2019 Blog Awards, Part 1

I’m finally taking a break from watching the USWNT crush in the World Cup to put together an article. This Nike ad just got me way too hype, and now I wanna see the good ol’ USA bring home some hardware. Speaking of, the Blog pooled our collective tennis minds to highlight some fantastic performances by all you players (and coaches) out there. While our recipients won’t be taking home the Suzanne-Lenglen Cup, we do hope you get some street cred because some tennis nerds on the internet think you’re cool. Congratulations to all of our recipients, and if you don’t see your name below, fret not! We will have our All-Blog teams posted later this week.

Ysa Gonzalez-Rico took home this year’s Blog MVP award with almost all bloggers giving her a first place vote. YGR was simply unstoppable all year long, and capped off an undefeated D3 season in singles with her first NCAA championship. The two-time All-American from Pinecrest, FL is a career 27-3 at the #1 spot, which is INSANE. We’ve made a lot of noise about how great Eudice is, and rightfully so, but if Ysa keeps this up she may end up right next to her on D3’s Mt. Rushmore.

CMS’ Cat Allen also received great recognition by us Bloggers for her work in both singles and doubles. The Athena’s only singles losses came against YGR and Venia Yeung of Wesleyan, and she flexed her doubles muscles by winning the NCAA dubs title with partner Caroline Cox. The Cardinals saw plenty of love, with Kiseleva getting 3rd for her 15-1 season and clinch at Natties. Victoria Yu, Alexis Almy, and Venia Yeung also received votes.

11 different players received votes in this category, and there was a 3-way tie for 5th place. I think this goes to show how many women made huge strides in their game this year, and deserved recognition for this award. Following the graduations of Juli Raventos, Mia Gancayco, and Julia Cancio, there were many Eph-sized holes in the Williams lineup. Nonetheless, Leah Bush stepped into the #1 singles spot and performed admirably, ending the season ranked #5 in the Northeast.

Our runner-up Daniela Lopez moved up from #3 to become one of the best #2 singles players in the nation. While Southwestern’s Mary Cardone played some #1 last year, she emerged as one of the top players in the west with a 16-1 dual match record this year.

Lauren O’Malley of John Carroll is really becoming the people’s champion here at the Blog. Central/Tweeter raved about her game all season long, and it’s great to see the Westlake, OH native represent the many underappreciated regional teams out there. O’Malley finished her career with the most wins in school history and as an NCAA quarterfinalist. She beat what felt like the entire Chicago lineup en route to a spot in the Fall ITA Cup final vs. YGR, and didn’t slow down all year going 34-3. Did I mention she has a 4.0 too? Simply amazing, I have no idea how she does it.

This list is filled with even more rockstar ladies, and we’ve tried to highlight many of them this year. Victoria Yu got her own article, Gabi Kitchell got a podcast, and now I feel bad I didn’t write a full article for future doctor Caroline Casper. All of the seniors above made enormous impacts on their respective programs, and if it wasn’t apparent from our Senior Series they will all be sorely missed. One big final THANK YOU from us here at the blog for everything you’ve given your teammates, coaches, and the D3 tennis community, and best of luck with all that follows.

Once again, we had so many deserving first years this year it was hard to choose a winner. Venia Yeung edged out CMU’s Danna Taylor to claim the Blog’s top Newcomer spot. The Cardinal from Hong Kong has followed in the footsteps of Eudice and teammate Victoria Yu, finishing the year with a 10-3 record at #2 singles and some big-time play in Kalamazoo to give Wes its first national championship. If the NCAA singles tournament is any indication, Yeung should have no issues stepping into the #1 spot next year.

Danna Taylor also had an impeccable season, excelling at the #1 singles spot for the Tartans and taking home ITA Rookie of the Year honors. Amherst’s Bukzin also played #1 against some very tough northeast competition, and was a clear 3rd place for us bloggers. Lyven and Tabunshchyk round out our Top 5, and we’re really looking forward to seeing these ladies continue to tear up D3 next year.

Ahh, yes, the coveted Coach of the Year. I don’t think any of us are surprised to see Coach Fried at the top spot given the strides Wesleyan made as a program this year. The Cardinals earned their first NCAA championship, their first NESCAC championship, and first Little Three honors. This is a program that was unranked 5 years ago, and their meteoric rise to the top of Division 3 has as much to do with the culture and mentality Coach Fried preaches as it does with the great players on the roster. So many programs try to make that leap, and at times it seems they work so hard just to run in place. The Rise of the Cardinals is nothing short of incredible.

We’d be remiss if we didn’t highlight some of the other coaches taking their programs to the next level in Brandeis’ Ben Lamanna and Caltech’s Mandy Gamble. Lamanna’s Judges earned their first NCAA tournament win, first Sweet Sixteen appearance, and a top ranking of #8 in the country. Plus, he might have helped make this video so he earns extra points. Caltech burst onto the tennis scene this year and achieved a program best year-end ranking of 21, which is extra impressive when you consider the academic rigor. Similarly, MIT’s Coach Matsuzaki took a young team with way too much homework to their second straight Elite Eight appearance. Other coaches receiving votes were Rachel Kahan (4th place, Midd), Dave Schwarz (CMS), and Billy Porter (Southwestern). Congrats to all!

In this year of upsets we were #blessed with all these close matches and upsets, it was hard to come up with a list of our top 5. Those tight matches continued on into the postseason, and we were treated to our 5th straight 5-4 NCAA championship match in Wes vs. CMS. Of course, Wesleyan had to win a certified barnburner with Emory to even make it that far, so shoutout to Alexis Almy for da clinch. MIT played two of your bloggers favorite matches this year, with their upset of Bowdoin in the Sweet Sixteen placing 3rd. MIT’s upset comeback against Tufts AFTER BEING DOWN 4-0 included two comebacks, with Libby Rickeman taking her #1 singles match 7-6 in the 3rd and Megan Guenther clinching 4-6, 6-1, 6-0.

The Chicago Maroons rallied from a 2-1 deficit in the UAA championship to come within points of an upset against Emory, who at the time was the top team in the country. I don’t think any of us expected the Eagles to be challenged at UAAs, and certainly not to the extent Chicago pushed them. Other matches we thought warranted recognition include UT-Dallas’ first NCAA victory, PP’s thrilling win over CMU at Indoors, that Skidmore-Bowdoin match we couldn’t stop talking about, and the NWC championship match.

Best Stuffed Animal

too cute

If you’ve made it this far, we thought we’d give you a special treat in the form of some fun superlatives from this year. I personally can’t get over how cute Herst’s stuffed mammoth is. Does it have a name? Or any sister mammoths?

Best Twitter Comeback

The Blog was very high on the Polar Bears this year, but the T-Breds twitter put us in our place after Bowdoin edged Amherst 5-4.

Best “Take it in Stride” Moment

Another tweet, this time courtesy of UW-Whitewater. Tough way for them to end the season, but we know they’ll be back stronger than ever.

Best Dance Moves

This whole video is great, but Hobie flossing at 2:16 on a rainy day at Pomona gives me so much joy.

That’s it for part 1, be on the lookout for Blog Awards part 2 this weekend!

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