Central Individuals Outlook + newCentral’s Frankenstein D3 Singles Player

And then there were two…with Chicago losing in the Final Four, the Central Region (and I) are officially out of the team postseason; however, the Central lives on in this 2018-19 season with ten Individuals singles representatives: Vithoontien, Chen, Kerrigan, Yuan, Whaling, Yi, Zalesnki, Diehl, Hillis, and Neves. The draws have not been posted at the writing of this article, so the tournament outlooks will be more general than if we had actual 1st round matchups. Spoiler: There’s also a little bonus at the end of this article!

 

Leo Vithoontien (Carleton 1)

Record: 23-2 (18-1 dual matches)

Key Wins: Derbani and Johnson (Fall ITA), DeRezende, Gruppuso, Carro, Whaling, Pudlo

Key Losses: Jake Trondson (Fall ITA Final), Sitar (U. North Dakota)

Tournament Outlook: Leo has been nearly infallible all season remaining undefeated in the d3 regular season. Vithoontien doesn’t play the strongest schedule of the ten central qualifiers, but when he does get an opportunity against nationally ranked opponents, he doesn’t blink. I think that Vithoontien’s game throws off his opponents and they’re rarely able to bring their A game against him. He’s the “little guy” representative and I think he’ll leave as an All-American.

 

Matthew Chen (Case 1)

Record: 14-14 (11-11 dual matches)

Key Wins: Landwehr, Pudlo, Levine, Wei, Fujimaki, Yi (retirement)

Key Losses: Kerrigan, Levine, Whaling, Pitts, Zalenski, Dubrovsky, Hillis, Kerrigan, Gruppuso, Aizenberg

Tournament Outlook: Chen has had an up and down year populated with some great wins, some questionable losses, and divine intervention. Chen is Case’s first singles representative since the days of Krimbill, but I don’t think he’ll have that same success…yet. Chen’s going to be an underdog in his match, but with his heart (and the spirit of Case) he should win a set and then anything can happen in a third set.

 

Erik Kerrigan (Chicago 1)

Record: 11-14 (8-11 dual matches)

Key Wins: Cianciola (Fall ITA), Rotnov, Chen, DeRezende, Chen, Hillis

Key Losses: Joshua Xu (Fall ITA), Yi, Hillis, Jemison, Kronenberg, Kam, Katzman, Hillis, Aizenberg

Tournament Outlook: Kerrigan didn’t have the strongest NCAA tournament or postseason and it gets less impressive if you look at the unfinished matches he was down in. BUT Kerrigan has experience in this tournament, singles and doubles, and he tends to show out when he’s playing in these individual events. Kerrigan isn’t a favorite by any means, but I think he’ll make it out of Day 1 on his experience and guile alone.

Jeremy Yuan (Chicago 2)

Record: 20-9 (13-6 dual matches)

Key Wins: Kozlowski, Vicario, Neves, Rodriguez (Fall ITA), Henry, Thai, Kanam, Cassone, Gearou, Raghavan, Umen, Neves

Key Losses: Hillis (Fall ITA), Neves, Parodi, Coramutla, Johnson

Tournament Outlook: One of the at-large entries into the draw, Jeremy Yuan is one of 3 2s coming out of the Central. Yuan, like Kerrigan, didn’t play as well as he would’ve liked in the CMS match but losing to Katzman isn’t an uncommon feeling (especially amongst the competitors at Individuals this year) Yuan’s energy didn’t look great towards the end against CMS but that’s probably more of a Katzman-pro than a Yuan-con. Yuan’s a coinflip for me – I don’t know how much longer he cares to be in Kalamazoo, but if he wins his first match a deep run could be imminent.

 

Patrick Whaling (GAC 1)

Record: 16-9 (12-7 dual matches)

Key Wins: Chen, Trondson, Jung, Lipscomb, Pitts, Henry,

Key Losses: Trondson (Fall ITA), Kronenberg, Kirsch, Carro, Wynne, Katzman, Vithoontien

Tournament Outlook: Overlooked by me many times this year, Whaling has sufficiently stepped into Alhouni’s large shoes this season and put together an Individuals worthy resume. He’ll have double duty with his and Johnson’s inclusion in the doubles draw. Whaling & Johnson could go all the way in doubles, and I think that Whaling will likely go out early in singles to further push all the Gustie eggs into the doubles basket.

