Whitties go 2-0

"Coach I didn't mean to sleep through my alarm! (yes this sweet face was one who missed his alarm)" Saturday was an exceptionally long day for the Whitman Men's team as we left campus at 7am for matches against conference opponents George Fox and Pacific. The day got off to a rocky start as Freshman Matt Goldfogel showed up 15 minutes late for his first tennis road trip. Honestly I think "Fogel" was so excited about the prospect of playing that he couldn't sleep! The day almost got worse as we were leaving town and realized we were missing Dan Wilson! So we had to turn around, drive to Dan's house, rouse him out of bed and throw him into the van! This is one of the problems of large team -- sometimes it is impossible to keep track of people! Kudos to Christoph for realizing that Dan a) wasn't on the phone to his girlfriend and b) wasn't in one of the vans!

Both the George Fox and Pacific matches went well with us sweeping both matches without losing a set. Was fun to see both Jon Tat and Matt Goldfogel play and win their first college matches.

We are currently 4-0 in in the conference and tied for first place with Whitworth. Our next match is at home 10am Saturday against Willamette.

Whitman 9 Pacific 0

Whitman 9 George Fox 0

Netters defeat #19 PLU, Fall to #1 Santa Cruz

After a couple weeks on the road it was nice being home in the comfy confines of the Bratton Tennis Center. On Friday we played back-to-back matches against conference opponents PLU (#19 in nation) and Linfield.

Because we had back-to-back matches I juggled the line-up a bit to keep everyone fresh. One of the many nice things about a deep roster (we are legit through 14 spots) is we always have fresh arms and a multitude of players chomping at the bit the play.

With a new combination at #1 doubles (Matt Solomon and Justin Hayashi) we managed to take a 2-1 lead after doubles. Matt and Justin were first off the courts with a 8-4 victory. David Deming and Dan Wilson managed to squeak out a 9-7 win at #3 doubles. Unfortunately the #2 team of Robert Rye and Chris Bailey were unable to capitalize on a early break and ended up falling 9-8.

One thing I've learned about the Linfield teams is that compete hard so I knew the singles were going to be competitive. In fact at one point we were down in three of the four singles matches that were on court. Freshman Quin Miller had a see-saw battle at #6 singles winning 6-4, 0-6, 10-8. Meanwhile Sophomore Jake Cappel ran into a hot opponent dropping a close 6-4, 6-4 decision at #2 singles. Dan "I love match breakers" Wilson played his 4th match breaker in two weekends and posted a 5-7, 6-4, 10-6 victory at #4 singles. Other singles winners against Linfield included Matt Solomon at #1 6-3, 6-1, Chris Bailey at #3 6-2, 6-2 and David Deming at #5 6-3, 6-4.

Whitman 7 Linfield 2

Against PLU we played some solid doubles and were poised to take a quick 3-0 lead. Jake and Nadeem started us off with a 8-5 win at #2 doubles. Christoph and Etienne quickly followed with a 8-2 victory at #3. Brothers Matt and Daniel were on the short end of a momentum shift and lost 9-8 after being up 7-4.

In singles senior Robert Rye got us on the board first with a solid 6-3, 6-2 win at #6 singles. Daniel Solomon played a very solid match coming from a break down in the first set to win 6-4, 6-1 against PLU's senior All-American Justin Larimore. Jake Cappel got a bit of vengeance after his morning loss and sealed the Whitman victory with a 6-2, 6-3 win at #4 singles. Chris Bailey also posted a 6-3, 3-6, 10-5 win at #3 singles. PLU picked up wins at #1 singles (Matt Solomon) 6-4, 6-3 and #5 (Christoph Fuchs) 1-6, 6-3, 10-8.

Obviously beating PLU is always a big victory. This one was pretty special as we defeated the nationally ranked lutes without 2 of our singles players and our #3 doubles team.

Whitman 6 PLU 3

The highlight of the weekend was our 8pm match against the #1 ranked UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs. I can't even begin to express how incredible it was to play at home in front of a HUGE boisterous crowd. This match felt more like a play-off basketball game than a tennis match. Thanks to everyone that showed up for this late night thriller!

The doubles matches were intense and fun to watch. Each team pushed each other to greater heights of play and pumped the crowd into a frenzy. Doubles pro-sets in college tennis can be crazy. All it takes is one shot or strong game to turn a match around. At one point we were up a break at #1 doubles, down a break at #2 numbers and in command of #3 doubles (up 6-2). Funny thing the only doubles match we won was the match we were losing (#2). At the end of the night (we finished at 12:30am) I was left wondering what would of happened if we could of taking a 3-0 lead after doubles. Hats off to the Slugs, we were only a couple points from taking #1 and #3 doubles but when pressured the Santa Cruz team played some of their best tennis.

