), Jordan Brewer (Sewanee)
Favorite story about your mom: One time she asked a waitress if she was pregnant and she wasn’t. Then we had a new waitress the rest of the night.
Best lesson you learned from your mom: Never ask a woman if she is pregnant.
NEWREGIONAL
Player: Courtney Murphy
Team: Wilkes
Results: 2-1 at #1 singles and doubles against Nichols and Amherst
Recap: Wilkes won the only 5-4 match of the first round against Nichols, taking a 2-1 lead after doubles and grinding out 3 singles points. Murphy came up big for the Colonels, winning 8-5 at #1 doubles and 6-3 6-1 at #1 singles. This is the 6th year in a row that Wilkes has won a match at NCAAs. The next day against Amherst was a different story as Amherst took a quick doubles swwp and two singles matches to win 5-0. Courtney was up 6-2 2-5 on Sean Wei when the match was called.
What’s next: The season is over, and Wilkes will try to make their 8th straight NCAA tournament next year, after graduating the best player in school history.
Honorable Mention: Noah Lilienthal (Wesleyan)
Favorite story about your mom: She’d read a book during tournaments
Best lesson you learned from your mom: Consumables always make a good gift. Worst case, they can just be used up and thrown out
AVZ’S PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Player: Josh Xu & Charlie Pei
Team: Chicago
Justification: Quite a few good choices this week and while I really want to pick some of the regional guys like Wynne or Murphy, I have to stick with my selection criteria of having the biggest effect on the team championships. That narrows it down to Middlebury and Chicago which are the blue bloods, but the Chicago match was a whole lot closer than people realize Pei and Xu were big time and essentially insured the Maroon win. I think for this team to get past Amherst, both are going to need to step up again. Kerrigan/Kumar and Raclin/Yuan will be heavily favored at 1 and 3 dubs. If Pei and Xu can win as well and get the sweep, they should sail into the semis. I however am putting Chicago on UPSET ALERT! Prove me wrong guys.
Favorite story about your mom: Too many annual Bingo Christmas stories to tell
Best lesson you learned from your mom: Do whatever makes you happy and don’t apologize for it.