We off and running and in classic style, DIIIWest starts off a little slow. This article should more than make up for my lackluster participation in the blog so far this year. Though the fall season lasts a mere three weeks, it’s one of my favorite times of the year and a period where we are able to see who worked hard over the summer vs those who decided to go the dreaded internship route. The only exercise players get at an internship are the hourly runs to the fax machine let’s be real. And to the Starbucks across the street to kill time of course. We’ve got oh such a meaty article ahead for you all (Yes, I have THREE regions to cover for this year’s Fall ITA), so let’s get into it.
Pacific Northwest (Northwest):
Was there really any doubt that the top caliber players from both George Fox and Whitman would absolutely dominate this singles tournament. Well, that is exactly what happened and the seeding pretty much fell exactly into place. 64 players quickly fell down to 8, where the quarterfinals comprised of four Whitman players, three George Fox players, and one Pacific (OR). The semis (Kirsch, Lemaitre, Miyagawa, and Leach) possessed top quality tennis, as we saw a battle between Kirsch and Lemaitre and an absolute thrashing from Leach against junior Miyagawa. In a back and forth battle, Leach was able to dispatch Kirsch on his home courts to lift the fall ITA singles trophy for the second straight time in his illustrious career. Not a bad record in the PNW ITA for Leach as he has lost just one singles match in his three years during the fall (Watanabe, Singles final). Leach will go onto play the winner of the Texas ITA (discussed below) for the remaining wildcard spot at the Fall Nationals. Last year, Leach fell to Bode of Concordia Texas – he hopes to reverse the curse this time around.
In doubles, was there really any doubt that the top caliber players from both George Fox and Whitman would absolutely dominate this doubles tournament. Well, that is exactly what happened and the seeding pretty much fell exactly into place. Look familiar? Kirsch/Foster lost just 11 games en route to the finals where they faced #2 seed Leach/Namba losing a mere 9 games in their four matches. In an EPIC battle with many match points saved, the first seeds from Whitman were able to take the tournament in a third set breaker, 16-14, stripping Leach from winning both the singles and doubles title once again. Great to see both George Fox and Whitman absolutely dominate this tournament and flex their muscles on both the singles and doubles front.
Whoopdeedoo Basil, but what does it all mean? Well, Basil, it pretty much means that Whitman is good, George Fox is a little better, but each of the teams are universes above the other PNW teams in terms of talent and depth. Sorry Pacific, sorry Lewis & Clark, but these guys seem to be a few levels ahead of you guys and the rest of the PNW conference. Excited to see the entire George Fox and Whitman teams battle it out 1-6 and really see how a dual match will differentiate the two top teams. But through the fall ITA thus far, there are no teams that will come close to these two. Congrats to Leach, Kirsch, and Foster. Represent the PNW!
What’s the expression in Texas? Everything is bigger there or something? Well, yeah that’s it, that’s all I wanted to say. Except Krimbill is f’en HUGE! And MCMURRY is even BIGGER! It may sound like the new item on the Mcdonalds dollar menu, but call me a huge fan of MCandyMURRAY now! On the singles front, and unlike the Pacific Northwest ITA, it wasn’t all that much smooth sailing for the top seeds. We all expected Pitts from Trinity and Dimanche from Southwestern to meet in the finals, but Angelo Yasuro Ito Tost (From Ozarks and definitely a top 5 DIII name) and eventual winner, Cam Krimbill, had other plans. Both guys are transfers per se, with Krimbill now in his second year at Trinity transferring from Redlands and Ito Tost (what a name) transferring from Cowley college. For the most part, Krimbill wasn’t in all that much danger, not dropping a set the whole weekend. His closest set came to Dimanche in the semis (7-5). Ito Tost also didn’t drop a set en route to the finals with a big win over top seed Pitts in the semifinals, but the manner in which Krimbill dispatched his opponents throughout the weekend (two of them being teammates) was super impressive and that confidence and momentum is what helped him find the finish line in the final against the inspired play from Ito Tost. For the most part, a well played tournament and more studs than duds. However, I feel a tad weary about Jordan Pitts and his play during the weekend. I expected the first seed to take care of business in this tournament and notch himself as an All-American as a result, but his loss in the semis, along with hard fought three setters in the third and fourth round, raised eyebrows. We hope he can turn it around once the spring rolls around as Trinity will desperately need him to find his A game alongside a spirited Krimbill at the top spot.