Even though we didn't win any singles matches we played the #1 team in the nation close. Daniel Solomon continued his strong play losing at #2 to the defending doubles National Champion 6-3, 6-7, 10-3. Freshman Chris Bailey continued his strong play losing at #5 singles 4-6, 6-4, 10-3.

Whitman 1 UCSC 8

Next match for the Whitties is Saturday when we travel to Portland to take on Pacific (2 pm) and George Fox (3pm). We will be splitting the team into two squads for the Saturday matches.

Thanks again to everyone who came out to watch us play this weekend!

Whitties Fall to DI programs

The weekend proved to be tough for Whitties as we lost to DI programs Eastern Washington University (0-7) and Gonzaga (1-6). Even though the dual match scores were pretty lopsided we competed hard and played pretty well. I think it is a tribute to our program that both EWU and GU played their full squads against us.

One of the highlights for the weekend was the strong doubles play of Jasper Follows and Justin Hayashi. In both matches they prevailed by identical 9-8 scores. It was also nice to see freshman Chris Bailey win his first college match against Cooper Fratt of Gonzaga. In three years of matches against Gonzaga we have never been able to notch a win against Cooper.

EWU
Doubles
1. Matt and Dan Solomon lost Panharra Mam/Kyle Schraeder 8-2
2. Jake Cappel/Nadeem Kassam lost Jon Davis/Patrick Milligan 8-5
3. Justin Hayashi/Jasper Follows def Art Karas/Nico Riego de Dios 9-8
Singles
1. Matt Solomon lost Panharra Mam 6-2, 6-2
2. Dan Solomon lost Kyle Schraeder 6-2, 6-4
3. Jake Cappel lost Nico Reigo de Dios 6-1, 6-3
4. Chris Bailey lost Art Karas 6-0, 6-2
5. Dan Wilson lost Dan Pez 6-1, 6-3
6. Jasper Follows lost Jon Davis 7-6, 6-0

Gonzaga
1. Matt and Dan Solomon lost Roman Dojack/Stefan Feddersen 9-8
2. Jake Cappel/Nadeem Kassam lost Charles Adams/Zack Radetzky 8-5
3. Jasper Follows/Justin Hayashi def Cooper Fratt/Conor Feeney 9-8
Singles
1. Matt Solomon lost Roman Dojcak 6-2, 6-4
2. Dan Solomon lost Stefan Feddersen 6-3, 6-1
3. Jake Cappel lost Zack Radetzky 6-3, 6-2
4. Chris Bailey def Cooper Fratt 2-6, 6-3 10-4
5. Dan Wilson lost Conor Feeney 7-5, 3-6, 10-3
6. Justin Hayashi lost Charles Adams 7-6, 6-1

Team Fall GPA

The Men's Tennis Team ended the Fall semester with a whopping 3.404 team GPA! This means that once again I'll be stringing everyone rackets this semester. As an FYI I have a standing arrangement with the team that if they maintain a team 3.2 average I'll be the team stringer. Two weeks into the season and already burned through 2 reels of string!

If you see anyone members of the team make sure to congratulation them on their great effort in the classroom.

First Matches!

Whitman tennis is off and running! Over the weekend the LCSC team was gracious enough to play twice: once against our A team and again against the B team. We followed those two matches with a match against DI Idaho. Needless to say it was a busy Saturday of play!

LCSC has always presented challenges for our team. In fact in 10+ years of coaching at Whitman we have only beaten LCSC once. I stopped keeping track but I'm pretty sure we are 1 and 15 vs the Warriors. Hats off to Coach Fong who has built one of the top NAIA programs in the nation. Not only are his players true Warriors on the court they are gentleman both on and off the court.

For tennis fans, the Whitman A team vs LCSC was the best show in town. In fact this was probably the most exciting match I have been a part of. We started off strong winning the doubles point (we played DI rules) as the Brothers Solomon defeated the LCSC team 8-5 and Nadeem/Jake rallied from a 4-1 deficit to post a 8-5 win. At #3 doubles LCSC defeated Christoph/Etienne 8-2.

In singles Matt continue his strong play winning at #1 6-4, 6-4. Matt showed great maturity winning the first set on his fourth set point. I worried he was going to lose his focus after failing to convert on a couple of set points when serving at 5-4. To Matt's credit he was able to shrug off his disappointment and close out the set. In the second set Matt was down 1-4 before rallying to win 5 straight games.

At #2 singles, new Whittie Daniel Solomon had a great match against a tough LCSC opponent. Daniel proved to be a tough competitor battling back from breaks in each set (2 breaks in the second set). However, in the end his opponents penetrating groundstrokes and big serve were a bit much and Daniel went down 7-5, 7-5.

At #3 singles Etienne got his first exposure to intercollegiate matches losing to the versatile LCSC player 6-2, 6-4. Too ET's credit he never hung his head even while being outplayed and was able to come back from a break down to even the second set. In the end his LCSC opponent had a bit too much experience and variety.

