The Horde goes 5-1 in Portland

Thats right 5-1 in two days! This is the first time in my coaching career we have played 6 matches in two days. So far it has been a wonderful experience breaking into groups for dual matches. It gives the guys much needed match play experience and the opportunity to play in a team environment.

On Sunday I split the teams into the more experienced team and the rookie team. The rookie team consisted of Matt, Nadeem, David, Jake, Jasper, Thomas and Robert (not a rookie). They were shipped out to Salem with rookie coach Brad to play Willamette. Willamette is a much improved team and have a nice freshman addition in Donovan LeDoux. Last weekend Donovan dropped a close three set match to Phalkun so I knew Matt would have his hands full at #1. The rookies certainly rose to the the challenge sweeping the match 9-0! Both David (playing #2) and Thomas (playing #6) showed their mental toughness grinding out matches in 3 sets.

While the rookie team was battling in Willamette in Salem I took the more experienced crew to play Linfield. Of all the matches over the weekend this was the match I was most concerned about. Linfield is a very well coached and their guys always compete hard. Plus because of the weather we were forced to play indoors on their fieldhouse (multi-purpose) courts. These are very fast, slick courts that are hard to play on. It is a huge advantage for the Wildcats when they play dual matches on these courts. I was also nervous about the match since I sent the rookie dynamic duo of Matt and Nadeem to play Willamette. Going into the match we were down our #4 singles player and our #2 doubles team!

As expected the match was tight from the start. Phalkun and Steven continued their strong run in doubles quickly downing the Linfield #1 team. However the doubles got real interesting as both #2 and #3 doubles went down to the wire. At #3 doubles freshman Dan "milkman" Wilson served for the match at 8-7 only to feel the pressure and dropped his service game at love. The Linfield team took advantage of the break to win the tie-breaker 8-6. With the doubles tied at 1-1 the doubles points came down to a serving slug fest at #2 doubles. With 4 guys serving huge on the quick courts there were no breaks of serve and the match went to a tie break. In that match Linfield senior Ian McGrath showed the depth of his character when he overruled his partner on a close call awarding the point to the Whitties. Its rare to see athletes make such a gesture little alone when it was in the tie-break of a tight match! Robbie and Christoph ended up winning that match to give us a 2-1 lead.

We had a bit more drama in the singles as Justin Hayashi needed to be pulled from the line-up because of a sore shoulder. This forced Dan to move into the #5 slot and sophomore Reid Bennett moved to #6.

In singles we were able to find our groove and win #1, #2, #3, #5 in straight sets. At #4 Christoph played a great match but ended up losing to a big serving John Roberts 11-9 in the match breaker. Christoph played a great match only getting broke once the entire match. The Linfield player simply served too well and possessed too much experience on the slick courts. Similarly Reid played a solid match but lost in straight sets to a two year Linfield letterman.

Leaving Linfield with any victory feels good. Beating them without our #2 doubles team and two singles players on those fast courts was a great effort.

The day wasn't over for the rookie team as they had to eat on the run and high tail it back to Portland to take Pacific. The rookies once again showed their promise defeating the Pacific team 9-0.

We are currently 11-2 overall and 10-0 in conference play. Our only two losses so far have been to the #75 team in DI and a tough UC Santa Cruz team (#7 NCAA III). Interesting to note that over the weekend UCSC defeated Emory (#1 team in the nation) 6-3 and Claremont (#3 in the nation) 9-0.

This Saturday we play at home against PLU at 9am, UPS at 2pm and will be sending a team to Spokane to play Whitworth at 10am.

Whitties go 2-1 Saturday

First day of the long weekend is over with the "Horde" going 2-1. We started off the day losing 5-2 to a very good U Portland team (#75 NCAA I). In doubles we played well at #1 and #3 -- in fact we were up breaks early in both those matches. In the end the Pilots were too tough for us sweeping all three doubles. In singles we were able to book end the Pilots winning at #1 (Phalkun) and #6 (Christoph).

After the UP we broke into two teams to play conference rivals Lewis and Clark College and George Fox. The "all freshman" team defeated much improved LC team 8-1 while the "experienced" team defeated George Fox 9-0.

Overall was a good day of tennis. We had the opportunity to play against one of the best DI teams in the nation and proved we could compete with them. The afternoon was a special treat breaking into different teams giving most everyone a chance to play.

