Thursday, March 29, 2007

Matches this weekend, Senior Day, Mam poised to break record

Busy weekend on tap for the Missionaries. On Friday we take on conference opponent George Fox @4pm at the outdoor courts (indoors if rains). On Saturday we are breaking into two teams to play Lewis Clark College 3pm at home and 3pm against Whitworth in Spokane.

The George Fox match on Friday is our senior day. This will be the last time the current seniors will play a home match together. Before Friday's match we will celebrate their accomplishments and their legacy to the tennis program. This year we graduate three amazing student athletes.

Steven Ly a Biology Major from Gresham, OR is currently 26-12 on the year and has a career record of 130-83. Steven has participated in the NCAA III team tournament in '04 and NCAA III Singles tournament in '06. He is currently the 6th ranked singles player in the West Region and is #4 in doubles with partner Phalkun Mam.

Steven has been named to the NWC All-Conference team each of the past 3 seasons. In '06 he was also named the NWC Most Valuable Player. He has been named Whitman College's outstanding Freshman, Sophomore, and Junior Athlete. Steven is the only athlete at Whitman College to have received the Outstanding Athlete Award in three consecutive years.

Robbie Munday a Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology Major from Okanagan Falls, BC currently ranks #3 on Whitman's All-Time win list. Robbie participated in the NCAA III team tournament in '04 and has been named to the NWC All-Conference 1st team in '04 and 2nd team in '06. Robbie's record for the year is 25-10 and 139-75 for his career.

Robbie is a true scholar athlete. He was recognized by ESPN the Magazine, making the All-Region All-Academic team. He was Whitman College's Organic Chemistry Student of the Year and placed in the 98th percentile on the national Organic Chemistry exam.

Phalkun Mam a Philosophy major from Salem, OR is poised to set Whitman College's All-Time win record. Phalkun has an amazing 33-12 record on the year and a career record of 147-78. He is only 2 matches behind current record holder Tim Mullin (also from Salem, OR).

In the Fall, Phalkun won the ITA West Region Singles Championships which qualified him as an NCAA All-American. He is currently ranked #4 in the NCAA III national rankings and #4 in the West Region doubles rankings. Phalkun was also a member of the '04 team that qualified for the NCAA team tournament. He has been named the NWC All-Conference 1st team twice and a member of the 2nd team once.

If you are in Walla Walla Friday I hope you will drop by the courts to watch these three outstanding young men play one of their final matches on the Whitman courts.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Whitties down WI Oshkosh, #13 Kalamazoo lose to #16 Bowdoin

Sorry for the late update but the internet connection at the hotel was down last night.

Yesterday the Whitties continued their magic and won yet another 5-4 match (that makes 3 this year) -- this time over #13 Kalamazoo. We were able to take 2 of the 3 doubles and won the first set in EVERY singles match. However the K College players showed why they are perennially one of the top teams in the nation and pushed five of the singles matches into the third set. The hero of this match turned out to be freshman Jake Cappel. Jake who overcame a 0-3 deficit in the third set (2 breaks) to post a 6-3 victory at #6 singles to seal the team match.

While WhittieA was playing Kalamazoo College, WhittieB posted a hard fought 7-2 victory over WI Oshkosh.

Today was not so kind to the Missionaries as WhittieB was rained out against Cal Tech and WhittieA lost to #16 Bowdoin 7-2. It was a rough way to end an almost perfect Spring Break trip. In the warm-up Steven Ly was having trouble with his arm and was unable to play singles or doubles. Without Steven we were only able to muster victories at #4 singles (Christoph) and #2 doubles (Christoph and Robbie).

Sorry for the short write up but I'm at the Sacramento airport waiting to catch a connecting flight to Portland.

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Whitties down Cal Lutheran 6-3

It has been a long two days for the men's team. Last night we didn't get back to the hotel until 9pm after our thrilling 5-4 victory over Redlands. This morning we jumped into the van at 7am for the long drive to Cal Lutheran (Thousand Oaks). Unfortunately the damp marine layer made the courts wet and we couldn't get the match started until noon.