 

Ian Yi (Kalamazoo 1)

Record: 21-4 (16-2 dual matches)

Key Wins: Get a better statistics page

Key Losses: Get a better statistics page

Tournament Outlook: Aside from his injury-fueled collapse against Chen (at least I think that’s what happened) Yi has had a damn near perfect year. The freshman came in and stole the 1 spot from Metzler and Henry (who we know aren’t slouches) and never looked back. I’m not sure how Yi’s health is now, if it was even an issue. I suspect this will be the first of four trips to the Individual Tournament for Yi, which is good because I don’t think my mans is leaving as an All American…this year.

 

Jake Zalenski (Kenyon 1)

Record: 20-3 (15-2 dual matches)

Key Wins: Metzler, Guzhva (Fall ITA), Brewer, Miles, Gomez, Pudlo, Bessette, Chen, Rotnov, Gruppuso, Levine, Joshi

Key Losses: Hillis (Fall ITA), Finkleman

Tournament Outlook: Jake Zalenski’s two losses this year were to Hillis in the Fall and Finkleman in the Spring…that’s a hell of a season. Zalenksi may have been overshadowed by my hype train for Diehl, but if you were paying any attention at all you’d see that both Zalenski and Diehl are the real deal and here to stay. Thankfully they both made the tournament. Zalenski can hit his way out of any situation, and he’s done so time and time again this year. Kenyon’s coming out of this with two All-Americans, the only question is do they need to make space for hardware?

Austin Diehl (Kenyon 2)

Record: 18-2 (17-1 dual matches)

Key Wins: Carro, Hughes, Szayna, Anker, Wei, Kanam, Cianciola, Rotnov, Gu, Anker, Vauhgn

Key Losses: McClelland (Fall ITA), Downing (The Streak Ends at 35 dual matches)

Tournament Outlook: Same as above but Diehls losses were to McClelland of Wash U in the Fall (where has he been all year) and then to Downing 11-9 in the third. He won 35 consecutive dual matches over this and last year. He grinds and grinds like a midwest Fink. Diehl & Zalenski, Hillis & Neves, Cuba & Farrell and Parodi & Katzman are the best 1-2 punches in the country – that’s not really related to the outlook but someone had to say it. (Hon. Mentions to Fink & Anker and Jemison & Cassone)

 

Ethan Hillis (Wash U 1)

Record: 25-5 (16-4 dual matches)

Key Wins: Vaughn, Kroot, Yi, Xu, Zalenski, Yuan, Trondson, Downing (Fall ITA + Small College), Levine, Kronenberg, Kerrigan, Downing, Wei, Chen, Kerrigan, Levine, Jemison,

Key Losses: Jemison (Small College), Finkleman, Kerrigan

Tournament Outlook: Hillis, in my opinion, has been the best player in the central all year. He took off from Amherst and never looked back, as he won ITAs and then led Wash U back to the Elite Eight before falling to a superior Emory team (he won doe). Hillis has big tournament experience, and even more important – he has experience winning big tournaments. Look for Hillis to go deep into Day 2 at least.

 

Bernardo Neves (Wash U 2)

Record: 22-9 (17-6 dual matches)

Key Wins: Hamilton (Grass), Lee, Dhawan (Fall ITA), Landwehr, Downing, Yuan, Levine, Umen, Downing, Henry, Cassone

Key Losses: Gordy, Pitts (Grass), Yuan (Fall ITA), Anker, Ma, Yuan, CAssone

Tournament Outlook: Neves and Yuan might go down as one of the better UAA rivalries in recent memory. I only mention this because I have a feeling that Neves and Yuan are going to see each other early in this tournament and play the match of Day 1. Neves never takes points off and seems to relish the grind – both of those attributes are going to be integral if Neves hopes to defeat Yuan again/make a deep run in this tournament.

 

Frankenstein’s D3 Singles Player:

While I might not personally know Coach Fried, I do personally know, have played, or seen up close the players chosen for this next section. Researching all of these great players and their respective resumes got me reminiscing about some of the best players I played and saw in my career. Below you’ll find the greatest d3 tennis player that I, newCentral, played (or saw, in person) over my career.

The Rules: (1) A player can only be used for one shot; (2) I had to have played them or seen them in person during my playing days; and (3) they had to be on a central* D3 team.