The schedule for tomorrow (Sunday) is Willamette 10am (team freshman), Linfield 11am (team experience) and Pacific 3pm.

We great seeing Whitman Alumn's Kurt Casad, Dr Clifford Mah and Eric "Almost finished with PhD" Bartee.

U Portland
Doubles
#1 Steven Ly/Phalkun Mam lost to Sivkovic/Kennel 9-8
#2 Matt Solomon/Nadeem Kassam lost to Schleining/Jager 8-2
#3 Christoph Fuchs/Robbie Munday lost to Machado/Strom 8-6
Singles
#1 Phalkun def Strom 2-6, 6-3, 6-3
#2 Steven lost Jaeger 6-2, 6-3
#3 Robbie lost Kincaid 6-4, 6-3
#4 Matt lost Yemm 6-2, 6-2
#5 Justin Hayashi lost Schleining 6-3, 6-3
#6 Christoph def Kennell 4-2 ret

Lewis Clark College
Doubles
#1 Nadeem Kassam/Matt Solomon def Lindsay/Wheeler 8-1
#2 Jake Cappel/Jasper Follows lost to Allen/Rayn 9-8
#3 Thomas Roston/Robert Rye def Moller Davy 8-4
Singles
#1 Solomon def Allen 6-3, 6-2
#2 David Deming def Lindsay 6-2, 6-2
#3 Cappel def Wheeler 6-2, 6-3
#4 Follows def Ray 6-2, 6-2
#5 Kassam def Moller 6-0, 6-0
#6 Roston def Youmans 6-0, 6-0

George Fox
Doubles
#1 Steven Ly/Phalkun Mam def PEarson/Overnell 8-2
#2 Robbie Munday/Christoph Fuchs def Jenness/Vargas 8-1
#3 Dan Wilson/Justin Hayashi def McKenzie/Overnall 8-1
Singles
#1 Mam def Pearson 6-1, 6-1
#2 Ly def Schultz 6-1, 6-0
#3 Munday def Vargas 6-0, 6-1
#4 Hayashi def Overnall 6-0, 6-1
#5 Fuchs def Jenness 6-0, 6-2
#6 Wilson def Leon R 6-0, 6-0

Tennis Horde Set to Invade Portland

I'm not exactly sure how to describe our team anymore. In terms of tennis we are far too large to be a team: after all most tennis teams are made up of 6-8 players. Personally I don't like using military jargon such as troops or armies. So this week we are the Tennis Horde and we en route to Portland! This weekend the Horde will feature 14 players, 2 coaches playing 6 matches in two days. My plan for weekend is to split the team up into 2 groups to give players the players an opportunity to play in counting dual matches.

Because of project poor weather some of our match times and locations and have changed. The new schedule is:

Saturday
9am vs U of Portland
3pm vs Lewis Clark College (at LC bubble)
4pm vs George Fox (at Tualatin Parks and Rec)

Sunday
10am vs Willamette (at Courthouse)
11am vs Linfield (in Linfield fieldhouse)
3pm vs Pacific (at Tualatin Parks and Rec)

I'm not 100% positive on how I will break out the teams. But this is what I'm tentatively planning.
Saturday matches
UP - Phalkun, Steven, Matt, Justin, Robbie, Christoph, Nadeem
LC - Dan, Jake, David, Jasper, Thomas, Robert, Reid
George Fox - same group that played UP
Sundays matches (this is very tentative)
Willamette - Matt, Nadeem, Dan, Jake, Thomas, David, Reid
Linfield - Steven, Phalkun, Christoph, Robbie, Dan, Justin, Robert

If you are a fan or parent wondering where a particular player will be playing please give me an email in the evenings and I will try to respond.

Hope to see some Whitman shirts in the crowd this weekend!

Interesting Article in NY Times about DIII

The New York Times has a very interesting article about a growing rift at NCAA III institutions. I know at the annual NCAA conference there as been some talk about creating a NCAA IV or a new subset of NCAA III.

