Wrapping up ITA's

After rain moved the tournament indoors on Saturday it was a treat to be able to play the semi-finals outdoors. The only bad thing about having the last day of the tournament on Monday is there weren't many tennis spectators around to watch! Since I had sent several players home Sunday with Coach Matt Solomon there were only a handful of Willamette and Whitman players around to watch the matches.

We were fortunate to have three of the four semi-finalist in the singles. Teammates, and doubles partners, Andrew La Cava (#16 seed) and Conor Holton-Burke (#6 seed) duked it while Chris Bailey (#9 seed) faced off against Willamette's Cody Ferguson (#8 seed).

I was worried how Chris was going to respond to his 8+ hours of tennis the previous day. As I mentioned in an earlier post Chris had to cut his morning warm-up short due to soreness. After the first 2 games the first set belonged to Ferguson -- after he lost 8 of the first 9 points he settled down to win 6 straight games. I was really impressed with Chris's competitive attitude. Even though he was tired and sore he bounced back to win the 2nd set 6-2. Unfortunately the first three games of the 3rd set sealed Chris's fate. In his first two service games Chris was serving 40-15 only to lose both games. Once Ferguson earned those two breaks he was off to the races winning the 3rd 6-1. Hats off to Ferguson. I was really impressed with the improvement in his game. I remember writing a post two years ago how impressed I was with Ferguson when he entered the conference. He certainly has proved to be one of the best players in the conference.

The Whitman semi-final was a tipsy-tossy affair. Each set featured numerous service breaks and lead changes. In the end Andrew was able to squeak out each set 7-5, 7-5.

Even though Andrew is a freshman I felt he had the edge going into the finals. As a newcomer to the league his game is a bit new to opponents. Also after watching Ferguson go through three straight Whitman players we had a good idea of how to play him. Lastly Andrew has played numerous national events and is used to playing "big" matches. In the finals Andrew was a cool customer winning 6-1, 6-1. He was able to go up early breaks in each set and never looked back. In fact I think he only faced one break point all match. Unbelievable tournament for Andrew -- he comes into the tournament as the #16 seed and doesn't lose a set the entire tournament!

After a short break Andrew took the courts with Conor for the doubles final against Whitman's Sam Sadeghi and Chris Bailey. Andrew and Conor were too much for their teammates winning 6-1, 6-1. I must point out that Chris and Sam had a great tournament and both have made huge strides in their double games. They came into the tournament as our #4 team and knocked off the #6 seeds before defeating our #3 and #2 teams.

In a few weeks I will travel to Mobile, AL with Andrew and Conor for the ITA Small-College National Championships. They will face off against the winners of the TX region (played this weekend) for the right to make the final 8.

Congratulations to Alyssa and Elise of the women's team for winning the women's double title. They will represent the PNW at the ITA National event!

Day two of ITA

I know the title says day two of the ITA but we are actually starting day three. Rain swept through the Willamette Valley yesterday pushing the tournament back a few hours and a change of venue to nearby indoor courts. Was a very long day we didn't get back to the hotel until 11pm last night.

All I can say about yesterday's tennis is wow. I felt like we had the top players in the conference coming at us all day long. In fact the day reminded me of one very long (11 hour) dual match. In the first round of matches we were lucky to have Whitman players on 5 out of 6 courts. One of the most entertaining matches of the day was freshman Andrew La Cava vs senior Etienne Moshevich. It was unfortunate these two teammates had to play against each other. Andrew ended up getting the better of his teammate 7-6 (11-9), 6-3. Besides the high level of play it was wonderful seeing how the competed against each other. Even though this was an important match they played it like true brothers -- complimenting each other, replaying points, and truly being supportive of each other. Etienne is such a blessing to have on the team. Besides being a warrior on the court he is supportive of his team and a true leader.

In the other morning matches we had our struggles. Quin Miller couldn't keep his tournament streak alive (he beat the #4 seed) but bowed out to Daniel Redfern (#1 from Willamette and #13 seed). Great tournament for Quin. He played spectator tennis on Saturday to reach the 2nd day. Freshman Steve Roston had his chances against the #5 seed before losing in 3 tough sets. I was pleased to see how Steve bounced back from losing the 1st set to stretch the match to the distance. The much improved Sam Sadeghi lost to the #8 seed Cody Ferguson 6-3, 6-1.

Conor Holton Burker won his first match 6-0, 6-4 setting up a show down against the #1 seed. Jeff Tolman came back from a break in the 1st set to win 7-5, 6-3. Match of the day goes to Chris Bailey (#9 seed) who had a big win over the #2 seed 7-6 (7-0), 3-6, 6-3 (I think that was the score). Was a great clash of styles. Chris was pounding balls trying dictating play during the match. His talented opponent is a born retriever who not only gets ever ball back but puts most every shot near the lines. Was fun to watch the contrasting styles.

