Regional Players of the Week: 02/17-02/23

Indoors has come and gone, which means it’s time for us to really get into gear and get this blogging season DIII tennis season going. Much like how on Wednesdays we wear pink, on Mondays we will have our Players of the Week (POTW) article, giving props to the best players of the previous week. Each Blogger picks one person from their region/set of teams they cover (and answers a topical question or two). If you ever have suggestions for Players of the Week, or what questions you’d like to see answered, post in the comments or send us an email D3Northeast@gmail.com. Congrats to 2020’s first crop of POTW and we’ll be back tonight/tomorrow with more thoughts on Indoors.

A-SOUTH

Player: Rex Serituk

Team: Champs

Results: 3-0 in Singles at Indoor Nationals

Recap: It feels good that I am able to name Rex Serituk as a POTW for the first time ever in my blogging career. The senior has long awaited his shot to play in the Emory lineup and something is to be said about the senior who has never been able to play but still guts it out on the team. Serituk went 3-0 this past weekend at #5 singles, most likely increasing his UTR by 2 points in the process (it was a comically low # for some reason). He also won the clinching match against CMS in the final, with possibly the most unemotional celebration we’ve ever seen. Shoutout to Serituk on a fantastic weekend. 

What’s next: Some match that Emory will probably win

Honorable Mention: Antonio Mora (Emory)

Why your DraftKings team wasn’t very good: I unfortunately wasn’t able to do as much research as I possibly could this time around. D3NE handled the pricing, which normally is my job, which normally gives me a good idea of matchups/results/etc. Wasn’t my year but I am glad that my parody account NewD3Central had success.

Favorite thing from Indoors this weekend: A championship.

NewD3CENTRAL

Player: Anthony Kanam

Team: Case Western Reserve University 

Results: 2-1 Singles, 3-0 Doubles against CMS, Kenyon, Wash U

Recap: The senior, Anthony Kanam, showed us OG Spartan tennis as he dominated three doubles this weekend with Neil Mabee. Kanam’s doubles performances were massive in Case’s two wins (Kenyon & Wash U) as both gave Case insurmountable leads that they were able to ride to easy-ish victories. Kanam’s weekend on the doubles court is the real reason he’s my player of the week, but his 2-1 weekend in singles doesn’t hurt. Kanam only got better as the weekend progressed as he ended with his most clinical singles match against Wash U. The senior is Case through and through – his doubles performance and attitude this weekend reminded us why. 

What’s next: Hobart, Rochester Double at home before the Spartans head to Orlando for Spring Break. The Headliner for Spring Break will be Case’s match with Wesleyan, which will have massive Pool C implications for both teams and their respective conferences.

Honorable Mention: Chaitanya Aduru (Case), Neil Mabee (Case), Jake Zalenski (Kenyon), Oscar Wikstrom (GAC), Ethan Hillis (Wash U), Late Night Dubai Qualifying (cuz it’s on rn)

Why your DraftKings team wasn’t very good: Evan Dean, my value pick went very very wrong. 

Favorite thing from Indoors this weekend: Anytime three or more bloggers were watching the same match and simultaneously commentating in the BlogChat. Also #beatingASouth

NE

Player: Jeff Chen

Team: Brandeis

Results: 3-0 at #2 doubles and 2-1 at #4 singles.

Recap: The sophomore was a big part of Brandeis’ successful weekend. Even though the Judges went 1-2, they won the most important match against Wash U and then played Emory to a 5-4 decision and Chicago to 6-3 (losing the last two matches deep in the 3rd set). Chen (along with Tzeng) went 3-0 in doubles including a massive breaker win against Emory (14-12) and an 8-0 drubbing of Wash U. In singles, Chen beat Kroot in straights and then beat Sverdlov 7-6 in the 3rd. He lost to Yuan 6-3 in the 3rd, and has proven this weekend that he is going to be among the best #4’s in the country. 

What’s next: A few weeks off before a non DIII match with Bryant and then a trip to Midd on 3/15. 

Honorable Mention: Anupreeth Coramutla (Brandeis), Cam Kania (Bates)

Why your DraftKings team wasn’t very good: I thought I could get big scorers at a minor discount with Sachin Das and Robert Liu, but paid about 15k for 10 total points.

Favorite thing from Indoors this weekend:

https://twitter.com/D3Northeast/status/1230984293691908096?s=20

NewDIIIWEST

Player: Niko Parodi

Team: CMS

Results: 3-0 at #1 singles and 2-1 at #1 doubles at Indoors.

Recap: Niko Parodi is many things. He cleans up nicely, is an extremely polite house guest, and is a bad parallel parker. But most of all he is really really really good at tennis. Niko and freshman Ian Freer went 2-1 at #1 dubs this weekend beating two excellent teams in Chopper (Case) and Cassora (Emory) and dropping one tiebreak against Kerrigyuan (Chicago). However, when the Stags needed him in singles, he delivered, beating Hopper 7-6 in the 3rd against Case, beating Xu in straights in the semis, and then just thrashing Cassone 0&2 in the finals. He is the odds-on favorite to win an NCAA singles title as his swan song. 

What’s next: The Stags return to Cali, but play a couple conference road matches at Cal Lu and Whittier before they start hosting everybody and their mother during spring break. 