While I believe a majority of NCAA III schools are private Liberal Arts Colleges there is a growing swell of State schools joining the DIII ranks.


http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/13/sports/othersports/13ncaa.html?ex=1172120400&en=85994514d2cf7ec6&ei=5070&emc=eta1

Weekend Wrap Up

Well our fast start came to an end as we ran into the talented Slugs of Santa Cruz (#7 in nation). As with our previous four matches we got off to a quick start taking 2 of the 3 doubles giving us a 2-1 lead. The doubles teams of Steven/Phalkun and Nadeem/Matt remained undefeated on the year winning at #1 and #2 doubles respectively. We couldn't complete the sweep as a very tough #3 UCSC doubles team downed Robbie/Christoph 8-3. Still we were excited to go into the singles with the lead. However we got off to very slow starts in all the singles matches. In fact we quickly went down 1-4 in the first set in almost every match. The Santa Cruz fast start translated into 5 of the 6 singles victories for the Slugs giving them the match 6-3. Even though we got off to a slow start the Whitman guys rallied and made every match competitive. As a coach it made my heart warm to see the guys battling and supporting each other on the court. This team has a special team dynamic/bond that will only help us down the stretch. Kudos to Phalkun who bounced back from his tough defeat the earlier day to win in the #1 spot.

The matches over the weekend showed the strength and depth of the Whitman program. Last year we lost to UCSC without winning a set whereas this year we played them closer losing 6-3. Over the weekend we also beat defending the defending Northwest Conference (NWC) Champions PLU 7-2 (they defeated us twice last year), the NWC 3rd place team Linfield 8-1, the NWC 4th place team Whitworth 9-0, and the NWC 5th place team UPS 9-0. Our results from the weekend put us firmly on top of the Northwest Conference standings.

Overall it was a great weekend of play and quality team time. I actually can't remember having so much fun on a tennis road trip. I am incredibly blessed to have the opportunity to work/coach so many fantastic young men.

Oh, besides playing tennis I felt it was important for the rookie players to have some Vocational Education to go along with their Liberal Arts education. Here you can see Nadeem, Christoph and Matt getting the van ready for our drive home.Overall the rookies did a pretty good job with their duties. Hopefully their speed and efficiency will improve with more practice. It is after all a long season:)

You can view all the photos from our trip this weekend at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/77626588@N00/tags/tacoma2007/

Team Scores vs UCSC (#7 in Nation)
Doubles
#1 Ly/Mam def Ortiz/Pybas 8-6
#2 Kassam/Solomon def Villalobos/Liberty-Point 8-5
#3 Fuchs/Munday lost Kamel/Vartabedian 8-3
Singles
#1 Phalkun Mam def Jeff Fong 6-4, 5-7, 10-2
#2 Steven Ly lost to Jared Kamel 6-3, 6-2
#3 Robbie Munday lost to Max Ortiz 6-1, 6-4
#4 Matt Solomon lost to Brian Pybas 6-1, 6-4
#5 Justin Hayashi lost to Colin Mark-Griffin 6-1, 6-4
#6 Christoph Fuchs lost to Alex Villalobos 6-3, 6-4

Whitties pick up 2nd and 3rd win of the day

Sorry for the brief write up but it is late and we have a 9am match tomorrow against #7 UCSC.

Earlier in the day our teammates back home blanked the Whitworth Pirates 9-0. It speaks volumes about the depth of our team that we can leave half our team in Walla Walla and defeat the #4 in the conference without dropping a set. Here are the scores from that noon match.

Doubles:
1. Jake Cappel/Jasper Follows def Ed Anegon/Scott Donnell 8-6
2. Robert Rye/thomas Roston def Michael Carlson/Scott Bourne 8-5
3. David Deming/Reid Bennett def Colin Storm/Kellen Oetgen 8-1

Singles:
1. David Deming def Ed Anegon 6-3, 6-1
2. Jake Cappel def Michael Carlson 6-2, 6-0
3. Jasper Follows def Scott Donnell 6-2, 6-1
4. Thomas Roston def Scott Bourne 6-2, 6-4
5. Robert Rye def Kellen Oetgen 6-3, 6-3
6. Reid Bennet def Colin Storm 6-0, 6-0

In the night cap match in Tacoma the Missionaries defeated UPS 9-0.