 

First Serve: Derek Reinbold (Case Western): 120mph + with ease, D-Rein’s serve is probably considered a weapon in some states and it left a lasting impression on me but not so lasting that I’d see the ball to return it.

Hon. Mentions: Anton Bartashevich (Earlham), CJ Krimbill (Case)

Second Serve: CJ Krimbill (Case): Honestly, CJ could’ve won for first serve, but since a player can only hold one category I’m giving my super player Krimbill’s 2nd serve. A player’s only as good as their second serve and Krimbill had a great one. The leftiness coupled with his laser focus and sunglasses made this one a doozy every time.

Hon. Mentions: Konrad Kozlowski (Wash U)

Return: Wade Heerboth (Kenyon): Heerboth takes this crown by a hair – that pink grip would whip through the air indifferent to Heerboth’s court positioning. Heerboth had some of the best hand-eye coordination I’ve ever seen and his return was S-tier as a result. (that S can be for sour skittles if you want)

Hon. Mentions: David Liu (Chicago), Will Reifeis (Wabash), Michael Razumovksy (Kenyon)

Forehand: Sam Geier (Kenyon): Mr. Pillow Hands, Mr. Charmin Ultra, Mr. OH MY GOODNESS THAT FOREHAND IS GONE, GONE, GONE. National Champion, Sam Geier, speaks softly but carries a big stick – and that stick is that BOMB of a forehand.

Hon. Mentions: Jad Abdul-Aal (John Carroll), Tim Rosensteel (Kenyon), John Carswell (Wash U)

Backhand: David Liu (Chicago): While Chua’s d3 famous for his baseball backhand, DLiu had the crispest backhand I’ve seen in college tennis. The two elbows pulling up and across his body while the light blue Pure Drive slaps another backhand down the line is probably the stuff of nightmares. It’s also the stuff of the best backhand in my time in the central.

Hon. Mentions: Nick Chua (Chicago), Justin Ancona (Wheaton), Branden Metzler (Kalamazoo)

Volley: Will Reifeis (Wabash): If I told you that swinging volleys were regular volleys – You’d probably think I was Will Reifies. Reifeis has ridiculous hands and his run to the Final Four with his high school teammate showed the rest of the country what we in the central already knew.

Hon. Mentions: Deepak Sabada (Chicago), Erik Klawitter (Case), Konrad Kozlowski (Wash U), Jeremy Bush (Wash U)

Overhead: Nick Chua (Chicago): No honorable mentions. No one else but Chua. I’ve seen him stomp right and left handed overheads, no contest.

Footwork: Johnny Wu (Wash U): Johnny Wu takes more steps in a match than most people take in a week. He’s quick, he’s fast, and he’s unrelenting.

Hon. Mentions: Robert Turlington (Kenyon), Pat Cole (Allegheny)

Lob: Michael Drougas (Oberlin): If you saw Michael Drougas play DLiu in the 2014 Fall ITA Instant Classic, nothing more needs to be said. Michael Drougas has one of the best lobs I’ve ever seen, and it definitely runs in the family.

Hon. Mentions: Will Drougas (Case)

Heart: Branden Metzler (Kalamazoo): This is substantiated entirely on his run to the Individuals Final at Kalamazoo. Blanking Butts in the 2nd set breaker and ending it with a backhand winner as his class (that was in session) came to watch him stunt. Wow.

Hon. Mentions: Case et al., Peter Leung (Chicago),

Shenanigans: Abhishek Alla (Carnegie Mellon*): Yes. CMU is not in the central, but sometimes a person comes around and breaks the wheel (or just adds two more but whatever). Alla has the weirdest most shenanigan filled game I’ve ever seen, and it transcends regions. No one else hits a 24 mph serve followed by a 90 mph forehand as a go-to strategy. CMU GOAT?

Hon. Mentions: Mohanad Alhouni

Mental: Luke Tsai (Chicago): Always poised. Always made the right decision. Who wouldn’t want the mentality of the Tsaiwalker? (rumour has it that he is the Rise of Skywalker)

Hon. Mentions: Robert Turlington (Kenyon)

OH MAN this Wesleyan CMS Women’s Final is Bonkers. Will Wesleyandirella do it?!?!  – 3:41 EST

-newCentral.