I’m back, tennis fans! After a bit of a hiatus (which I warned you about), I’m here and as excited as ever to recap the great tennis weekend that was the New England Regional. There was a ton of really high level tennis being played, lots of new names to learn, upsets to be witnessed, but one thing was crystal clear: Wes is back and looking stronger than ever as they launch their title defense campaign. As we saw in the Northeast regional, the stars of last weekend were the freshmen. Coming out and playing your first big college tournament can really make or break a player, but we saw a lot of success among the first years, which continues to be a trend we’re seeing on the women’s side of D3. Anyways, without further adieu, I bring you a quick rundown of some teams’ performance (in no particular order):
Wesleyan
If anyone was worried about Wes losing their momentum after winning nattys last year, they need not. The Cards came out guns blazing at ITAs, with all singles players winning their first match. But more than that, they put five players through to the quarters and ultimately gave us an all Wes final. Even more, the final was between to Wes freshmen!! Serim Jin (who took wins over Boehm, Dorr, Rickeman and Smuckler) squared off against teammate Katie Fleishman (who beat out Marks, Ramras, Stow, Almy and Pertsemlidis) in the finals, with Jin eventually taking home the title. Then, on the dubs side, Wes dominated AGAIN to give us an all Wes final with sophomore stud Venia Yeung and freshman Caitlyn Ferrante going up against another sophomore stud Kristina Yu and Georgetown transfer Sophie Henderson. That match was a thriller, going the distance to a 10-point breaker before Yu and Henderson finished off their teammates. I’m sure Coach Fried is feeling pretty fired up after his team’s performance this weekend, and sending a full squad of 6 to the ITA Cup is definitely something to be proud of. And to think, juniors Kiseleva and Nakamoto are abroad right now…
Middlebury
The hosts had a singles weekend they would like to forget. Their lone representative in the third round was Maddi Stow, with all her teammates either falling in the first or second rounds (albeit to very respectable opponents – Boehm fell to eventual champion Jin, freshman La Barge fell to Amherst’s Smuckler, and Stow fell to eventual finalist Fleishman). They fared better on the dubs side of things with Boehm and Stow making a run to the semis before falling to eventual champs Yu and Henderson. And Hughes and Schossberger made a quarter-final run before falling to Amherst’s Ramras and Owensby. The Panthers definitely have some rebuilding to do this year if they want to threaten not only their NESCAC rivals, but also on a national stage. They’ve got the talent, but they’ve got to get the secret sauce to push them over the edge.
Amherst
If I had to summarize the Mammoths’ weekend in one word, I’d probably say mixed. On the singles side, you had Smuckler who was steady, as always, and made it to the semis. On the other hand, you had last year’s #1 singles player, Bukzin fall in the second round to Almy in a heartbreaking battle. Ramras, too, made the second round, but was not able to push deeper into the draw, and Owensby made a third round appearance before falling to MIT’s Pertsemlidis. Dubs was much better for the Mammoths, as all three teams made the quarters, with Ramras and Owensby making it to the semis. Dubs has always been up and down for Amherst, but if they’re able to be a strong force and nab the dubs lead this season, that’ll help them immensely. Alas, I am getting ahead of myself. Again, they’re going to have to step up their game a bit if they really want to threaten Wesleyan for reign of the NESCAC territory. I know they might have the right combination, it’s just about getting in the mental mindset that yes, they belong among the best of the best.
MIT
MIT has a young team, and although they had mixed results throughout the weekend, They showed that they have a lot of potential, especially with some new freshmen in the mix. In singles, freshman Pertsemlidis advanced all the way to the semis, and Rickeman, who played at the top of the lineup last year, and Castelino, another freshman, both made it through two rounds of singles. Doubles went worse for the Engineers, with only one of three teams earning a doubles win. In any case, the presence of some new freshmen might make MIT a dangerous team this spring.
Williams
The Ephs, too, had a weekend I’m sure they’re hoping to forget. I was cautiously optimistic on them after their competitive performance with solid Midd and Skidmore teams at the Morehouse Invite a few weeks ago, but not a single Williams player advanced to the second round in singles. Dubs was not much better for the Ephs. Both teams made it through to the second round, but fell in pretty quick pro sets to their opponents. Like last year, it looks like Williams has a lot of work to put in to push them back towards their former glory.
Bowdoin
Similar to the Ephs, Bowdoin put in a pretty lackluster showing at this year’s regional. Jovanovic was the only Polar Bear to make it past the first round of singles, but her run ended there at the hands of Wes’ Venia Yeung. The Polar Bears all fell to respectable singles opponents, but it’s gotta be disappointing to not really make any inroads at the regional. Doubles was not much better. Again, Jovanovic, paired with Landau, made it past the first round, but they then fell to eventual finalists Yeung and Ferrante. The Polar Bears have a lot of room for improvement if they want to be seen as competitive come spring season.
Brandeis
With the departure of longtime head coach Ben Lamanna to Bowdoin, I was curious to see how the Judges would fare come regionals. And honestly, Brandeis did not disappoint. Brandeis standout, Diana Dehterevich made a run to the third round before falling in a tight three-setter to MIT’s Rickeman. Ana Hatfield also made it to the second round before falling to Tufts’ Rigby. On the dubs side, Brandeis only had one team in the draw, and they had the unlucky first round match-up against the top seeded Dorr / Garrido of Tufts. Sadly, they were not able to pull off the upset, but they certainly pushed the top duo to an 8-5 victory. Things are looking good for the Judges this year, and I’m excited to see what’s on the horizon for them!
Tufts
The Jumbos had a pretty good regional in a weekend where I’ve clearly been pretty down on a lot of the teams. In singles, sophomore Dorr made the third round before falling in a tight three-setter to eventual champ, Jin. She was joined in the third round by Tufts freshman, Rigby, who fell to Almy. Tufts’ two other players in the singles draw, Frankel and Suk, made second round appearances before falling to opponents from Wes. On the doubles side of things, sophomores Dorr and Garrido were awarded the top seed coming into the tournament and cruised to the third round before falling to eventual champs Yu and Henderson. The Jumbos’ other pair of Suk and Rigby made it through to the second round before falling in a breaker to Ramras and Owensby of Amherst. Tufts has a very young team this year (no seniors on the roster), but they’ve clearly got a lot of talent. This is definitely a team I’ve got my eye on this year.
Well, there ya have it, folks! This regional was clearly dominated by Wes, and right now, they’re looking pretty untouchable (in the region). These other NE teams are really going to have to hustle in the off season if they want to pose any sort of challenge to the Cards come spring season. But that’s far off, for now, and we’ve still got a bit more tennis to come this fall.