In doubles we made some adjustments to the line-up hoping to recreate our early season doubles spark. Because of their strong play, Robbie and Christoph moved up to #2 doubles and they responded with a 8-2 victory. At #1 doubles Steven and Phalkun got on track with a quick 8-0 victory. Unfortunately Matt and Nadeem can't seem to find their early season mojo and lost 8-5 at #3 doubles.

In singles Robbie continued his strong play posting a 6-0, 7-5 victory at #3. He his now 6-0 on the spring break trip and playing very confident tennis. We also picked up wins at #4 (Matt), #5 (Christoph), and #6 (David Deming). However we lost both #1 (Phalkun) and #2 (Steven) in close 3 set matches.

Tomorrow is a much needed day off. Monday WhittieA takes on nationally ranked Kalamazoo at 8am on the CMS courts while WhittieB plays at the Whittier courts.

Was great seeing Nick Dupuis '03 at the Cal Lutheran match today!

Doubles
#1 Steven/Phalkun def Staley/Hunt 8-0
#2 Christoph/Robbie def Wetterholm/Culpepper 8-2
#3 Matt/Nadeem lost Lassila/Karsant 8-5
Singles
#1 Phalkun lost Ben Staley 7-6, 6-7, 7-6
#2 Steven lost Paul Wetterholm 5-7, 6-1, 6-3
#3 Robbie def Joe Lonergan 6-0, 7-5
#4 Matt def Forest Hunt 6-2, 6-4
#5 Christoph def Ryan Lassila 6-4, 6-4
#6 David def Jordan Culpepper 6-2, 6-1 (nice win for David moving up into the #6 spot and winning in straight sets)

We are now 16-3 and 12-0 in conference.

Friday, March 16, 2007

Whitties defeat #12 Redlands in a thriller!

This afternoon the #15 ranked Whitties defeated #12 Redlands 5-4 at the UR courts. The match was a thriller from the start to finish. In doubles we were rocking and rolling quickly going up breaks at #2 and #3 doubles. With #1 doubles playing even things looked good for the Missionaries. However our doubles party was crashed by UR as the #2 Bulldog team came back from 1-4 (15-40) to win 8-6. At #1 doubles Steven and Phalkun played even the whole match only to get broke at 6-7 to drop the set. Fortunately for the Whitties, Robbie and Christoph continue their strong play winning at #3 doubles 9-8 (6). Besides putting us on the board, the victory at #3 doubles gave us a small amount of momentum going into singles.

In singles we quickly dropped the #6 match (Dan) 6-3, 6-0 giving UR a 3-1 lead. Even though we down 3-1 things were looking good as we won the first sets at #1 (Phalkun), #2 (Steven), #3 (Robbie), and #4 (Matt) -- Christoph, however, lost the first set in a highly competitive #5 match. At one point I thought we had a lock on the match: Matt posted a 6-4, 6-4 win at #4, Steven won 6-2, 6-4 at #2, Phalkun took the #1 match 7-6, 6-3, and Robbie was serving for his match at 5-2 in the 2nd. However UR refused to go down easy on their home courts. Robbie's opponent battled back from a 2-5 deficit to take the 2nd set 7-6. Fortunately for us right as Robbie split sets, Christoph pushed his match into the 3rd set. At this point we were up 4-3 with both #3 and #5 singles going into the 3rd set. At this point in the match everything got topsy-turvy! Christoph went up a break and Robbie went down a break. A bit later Robbie broke back to even his match at 4-4 and Christoph got broke to even #5 at 4-4. As both the singles matches went into their 3rd hour (in sweltering heat) both teams and fans were absolutely going crazy.

At 4-4 Christoph played some lose put-away volleys giving the UR player all the momentum he needed to take the match 6-3, 4-6, 6-4. All the pressure was now squarely on Robbie's shoulders. In the 3rd set, Robbie continued to serve well holding fairly easy. With UR serving 4-5, Robbie had a match point only to push an approach shot wide. At 5-5 Robbie held in a close game putting the pressure on UR. At 5-6 Robbie again had a match point only to miss a big forehand long. The UR player was able to hold his serve to set up a 3rd set tiebreak to determine the outcome of the match. In that deciding breaker, Robbie stepped up to play big tennis, dictating play from start to end posting a 7-2 victory.