Doubles
1. Steven Ly/Phalkun Mam def Nick Amlund/Jamie Hosmer 8-1
2. Matt Solomon/Nadeem Kassam def Sam McCollogh/Andrew Oates 8-2
3. Robbie Munday/Christoph Fuchs def Andrew Neal/Kai Sato 8-5

Singles
1. Robbie Munday def Andrew Neal 6-1, 6-0
2. Matt Solomon def Nick Amlund 6-1, 6-0
3. Justin Hayashi def Sam McCullugh 6-4, 6-4
4. Christoph Fuchs def Jamie Hosmer 6-4, 1-6, 10-7
5. Dan Wilson def Kai Sato 6-2, 6-1
6. Nadeem Kassam def Zac Taylor 6-1, 6-2

Fuchs helps power Whitman past #19 PLU

As I mentioned last night I'm not exactly a big fan of the 9 point scoring system. I feel it places too much emphasis on the doubles "sets" and devalues the meaning of full singles matches. However after our last two matches I've certainly enjoyed going up 3-0 after the doubles. This morning we swept the doubles losing only 9 games in the 3 sets. Phalkun and Steven played a solid match defeating the #9 doubles team in the region 8-1. Number 3 doubles (Christoph and Robbie) kept the ball rolling with a quick 8-3 win and the sweep was complete when Matt and Nadeem came back from a break down to win 8-5 at #2 doubles.

Most the singles matches had big momentum shifts and lead changes. Although we didn't necessarily play our best singles the guys hustled and competed well. I was impressed with how well the guys handled the pressure of playing on the road in front a large and noisy PLU crowd. The PLU guys played well today and none more so that their #3 player Jeff Loranger. The PLU player has certainly stepped up his game the past year and defeating Robbie Munday in 3 sets. Our other loss in singles was at #1 where Phalkun dropped a tough three-setter to ex-Whitman player David Miller.

Big thanks to the Whitman Women's Basketball team who came to our early morning match to support the team. It is one of the many things that makes Whitman such a special place -- the student-athletes all know each other and support each other. We are going to return the favor this afternoon when they play UPS. Was also a treat to see Ye-San Lin and Graham Sumioka at the match.

Our next match is 8pm tonight against UPS.

Doubles
#1 Steven Ly/Phalkun Mam def David Miller/Justin Larimore 8-1
#2 Nadeem Kassam/Matt Solomon def Justin Peterson/Jeff Loranger 8-5
#3 Robbie Munday/Christoph Fuchs def Jared Vidano/Kevin Floyd 8-3
Singles
#1 Phalkun Mam lost to David Miller 5-7, 7-4, 6-3
#2 Steven Ly def Kevin Floyd 7-5, 6-1
#3 Robbie Munday lost to Jeff Loranger 6-1, 5-7, 6-1
#4 Matt Solomon def Justin Larimore 2-6, 6-3, 6-4
#5 Justin Hayashi def Justin Peterson 6-2, 7-5
#6 Christoph Fuchs def Jared Vidano 6-4, 6-3

Whitman 7 PLU 2

Solomon powers Whitman past Linfield

We opened our season this afternoon vs conference opponent Linfield. We were a bit lucky with the scheduling of the match as Linfield had just finished a tough 5-4 loss to PLU. Our fresh legs were a bit much for the Wildcats as we battled to a 8-1 win.

Scoring is a bit different this year in NCAA III tennis. We are now playing a 9 point system where each doubles set counts for a point. While I'm not in favor of the scoring change I think it plays into our strength. In practice we have been working on doubles and the importance of getting out to a fast start. This work paid off as we swept all three doubles matches. Leading the charge was the freshman dynamic duo of Matt Solomon and Nadeem Kassam who cruised to 8-0 win at #2 doubles. Christoph Fuchs and Robbie Munday quickly followed with an 8-2 victory. Steven Ly and Phalkun Mam are struggling a bit with the flu but managed to squeak out an 8-6 at #1 doubles.

Because of the flu Steven pulled himself out of the singles so we were forced to move everyone up a spot in the line-up. Robbie responded to the challenge of playing #2 and was the first off the court with a solid 6-3, 6-1 victory. Matt sealed the match for Whitman with his first dual match win -- 6-0, 6-3 at #3 singles. What a nice way for the freshman to start his college dual match career: an 8-0 win in doubles followed by singles win that clinched the dual match. We also posted victories at #1 (Phalkun) 6-0, 6-4, #4 (Justin Hayashi) 6-4, 6-4, and #5 (Christoph Fuchs) 6-0, 6-2. Our only set back of the night was a 6-3, 6-1 loss at #6 (Dan Wilson).