Honorable Mention: Jack Katzman (CMS), Jordan Pitts (Trinity Tx), Christian Settles (Trinity Tx).

Why your DraftKings team wasn’t very good: In order for a team to be good, you have to make one…

Favorite thing from Indoors this weekend: The ITA focusing on Katzman: https://twitter.com/ITA_Tennis/status/1231620045031329793?s=20

https://twitter.com/ITA_Tennis/status/1231279051563847680?s=20

https://twitter.com/ITA_Tennis/status/1231276604099301377?s=20

REGIONAL NE/C

Player: Ishaan Tibrewal and Adam Burke

Team: Grinnell

Results: Won together 8-7 at third doubles to take a lead into singles, and then both won at 5 and 6, respectively to beat nationally ranked (for now) Carleton 6-3. 

Recap: It was a somewhat quiet week for my teams, and while this match wasn’t a shocker, it qualifies as an upset nonetheless and is certainly a nice win for the 5-1 Pioneers over a reeling and shorthanded Carleton squad. Ishaan and Adam get the nod over teammate Ben Cobin, who also won in both singles (#3) and doubles (#2), because of the clutch factor, taking 3rd doubles in a tiebreaker. I also am giving them co-POTW because they seem like they’d make a good pairing based on their roster photos, as Ishaan looks like he’s 28 and Adam 14. 

What’s next: Grinnell heads to Gustavus for a tough matchup with the Gusties, fresh off their big win over Kenyon.

Honorable Mention: Ben Cobin (Grinnell), Leo Vithoontien (Carleton)

Why your DraftKings team wasn’t very good: Because I hate fantasy sports. (Hopper only getting four points hurt me, too).

Favorite thing from Indoors this weekend: Rex Serituk finally having his moment.

REGIONAL AS

Player: HARRY SHEPHERD

Team: Washington and Lee

Results: 3-1 at #1 Singles and #1 Doubles

Recap: OH BAYBEEEE, the Gennies came to play this season! And guess who’s back? Ya boy HARRY SHEPHERD. I’m really excited about this, if you can’t tell, because I hyped these guys up (especially Mr. Shepherd) and they did not let me down. The Generals lost a heartbreaker to NC Wes and pretty much cruised through CNU, which is a great sign moving forward. Sheperd’s two wins at #1 singles were also huge for NCAA implications and put him in a fairly favorable spot moving forward. Look for the team to jump into the top 40 in the next rankings.

What’s next: Salisbury today and then a California trip against Redlands and Pomona, which could be very close just looking at this weekend’s results.

Honorable Mention: Alex Fedor (W&L), Keegan Morris (Stevens), Jordan Brewer (Sewanee)

Why your DraftKings team wasn’t very good: Because it’s never good.

Favorite thing from Indoors this weekend: AVZ’s commentary via Twitter, it rocked.

NEWREGIONAL

Player: Markus Nordby

Team: Babson

Results: 1-1 at #1 singles and 2-0 at #1 doubles

Recap: Babson kicked off their spring season with a match against D1 Bryant and #32 TCNJ. Babo lost 4-3 to Bryant and pulled a nice early season upset over TCNJ, winning 5 out of 6 singles matches in the 6-3 win. This is a nice win for Babson – who doesn’t like to start their season with a win over a nationally ranked opponent? Nordby is a junior transfer from Boston College with a UTR north of 12, and I’d be surprised if this is the only POTW I nominate him for this year. Against TCNJ, Nordy beat Matthew Michibata in 3 sets and partnered with Max Conlin to get Babson on the board in doubles. 

What’s next: A home match against Vassar and then matches against Tufts and Colby the following weekend. Regional implications abound.

Honorable Mention: Max Conlin (Babson), Jeff Chen (Brandeis), Christian Settles (Trinity TX)

Why your DraftKings team wasn’t very good: Luke Smith didn’t play and Meister and Sachin Das didn’t give me the value I needed

Favorite thing from Indoors this weekend: The Parodi vs. Hopper singles match. Talk about good tennis.

AVZ’S PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Player: Antonio Mora

Team: Emory

Justification: There are quite a few deserving players and it’s hard to look past Jeremy Yuan who went undefeated on the weekend, but in this scenario, you have to go with someone from the championship team. And while he took two losses on the doubles court, Mora was extremely impressive taking out Katzman from CMS in the final. No one saw that coming and Katzman is a top 4 player in all of D3 in my opinion. This win really allowed Emory to take the title. Rex Serituk, Andre Esses and Hassan Kenawi deserve a shout out as well. They were integral pieces to the championship team. 

Honorable Mention: Niko Parodi, Jeremy Yuan, Jeff Chen, Rex Serituk, Andre Esses, Hassan Kenawi, Jake Zelenski, Case’s 3 singles player’s shoe game. 

Why your DraftKings team wasn’t very good: 1) I got 4th overall and the top blogger so clearly my team was solid. But I took a chance on Komis from Wash U to help round out a team without any of the top guys and he went 0-3 in doubles and 0-1 in singles. That is disappointing. I expected Freer to go undefeated as well. 

Favorite thing from Indoors this weekend: Taking ASouth’s money