Oh Mcmurry I didn’t forgot about you guys trust me. Maybe the cinderella story of the fall (so far) comes out of the doubles duo of Martinez and Daniell from Mcmurry. Though they were given the #5 seed, the Mcmurry team was handed a tough draw, playing in my eyes the favorites to win it all in Hamilton/Zigman from Trinity. Martinez/Daniell were able to take that match 8-6 in the quarters to book themselves a spot in the semis. I expected Joseph/Dulthummon to meet them in that semifinal, but UTD team of Steffes/Vaithinathan had other plans. Mcmurray dispatched UTD 8-3 to set up a final between the unseeded team and a whole story in of itself of Bajoit/Rambojun from Southwestern. This team really came out of nowhere and won four VERY close matches to make their run to the finals. This Southwestern team deserves some props, taking out two seeded teams both from Trinity (a team known for playing technically sound doubles). Though they couldn’t finish off the cinderella run by taking out yet another seeded team, another cinderella story took place and that was Mcmurry finding a way to the ultimate finish line taking out Southwestern in two close sets, 7-5, 6-4.
Whoopdeedoo Basil, but what does it all mean? Well, Basil, lots of great takeaways from this weekend. Trinity is a team to watch out for. They lost some talent last year, but with Krimbill playing the ball we all knew he possessed, along with Pitts, Hamilton, and Nguyen scattered throughout the lineup, they’ll be a tough out on both the regional and national scale. Southwestern is deeeeep. They have the star players in Dimanche, Joseph, Dulth, etc. But to see an unseeded doubles team in Bajoit/Rambojun win four tight matches and come out ahead twice against a perennially top doubles program in Trinity should leave Coach Porter with a smile on his face. He has a lot of talent and depth to work with this season and we all can’t wait to hear those (hopefully good) recaps on the good ol’ twitter. Good luck to Krimbill as he’ll take on Leach of George Fox for the final spot in the ITA Cup. Also, Mcmurry, my eyes are on you as they’ll take on a tough Whitman team in Kirsch/Foster for the final and eighth spot! Let the best man win!
Claremont (West) *Predictions. Play will start this Friday, the 4th.
Quick reaction #1. Is it me or is every single player in this draw a Stag? I mean, not in reality, but they do fill most of the draw out to the point where it could be an all-quarterfinal Stag encounter. Quick reaction #2. The Hens have five players in the Flight A singles draw and ALL FIVE of them play seeds (4 of them being Stag seeds, 1 Caltech seed). Tough draws for all Hens as we all know how difficult it is to beat a CMS player on their home courts. Kronenberg (who would’ve been seeded 3 maybe 4) is not in this draw… I suppose the junior is studying abroad? Quick reaction #3. Is it safe to say that Caltech has usurped PP as the #2 team in the SCIAC conference. Of the eight seeds, six are Stags, but the other two remaining seeds are occupied by Beavers. A sign of how well they did last year to gain the higher seedings maybe, but also possibly some foreshadowing into how PP isn’t as strong as the previous years? Anyways, a lot more to cover than just the quick reactions and though the tournament, quantity wise, is dominated by Stags, there really are a handful of players from several schools that have a great chance of making a run and winning the tournament.