LCSC has four indoor courts and since the Warrior #4 player was in class we put on #5 singles in the first rotation of singles matches. Jake showed some rust in the first set of his match but rallied to win 2-6, 7-5, 10-6. Certainly nice to see Jake bounce back from a nasty stomach virus that him in the hospital for part of the semester break.

After the first round of singles we had a narrow 3-2 lead needing only 1 more win to clinch the match. At #4 Chris "Chras" Bailey had a thrilling match but lost to LCSC's lone senior player 7-6, 6-4. With the match tied at 3-3 it came down to #6 singles where Dan was locked in a 3rd set match breaker. In the breaker the momentum swung both ways. Early in the breaker Dan was up a mini-break but couldn't convert. Later in the breaker Dan saved several match points. In the end the LCSC player was able to fight his way to a 6-3, 4-6, 14-12 victory to clinch the match.

It was too bad any player or team had to lose in this epic battle.

Sorry but time is running is short and I need to get vans back this morning. Below are the results of the Idaho match and Team B vs LCSC

Whitman (A) vs LCSC
Doubles
1. Solomon's def Cedric Dufour/Kevin Lee 8-5
2. Nadeem/Jake def Seabstian Kuhn/Jonathan Berhane 8-5
3. ET/Christoph lost Arslan Mermut/Oliver Stone 8-2
Singles
1. Matt def Stone 6-4, 6-4
2. Daniel lost Dufour 7-5, 7-5
3. ET lost Lee 6-2, 6-4
4. Chris lost Ali Faris 7-6 (5), 6-4
5. Jake def Kuhn 2-6, 7-5, 10-6
6. Dan lost Mermut 6-3, 4-6, 14-12

Whitman (B) vs LCSC
Doubles
1. Chris Bailey/Robert Rye lost Dufour/Lee 8-3
2. Jasper Follows/Justin Hayashi def Mermut/Stone 8-3
3. David Deming/Dan Wilson def Kuhn/Faris 8-3
Singles
1. Christoph lost Dufour 6-3, 6-0
2. Jasper lost Stone 6-2, 6-1
3. David lost Faris 6-4, 6-1
4. Justin def Lee 6-2, 6-3
5. Nadeem lost Kuhn 6-3, 4-6, 10-6
6. Quin Miller lost Mermut 7-6, 6-4

Whitman vs Idaho
Doubles
1. Solomon's def Andrew Dobbs/Potapken 8-3
2. Nadeem/Jake lost Rob Chalkley/Stanislav Glukhov 8-4
3. ET/Christoph lost Tim Huynh/McDonald 8-4
Singles
1. Matt lost Potapken 6-1, 6-2
2. Daniel Lost Glukhov 6-1, 6-0
3. ET lost Chalkley 6-2, 6-2
4. Chris lost Huynh 6-4, 6-3
5. Dan lost Dobbs 7-6, 6-7, 10-2
6. Justin lost McDonald 6-3, 6-4

Day 2 of the ITA Small College Championships

It was a tough day for Matt and Etienne losing 6-2, 6-2 to the top team from Middlebury. The Middlebury duo came out strong and played very solid doubles the entire match. It is easy to see why Middlebury is consistently one of the top NCAA III programs in the nation. Next up for Matt and ET is the #1 team from Claremont who lost in a tight match-breaker to the tournaments #1 seeds.

ITA Update

Hello from the deep South. Yesterday was the opening day of the ITA Small College Championships sponsored by USTA and Outback steak house in Mobile, AL. Yesterday was the play-in match between PNW and TX. The winner of these play-in matches advance to the final eight and are guaranteed 3 more matches.

Sophomore Matt Solomon opened the day with a tough 6-4, 6-4 loss to Trinity #1 Oliver Gaines. Hats off to the Gaines -- he played well and served incredibly well the entire match. In fact at one point he bombed in 14 straight serves (yes I was counting) never giving Matt a whiff to break serve. End the end Gaines had a bit too much experience and was able to close out the match. For reference last year Gaines played #1 for the 6th ranked Trinity team.

In doubles Matt and Etienne showed a lot of poise coming back from an early break in the first set. It is strange how momentum works in sports and I sometimes this is no more evident than in college doubles. After being down a break 3-2 in the first Matt and ET fought back and leveled the match at 4-4. At 4-4 ET served a great game overcoming 3 huge winners (two off of returns) by the Trinity team to hold for a 5-4 lead. At 5-4 ET and Matt played a solid return game and finally won the set on their 3rd set point. At this point the Trinity team got down on themselves and the Whitties races out to a 4-0 lead (winning 6 straight games). In that set Matt and ET were broke once but were able to take the second set 6-3.

This afternoon Matt and ET faces the #1 team from highly ranked Middlebury. Those that want to keep abreast of all the draws can do so at the official tournament webpage