The quarter finals saw more great tennis and interesting match ups:

Conor was playing the #1 seed and #1 player from Linfield

Chris was playing the #5 seed and #1 player from George Fox

Andrew was playing the #13 seed and #1 player from Whitworth

Jeff was playing the #8 seed and #3 player from Willamette

I felt like our team was playing an all-star team! In those matches we only had 1 hiccup. Jeff (#3 seed) lost to the much improved Willamette junior Cody Ferguson 7-5, 6-4. I know Jeff is disappointed in his results and hopefully he will become stronger by the experience. Conor had a very streaky match but ended up prevailing against the #1 seed (and top 20 in the nation) 6-0, 2-6, 6-3. Conor won the first 8 games of the matches only to lose the next 6 games. Conor showed great maturity calming his nerves and rallying back after dropping 6 straight games. Andrew served and volleyed his way to victory with a solid 6-4, 6-4 win. And Chris was against stretched to the limits defeating the #5 seed 7-6, 4-6, 6-3.

Great night of doubles for the Whitties. Conor/Andrew started the ball rolling with a 8-2 victory over the #3 seeds (#1 from Willamette). The continued their great play with a 8-6 victory over the #1 seeds (#1 from Linfield). The other side of the draw was just about all Whitman -- 3 of the 4 teams on that side of the draw were from Whitman! In the first match Jeff and ET won in convincing fashion against the #1 from UPS 8-3. In the other quarter final match Sam/Chris came from a break down to defeat teammates Quin Miller/Matt Tesmond 8-6. In the semi's Sam/Chris played unbelievable doubles defeating teammates (and #2 seeds) Jeff/ET 9-8.

We are just about ready to start the semi's of the tournament (I'm writing this post from the stands). Chris is incredibly sore after 8 hours of intense tennis -- 2 three-set singles matches (long matches) and 2 doubles matches that went down to the wire. It will be interesting to see how much Chris has left in the tank as he takes on the red hot Ferguson. The other semi's is an all-Whitman match up as doubles teammates Conor and Andrew play each other. After the semi's we will take an hour break and start the singles finals. Later this afternoon Conor/Andrew will play Sam/Chris for the doubles championship.

I apologize for mistakes, misspellings and/or grammar problems with this post. Matches are about to started and I don't have the opportunity to proof-read.

I'll update match results via twitter

Day one of ITA Regionals

Just wrapped up day one of the ITA regional tournament. Those that follow college tennis know this is a special event. It is the only time all year that players are put into one singles and one doubles draw. Makes for a very fun event. Our players have been looking forward to this event since the start of the school year.

We brought 11 players and have 8 into the round of 16. Even more impressive is that all 5 of our doubles teams are into the quarter finals! Its too late for a full write up but here are the results.

Matt Tesmond

1st round defeat Justin McClain (George Fox) 6-4, 7-5

2nd round lost #1 seed Mark Magdaong (Linfield) 6-3, 6-4

Conor Holton Burke (#6 seed)

1st round defeated Micah Spaun (Whitworth)

2nd round defeated Troy Zuroske (Pacific) 6-1, 6-4

Quin Miller

1st round defeated Michael Tieu (UPS)

2nd round defeated #4 seed Michael Baumgartner (Willamette) 7-6, 7-5

Anatas Anatasov

1st Round defeated Tim Wagar (Linfield)

2nd round lost #13 Seed Daniel Redfern (Whitworth)

Etienne Moshevich #7 seed

1st round defeated Will Cooper (Willamette)

2nd round defeated Josiah Jackson (George Fox)

Andrew La Cava #16 Seed

1st round def Michell Davidson (Linfield)

2nd round def Neal Berg (PLU)

Sam Sadeghi

1st round def #12 seed Tal Dewitt (Linfield) 6-0, 6-1

2nd round def Eric Furuya (Pacific) 6-1, 6-2

Jeff Tolman #3 seed

1st round def Colin Barett (Whitworth) 6-3, 6-4

2nd round def Taylor Dickey (PLU) 6-3, 6-0

Steve Roston

1st Round def Brian Burger UPS

2nd Round def #15 seed Brent Kingzett (Linfield) 6-2, 7-6

Chris Bailey #9 seed

1st round def Hector Alcayde (Pacific)

2nd Henry Williams (Whitworth) 6-2, 6-0

Will Huskey

1st round def Jose Reque-Martinez (Pacific)

2nd round lost #2 seed Josh Wong (willamette) 6-2, 6-1

Doubles

Huskey/Roston

1st round def Wager/Dewitt (Linfield) 8-6

2nd round def Massey/Wales (Whitworth) 8-6

Holton-Burker/La Cava #5 seed

1st round def Burger/Murphy (UPS) 8-1

2nd round def Hing/Kinghorn (Pacific) 8-1

Miller/Tesmond

1st round def Berg/Gunstone (PLU)

2nd round def #7 seeds Levein/Lyons (Linfield) 9-8

Bailey/Sadeghi

1st round def #4 seed Baumgartner/Houser (Willamette)

2nd round def Brown/McClain (George Fox)

Tolman/Moshevich #2 seed

1st round bye

2nd round def Barrett/Williams (Whitworth)

Play resumes tomorrow 9am at Willamette University

Time for some tennis!