On the singles front, really not a whole lot of analysis to cover considering I think the top 8 seeds are expected to win their opening two rounds and make it to the Quarterfinal stage. There are, however, a couple of intriguing first and second round matchups that could break up the seed Quarterfinal party and derail my predictions, with a close eye on the Robert Liu (CMS)/Hayden Snyder (PP) first rounder. Liu comes into this matchup as the sixth seed and really a staple last year at the 4-6 portion of the singles lineup. Liu really didn’t lose that many matches last year, with many Stags in this part of the lineup able to say the same, and he hopes to bring in that confidence from last year in his first round against the PP Hen freshman, Hayden Snyder. Snyder is a damn good player and finished off his junior career on a high note winning a few matches against some top players in Kalamazoo. We all know how different junior tennis is compared to college competition, but if there is a seed that is most vulnerable in the first round of losing, it will have to be Liu simply because he may be playing the toughest non-seeded player in the field.
I also got my eye on the James Wei (Caltech)/Jack Bernstein (PP) first round. Wei had a breakout season last year at #2 and pairs with Shanker to play some pretty serious doubles. Similar to Liu and an explanation as to why he is seeded, James didn’t lose often last year. Bernstein, on the flip side, barely cracked the lineup last year. You may ask, why do I have this matchup highlighted then? Simply because, Bernstein has a track record of winning fall tournaments! He won the B singles flight last year as a sophomore and will hope to bring in that Fall mojo into the match. At the bottom of the draw stands Jack Katzman (CMS)/Octave Bellet (PP). These two both played at the #2 spot last year and faced off several times, with Katzman winning on all the occasions. I think one of their matches was close? I don’t know, but though I do see Katzman winning this match, tough draw for both as this could, and should, be a third rounder at the very least.
My predictions! I see Parodi coming out hot, despite his tendency to play rather lackluster tennis in the fall. He should be able to glide to the semifinals where I think he’ll battle against teammate, Daniel Park. Park will have a tough quarterfinal against Shanker of Caltech, but again, and I’ll say this over and over again, it is brutally difficult to beat a talented Stag on their home courts during the heat of the day. So advantage Park. On the other side of the draw, I see all seeds making it the quarters, with Meister taking out freshman teammate Freer and Katzman doing Katzman things and taking out Wei. So we got an all semi Stag showdown between Parodi/Park and Meister/Katzman. Really these matches could go either way, but for the sake of excitement, I predict Park squeaking out a tight win against Parodi and Katzman taking down Meister in straights. A Park/Katzman final is one worth watching, but I envision Park overpowering the junior on this day and taking the tournament. Congrats Daniel Park, you are DIII West’s prediction to win it all. No pressure.
Doubles. A veryyyy top heavy portion of the doubles draw with the top seeds in Cummins/Libao (don’t want to be mean, but how is this possible?), followed by dangerous teams in Meister/Park, Katzman/Liu, Snyder/Weiler, and Berber/Morris. Really, I could see any of the 4 teams listed (along with the top seeds) making it to the finals. Berber/Morris aren’t even seeded and it is safe to say that Berber is one of the most decorated doubles players in the draw. The bottom part of the dubs draw I think will be a fight between the #2 seeds in Wei/Shanker and the #3 seeds in Parodi/Freer. There are some good teams floating around in this portion of the draw, but I see no other way than these two teams battling it out in the semis for a spot in the finals. With that being said, I give the slight edge to Beaver nation simply because they’ve played together (successfully I might add) the last two seasons and won this tournament just last year. Who this Beaver team will face is up to the gods but I’d put my safe money on Katzman/Liu and if I am feeling a little risky, let’s throw a couple bucks on the unseeded team of Berber/Morris to make a run!
That’s all folks! Not the most organized of posts, but A+ content for sure. With two out of the three West region ITA’s all wrapped up, we have our eyes in Claremont this weekend to see who will be deemed All-American and receive a bid into the ITA Cup. Happy tennis everyone and may the odds be forever in your favor.
Ummmm… You know the tournament is now a 16-player draw, right? No more play-in matches for the PNW and Texas. Same for dubs.