I can't begin to express how proud I am of Robbie. Even though he had lost all the momentum in the match he kept his cool, competed hard and earned us a rare team victory in the Southern CA desert. I think the last time we beat UR was in 1987.

Tomorrow we play at 10am against Cal Lutheran and our JV takes on the Claremont JV at 1:30pm

Doubles
#1 Steven/Phalkun lost Wager/Reading 8-6
#2 Matt/Nadeem lost Zach Hasenyager/Cook 8-6
#3 Robbie/Christoph def Bradburn/Trippel 9-8 (6)
Singles
#1 Phalkun def Eric Wager 7-6(4), 6-3
#2 Steven def Aron Ouye 6-2, 6-4
#3 Robbie def Ian Bradburn 6-3, 6-7 (5), 7-6(2)
#4 Matt def Mike Reading 6-4, 6-4
#5 Christoph lost Chris Trippel 6-3, 4-6, 6-4
#6 Dan lost Ransom Cook 6-3, 6-0

We also had a couple nice victories on some of the extra matches:
#7 David def Billy Kingsborough 6-2, 6-4
#8 Jake Cappel def Andrew Murakima 6-3, 6-3

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

WhittieB Erases Poets


The Whitman B team downed a pesky Whittier team 9-0 today. We started off strong in doubles with the #3 duo of Justin Hayashi and David Deming downing Whittier 8-1. Justin played his first match with an injured shoulder and adjusted quickly to his new underhand serve. The number 2 doubles team of Thomas Roston and Robert Rye broke in both the first and the final games of the match and held serve the rest of the way to sneak away with an 8-5 win. At #1 Jake Cappel and Jasper Follows were solid with their returns throughout the match and won 8-4 shortly after the #2 victory.
In singles, Jasper Follows sewed up a stellar day with an 6-3, 6-1 victory. Jasper continues to impress me with his aggressive play and will be a force for Whitman as he gains more match play. Justin Hayashi remained one of Whitman's most consistent players on court coming home with a 6-2, 6-3 team victory clenching win at #4 . #1 Deming and #5 Roston both finished shortly after with equally solid wins 6-1, 6-1 and 6-0, 6-3, respectively. Junior Robert Rye boosted the score to 8-0 with a 6-2, 6-3 victory.The final match of the day was easily the most impressive win for the WhittieB's today. Freshman Jake Cappel struggled in a lopsided first set losing 6-1 before rebounding to take the second 7-5. Jake showed a lot of composure in taking the second set in front of a hostile crowd. Jake used that momentum to earn a quick lead in the match breaker 6-1 with the aid of a Whittier point penalty. The Poet player clawed back in front 9-8 and served for the match before Cappel rallied off three points to close 11-9. In an exhibition at #7, Seth Zippel won a see-saw 8-5 match. I'm proud to say the Whitman guys competed with a lot of class today and I couldn't be happier with the performance. WhittieB will take on the Redlands B team on Friday after we travel to Indian Wells to watch Pac Life Open. Woo Hoo!


Whitman def. Whittier 9-0

Singles
1) David Deming def. Justin DeLong 6-1, 6-1
2) Jake Cappel def. Sean Robertson 1-6, 7-5, 1-0 (11-9)
3) Jasper Follows def. Gus Cawler 6-3, 6-1
4) Justin Hayashi def. Sean Summeral 6-2, 6-3
5) Thomas Roston def. Danny Benesch 6-0, 6-3
6) Robert Rye def. Joseph Choi 6-2, 6-3

Doubles
1)Cappel/Follows def. DeLong/Roberston 8-4
2)Roston/Rye def. Hinsworth/Summerall 8-5
3)Deming/Hayashi def. Astbury/Benesch 8-1

Coach Changstrom

First matches of spring Break -- Whitties go 1-1


And the Spring Break '07 trip is underway! Truthfully, we have been on spring break for a few days, but today was our first set of matches.