This weekend is one of my favorite times of the year -- the ITA Fall Regionals! This is my favorite college tennis event of the year. It is the only time all the singles players and doubles teams in the conference are put into one large draw. Doesn't matter if a player is #1 or #10 on a team -- everyone has a shot to win the event. I know the Whitman players really look forward to this opportunity. This is the only time that many of them get a shot at the top players from the other teams in the conference.

Another reason why this event is so much fun is because its the first tennis event of the year. This year will be especially entertaining as we get to go on the road (we have hosted the past two years). Nothing like a road trip to bring a sense of excitement to a tournament. I know everyone on the team is excited to travel and play.

This event is also the first time teams get to check out the rosters from the rest of the conference. Always interesting to see which teams added and lost players.

Speaking of losing players this year certainly marks a changing of the guard for the Whitman tennis team. We lost seven solid players to graduation. In the world of college tennis seven players is basically an entire roster! Luckily the past few years we have had a very deep team and we have seven returning players that have been in our system for a few years. Also I'm very excited about our four new freshman players. From Seattle to California to Bulgaria these boys can play some great tennis. I'm brimming excitement to see how the new players do against the rest of the conference.

This will be the first year in a while that Whitman hasn't had the #1 seed in singles or doubles. We are, however, fortunate to have 5 singles players seeded in the top 16 and two doubles teams in the top 5. Hopefully players can live up to and surpass the seedings.

Singles Draws

Doubles Draws

Below a tournament preview written by Whitman's wonderful SID Dave Holden

WALLA WALLA, Wash. -- In addition to posting 16-0 Northwest Conference records for the past four spring seasons, the Whitman College men's tennis team has also largely dominated the annual fall tournament.

Jeff Tolman

Conor Holton-Burke

While hard hit by graduation last spring, Whitman returns plenty of firepower and hopes to continue its fall mastery at this weekend's USTA/ITA Pacific Northwest Tournament, which takes place at Willamette University in Salem, Ore.

Whitman players have won the last four singles titles at the fall tournament and three of the last four crowns in doubles.

Sophomore Jeff Tolman, who lost in last year's singles final to teammate Matt Solomon (now graduated), is the highest Whitman seed in this weekend's singles bracket. Tolman is seeded No. 3 behind No. 1 Mark Magdaong, a Linfield senior, and No. 2 Jeffrey Wong, a Willamette junior.

Other Whitman players seeded in the 64-player singles bracket are sophomore Conor Holton-Burke (6), senior Etienne Moshevich (7), senior Chris Bailey (9), and freshman Andrew La Cava (16).

Moshevich and Bailey made the singles finals of the 2008 and 2007 fall tournaments, losing in both cases to Solomon.

Etienne Moshevich

Chris Bailey

Other Whitman players entered in the singles bracket this weekend are senior Quin Miller, sophomores Matt Tesmond and Sam Sadeghi, and freshmen Will Huskey, Steven Roston and Anatas Anatasov.

In last year's doubles final, Tolman and Solomon were upset by Pacific Lutheran's Joel Trudel and Justin Peterson, who have both graduated.

Tolman is paired this weekend with Moshevich. They are the No. 2 seeds in the doubles bracket, trailing only Magdaong and his Linfield teammate, Brent Kingzett.

Moshevich teamed with Solomon to win the doubles titles at both the 2008 and 2007 tournaments.

Holton-Burke and La Cava, another of Whitman's tandems in this weekend's doubles bracket, are seeded No. 5.

Whitman has three more duos in the doubles bracket: Miller and Tesmond, Bailey and Sadeghi, and Huskey and Roston.

What a great way to start the year!

With the first week of classes out the way the men's and women's tennis teams got together for an afternoon of mixed doubles and evening of blackberry picking. The evening was especially sweet (beyond the ripe berries) because the teams traveled to pick berries on Prof Delbert Hutchinson's spread on the South Fork of the Walla Walla River. Hutch was Whitman's 2010 convocation speaker so it was nice for everyone to spend time with him. Hutch's convocation can be found here.

Once the berries were picked (I think a large majority of berries went vine to belly) we convened to the fire ring for conversation and dutch oven fresh blackberry cobbler. Speaking of dutch oven cobbler, here is Hutch's no fail receipe:

• warm-up dutch ovens in the fire
• melt half a stick of butter in dutch oven
• mix box of vanilla cake mix according to directions (one box per oven)
• pour cake mix into the oven
• pour in berries (the more the better)
• put lid on dutch oven, place oven over coals and cover with hot coals
• cook for 30 mins turning oven every 10 mins
• Enjoy

The fresh blackberry cobbler was absolutely incredible!

Pictures from the evening