Weekend preview

Great weekend of play on tap at the Bratton Tennis Center this weekend. Tennis fans will be treated to three-days of great play with Whitman hosting Lewis-Clark State College, University of Idaho, Linfield and UC Santa Cruz.

Thanks to all who helped make this weekend possible: Coaches Jeffrey Beaman (Idaho) and Kai Fong (LCSC) both agreed to move our scheduled matches in Lewiston to Walla Walla. Without moving those matches it would not have been possible to bring the Banana Slugs to town. Christine Beito at Stone Creek Manor for helping with housing and snacks for the weekend. For those traveling to Walla Walla and want a special experience check out the Stone Creek Manor...you won't be disappointed! Pizza Pipeline for providing pizza for the Saturday evening match. Best Western Walla Walla Suites for helping with accommodations. The Whitman Alumni Athletic Club (W Club) for helping make the weekend possible. And the Thyken family for helping with housing.

The feature match for the weekend is a Saturday 6pm showdown between defending NCAA III champions UC Santa Cruz (currently ranked #1) and host Whitman College (currently ranked #26). Admission is free and Pizza Pipeline will be providing free slices of pizza to spectators. Show up early while the the pizza and tennis action is hot!

Schedule of play

Friday 1pm Whitman vs Lewis Clark State College

Friday 6pm UC Santa Cruz vs LCSC

Saturday 10am Idaho vs UCSC

Saturday 2pm Idaho vs LCSC

Saturday 6pm Whitman vs UCSC

Sunday 10am UCSC vs Linfield

Lewis-Clark State College comes into the weekend with a 2-0 record and boosts an roster of players from across the globe. The LCSC warriors are a perennial power in NAIA and start the year ranked #20. A bit of a new look for the always tough Warriors. While they graduated a few standout players they appear to have reloaded and are off to a good start. The past few years the Whitman vs LCSC matches have produced some exciting and incredibly close matches. Last year Whitman squeaked by LCSC 5-4 when an unfortunate injury forced an LCSC retire at #4 singles. In the 2007-2008 season LCSC nipped Whitman 4-3 in Lewiston but later in the year Whitman avenged the loss with a home 7-2 victory. These teams tend to bring out the best in each other and the Friday match should be great.

It is a real treat to have the NCAA I Vandals of Idaho come to town. Its not often that DI teams in any sport make the trek to Walla Walla and we are grateful to have them. Coach Jeffrey Beaman has done a tremendous job building the Idaho program. Under Beaman's leadership the Idaho team has been knocking on the door of the NCAA I rankings. They dropped a couple of matches last weekend in California losing to Nevada 4-3 and #46 Fresno State 4-0. Idaho is a very talented team that in recent years have given ranked DI programs trouble.

UC Santa Cruz comes into the weekend as the #1 ranked team in NCAA III. At the end of last year they were playing hot tennis and worked their way out of a tough West region to win the NCAA III team title. This is a bit of a rebuilding year for the Banana Slugs as they graduated five of the last year's top six players. For most teams, graduating the majority of one's starting line-up would be impossible to overcome. The Slugs, however have a virtual tennis farm in Santa Cruz and Coach Hanson maybe the best coach in the nation at player development. The Slugs enter the weekend at 0-2 but both of those losses were to the hands of NCAA I programs (UC Davis and Santa Clara). Both of those matches were close and the Slugs proved they could compete with the DI programs. The Slugs are lead by talented lefty Bryan Pybas (#10 in the West Region) and senior Marc Vartabedian (#19 in the West Region). The Slug doubles team of Pybas/Vartabedian is currently ranked #8 in NCAA III.

The Linfield Wildcats are coming to town for a 10am Sunday showdown against UC Santa Cruz. The Wildcats are perennial tennis powers of the Northwest Conference finishing in the top three for the past decade. Currently ranked #12 in the West Region, Linfield is lead by talented junior Mark Magdaong (#12 in West Region) and senior Kyle Anderson (#22 in the West Region).

Host Whitman has seven seniors on their roster and hope to show they have the talent to play on the national stage. Whitman is currently ranked #6 in the West and #26 in the nationally. The Fighting Squirrels have been competitive with some of the top teams in the nation but haven't had a big win in the past two-seasons. However all signs point to a strong year for the Squirrels. They return most of their NCAA III qualifying team from last year, they get a shot in the arm with the return of Matt Solomon, and they have a talented newcomer in Jeffrey Tolman. Basically the same team is back from last year with two "new" players at the top.

To be competitive against the top DIII teams in the nation Whitman needs another strong year from senior Matt Solomon. Last spring Solomon transferred to Boise State where he had the opportunity to play for one of the top DI programs in the nation. The BSU Broncos made it to the round of 16 at the NCAA's and Solomon was a factor in their success. After playing against the top DI programs in the nation (Virginia, Stanford, Pepperdine, Ohio State to name a few) Solomon should be able to hang with any player in the nation. At the ITA Small College Nationals in October Solomon played great tennis showing he was a force in DIII tennis. Solomon enters the weekend ranked #11 in the nation and #3 in West.

Three-star freshman Tolman is a dangerous, talented player. In the fall, Tolman advanced to the finals of the Northwest Regional singles tournament before losing to teammate Solomon in three hard fought sets. During the Northwest Regional event Tolman knocked off #2 seed and NWC Player of the Year Joel Trudel. Tolman is currently ranked #9 in the West Region.

Whitman will also need the return of a healthy Etienne Moshevich. Moshevich spent the fall in London and spent much of the summer rehabilitating an injury. Last season's departure of Solomon gave Moshevich the opportunity to play #1 and he had great results before an injury limited his playing time. Moshevich showed he had to the game to play at high level when he upset the #1 player from DI Montana and later in the season had a match point before losing to eventual NCAA III quarter-finalist Will Zhang (Chicago).

Junior Chris Bailey gives Whitman a potent 1-4 punch. Last year Bailey had a bit of an up and down season. Some great wins but he struggled during Whitman's spring break trip in South Carolina. With the departure of Solomon and the injury to Moshevich, Bailey was often thrust into the #1 singles slot. The experience of playing #1 for a portion of last year gives Bailey valuable experience going into his junior year.

After the top four, Whitman has a number of players to chose from. They return Nadeem Kassam, Jake Cappel and Quin Miller who played #4-#6 on last year's NCAA team. They also have a solid lower player in Sophomore Adriel Borshanksy who last year defeated the #6 players from nationally ranked programs Chicago, Depauw, and Carleton. Seniors Christoph Fuchs and Jasper Follows have both played doubles at the NCAA team tournament and figure to play important roles this year. Whitman also has a trio underclassmen that will see significant playing time: sophomore Conor Holton-Burke posted a perfect 14-0 record last year and freshmen Sam Sadeghi and Matt Tesmond both had good fall Regional results knocking off top players from rival conference schools. Lastly seniors David Deming and Thomas Roston are experienced match players who will rotate into the line-up.