This year we are traveling with 14 players and are splitting into two teams playing two matches each day (team A and team B). This morning the first team lost a 7-2 battle to #8 Washington University St Louis. The final score doesn't do justice to the competitive nature of this match. As we found out the WA U team is a very talented, deep team. In fact their #2 player is ranked #3 in NCAA III tennis! The match started off with 3 amazing doubles matches. I don't think I've ever seen a dual match with three closer doubles matches. At one point I thought we were going to win all three matches and a few moments later thought we were going to lose all three matches. At #1 doubles the Wash U team came back from a break down to defeat Steven and Phalkun 9-7. Robbie and Christoph played some of their best doubles of the year to post a 9-7 victory at #3. At #2 doubles Matt and Nadeem got off to a horrible start quickly going down 1-4 (two breaks). To their credit they battled hard, picked up their game and brought the match back even at 8-8. Unfortunately for us the Wash U team played great tennis taking the breaker 7-5.

Even though all the singles matches were close the only match we won was at #3 where Robbie cruised to a 6-3, 6-2 victory. It was nice to see Robbie find his groove and play his best tennis of the year.

Though we lost 5 of the 6 singles matches we had chances in most of the matches. Both Steven (#2) and Matt (#4) lost in the third sets. Christoph (#4) lost the first set in a breaker and Dan (#6) was serving for the first set at 5-4.

Team B had a solid win against Whittier. Coach Changstrom will be providing an update on that match later tonight.

Tomorrow is a day off for the Whitties and we are going to the Pacific Life Open!

We resume play Friday 2pm at #9 Redlands (both teams).

Check out pictures of the spring break trip. Some pretty funny pictures of the freshman dressing up to go see the movie 300.

Doubles
#1 Steven/Phalkun lost Charlie Cutler/Chris Hoeland 9-7
#2 Matt/Nadeem lost Trevis Bowman/Eric Pollak 9-8
#3 Christoph/Robbie def John Watts/Charlie Howard 9-7
Singles
#1 Phalkun lost Charlie Cutler 6-4, 6-2
#2 Steven Lost John Watts (#3 in nation) 6-2, 5-7, 6-3
#3 Robbie def Chris Hoeland 6-3, 6-2
#4 Matt lost Danny Levy 6-7 (6), 7-5, 6-4
#5 Christoph lost Charlie Howard 7-6, 6-2
#6 Dan lost Trevis Bowman 7-5, 6-0

Sunday, March 4, 2007

Whitties win a thriller


Wow, wow, wow -- I'm still in shock after yesterdays match against PLU. So far this season we have been on a roll: going into the weekend we were 10-0 in conference and 11-2 overall (our only losses being to DI power U of Portland and the top team DIII team in the nation,UC Santa Cruz). Additionally, in all but one of those matches (Portland) we had won at least 2 of the 3 doubles matches. I've mentioned it before, but I feel the 9 point scoring system places too much emphasis on doubles. In my mind scoring a doubles set the same as a full 2 out of 3 set match isn't correct.

Against PLU we got off to a horrible start. In all three doubles matches we quickly went down breaks. Unfortunately for the Whitties, it only got worse from that point. At #1 doubles Steven and Phalkun went down two breaks to 1-4 and at #3 doubles Christoph and Robbie went down 0-5. At this point the PLU team sensed blood in the water and went on a feeding frenzy. The Lutes played inspired doubles, sweeping all three doubles matches.

While being down 0-3 isn't a death sentence we were more than a few feet in the grave and PLU was starting to pile on the dirt! For some perspective to our plight, consider that a noted DIII coach recently looked at 160 NCAA II and NAIA men's matches where a team was swept in doubles. Only once in those 160 matches did a team come back from 0-3 down to win the match. Not only were the odds against us but we were playing a red hot, fired-up PLU team. To make our situation even more tenuous we were missing the services of sophomore sensation Justin Hayashi. This forced Christoph Fuchs to move up to the #5 spot and Dan Wilson was inserted into #6 spot. With Matt Solomon playing #4 we were relying on the services of three first-year players to anchor our line-up. Since the match was played on four courts the order of singles play goes 1 through 4 followed by 5 and 6. If we had any chance at victory it would be in the hands of our first-year players.

At #2 singles Steven Ly played his typically efficient game winning 7-5, 6-2 making the team score 1-3. However at #3 Robbie Munday lost a tough 6-4, 7-5 to a much improved Jeff Loranger. With the team score 1-4 our backs were fully against the wall. One more singles loss and the match was done.

Freshman sensation Matt "Bear" Solomon overcame a slow 0-3 start and posted a 7-5, 7-6 (8-6) victory at #4 singles. The team score was now 2-4, with #1 singles Phalkun Mam locked in a three set battle against PLU's David Miller (Phalkun lost to David in 3 sets a few weeks ago). As first-year players Christoph Fuchs and Dan Wilson started their matches. Phalkun showed why he was named NWC Player of the Week, grinding out a hard fought 6-1, 5-7, 6-2 victory. Score was now 3-4 with Christoph and Dan left on court.

Going into the match I was most worried about was Dan's match at #6 singles. I have been around coaching long enough to have seen any number of freshman struggle in their first "big" match. Plus playing at home in front of fans and friends can add a load of extra pressure. Dan showed no signs of nerves and played incredible tennis. Dan "the milkman" Wilson certainly delivered the goods as he played brilliant tennis. He showed absolutely no fear bombing big serves, ripping forehands winners and nailing overheads in clutch situations. Dan's 6-2, 6-3 victory tied the match 4-4 and sent fans scrambling over to Christoph's court to watch the dramatic match conclusion.

There is no greater thrill in college tennis than winning the deciding match when the team score is tied. It was awesome to see Christoph handle the pressure of being the last match on, being the deciding match AND having everyone in the building focused on his match. Christoph pulled out a sweet 7-6, 6-2 win giving us an improbable come from behind win.

Day wasn't over yet as we still had to play UPS. After a very quick 30 minute lunch break we took the courts to battle the Loggers. Our only set back in the UPS match was at #2 singles where Matt lost a hard fought 7-6, 0-6, 11-9. This was a tough match for Matt to keep his energy up -- we had been involved in matches for 11 straight hours, he was the last match to go on, and he was emotionally burned after he helped key our victory over PLU.

We are now 13-2 on the year and 12-0 in conference play. We get a much needed week break before heading off to Southern CA for Spring Break.

Match Scores

Pacific Lutheran University

Doubles

No. 1 -- Miller/Larimore (PLU) def. Mam/Ly: 8-6
No. 2 -- Loranger/Peterson (PLU) def. Nadeem Kassam/Solomon: 8-6
No. 3 -- Floyd/Vidano (PLU) def. Fuchs/Munday: 8-3

Singles

No. 1 -- Phalkun Mam (Whitman) def. David Miller: 6-1, 5-7, 6-2
No. 2 -- Steven Ly (Whitman) def. Kevin Floyd: 7-5, 6-2
No. 3 -- Jeff Loranger (PLU) def. Robbie Munday: 6-4, 7-5
No. 4 -- Matt Solomon (Whitman) def. Justin Larimore: 7-5, 7-6 (9-7)
No. 5 -- Christoph Fuchs (Whitman) def. Justin Peterson: 7-6 (7-5), 6-2
No. 6 -- Dan Wilson (Whitman) def. Jared Vidano: 6-2, 6-3

University of Puget Sound

Doubles

No. 1 -- Mam/Steven Ly (Whitman) def. McCullugh/Hosmer: 8-2
No. 2 -- Kassam/Solomon (Whitman) def. Amland/Andrew Oates: 8-2
No. 3 -- Fuchs/Munday (Whitman) def. Neal/Sato: 8-5

Singles

No. 1 -- Phalkun Mam (Whitman) def. Andrew Neal: 6-1, 6-1
No. 2 -- Nick Amland (UPS) def. Matt Solomon: 7-6 (7-5), 0-6, 1-0 (10-8)
No. 3 -- Robbie Munday (Whitman) def. Jamie Hosmer: 6-3, 7-6 (7-1)
No. 4 -- Dan Wilson (Whitman) def. Sam McCullugh: 6-3, 6-2
No. 5 -- Nadeem Kassam (Whitman) def. Kai Sato: 6-3, 7-6 (8-6)
No. 6 -- David Deming (Whitman) def. Zac Peeler: 6-1, 6-2

Friday, March 2, 2007

March Birthdays

March is a busy birthday month for the Whitman Tennis Family

Sam Spiegel March 1
Phalkun Mam March 2
David Deming March 4
Evan Chiang March 16
Brandon Davis March 24
Brian Oliver March 26
Tim Mullin March 26
Christoph Fuchs March 27
Tim Thomas March 30