Tomorrow is an important day for the Missionaries as we play defending conference champion PLU (#19 in nation) at 8am followed by an 8pm nightcap against host UPS.

Doubles
#1 Steven Ly/Phalkun Mam def Gabrielson/Anderson 8-6
#2 Nadeem Kassam/Matt Solomon def McGrath/Roberts 8-0
#3 Christoph Fuchs/Robbie Munday def Minice/Ruess 8-2
Singles
#1 Phalkun Mam def Ian McGrath 6-0, 6-4
#2 Robbie Munday def Cole Shelton 6-3, 6-1
#3 Matt Solomon def John Roberts 6-0, 6-3
#4 Justin Hayashi def Wes Gabrielson 6-4, 6-4
#5 Christoph Fuchs def Kyle Anderson 6-0, 6-2
#6 Dan Wilson lost Nick Ruess 6-3, 6-1

Opening Weekend!

And we are off! Today we leave for our matches of the year. This weekend we are playing four matches at the UPS indoor courts: Friday 4pm vs Linfield (#3 team in conference), Saturday 8am vs PLU (defending conference champions #19 in nation), Saturday 8pm vs UPS (#5 team in the conference) and Sunday 9am vs UC Santa Cruz (#7 in the nation). We also playing Whitworth at home Saturday at noon. Yes we will have to be at two places at the same time! More on this later.

I can't begin to express my enthusiasm for the upcoming season. Given our mix of talent and experience I feel this could be a banner year for the Whitties. The team features 3 seniors (Phalkun Mam, Steven Ly, and Robbie Munday) whom combined have won over 300 matches for Whitman. Both Phalkun and Robbie are on track to surpass Tim Mullin's Whitman record of 149 wins. Will this be the year that Tim's amazing record is broken?

Besides our wealth of experience the team also features a lot of young talent. Sophomore Justin Hayashi is coming into his game and playing some great tennis right now. It has been a pleasure to see the jump in Justin's playing and confidence. As a freshman last year Justin's game was often rocky: he would go through streaks of good and bad tennis. This year he has been nothing but solid and is currently playing his best tennis. The ground has certainly been fertile in the Walla Walla Valley because we had a bountiful crop of freshman talent the like of which has never been seen! Matt "the Bear" Solomon leads the charge of the freshman. Besides being a talented doubles player, Matt is showing he deserves a spot near the top of the Whitman line-up. Christoph "the transfer" Fuchs is another newcomer that will start the year out in the top 6. Christoph brings a very aggressive style of play to the courts; in fact, I think he is the first true net rusher the team has had in many years. With his talents at net, serve and physical size Christoph is an impact in doubles. Rounding out our trip to Tacoma will be freshman Dan "I don't have a nickname" Wilson and Nadeem "Deemer" Kassam. Although Dan will see limited action this weekend I have to say he has been one of the more pleasant coaching surprises I have had at Whitman. Dan possesses the "surf and turf" game of big serve and big forehand. With his competitive spirit (I love the way he competes) I have no doubt Dan is going to blossom into a top notch player. Deemer won't see much singles time this weekend but he will be a huge part of the team with his doubles play. He and the Bear won the Fall ITA regional tournament and start the year out ranked #5 in the West region. After our fall season, Deemer took a few months off to rehab sore knees. Because of his long break from tennis his game isn't quite where he would like it to be. However I expect we will be seeing great things out of him by the end of the season.

The weekend gets more interesting as a second group of players will be staying in Walla Walla to play Whitworth (#4 in conference) Saturday at noon. This is the first time I've EVER taken a group of players on the road and had another team stay at home to play! This is a great experience for guys on the team to get in quality matches. Leading the home group will be freshman David "papa smurf" Deming. David has worked hard over the course of the year and would get my vote for most improved. I know its hard to have a most improved when we haven't started playing, but regardless he gets my vote! Also anchoring the top of the line-up versus Whitworth is Jake "Jakegalos" Cappel. Jake is another member of the talented freshman class. If someone would of told me at the beginning of the school year that Jake and David were playing #5 and #6 for us I would be thrilled! Both of these young men are awesome individuals and talented players. Fans of Whitman tennis should keep their eyes on these two men. Another duo of freshman will be playing #3 and #4 on Saturday. Jasper Follows is another pleasant surprise this year. Although Jasper looks like a 14 year old chess champion this guy can flat out play (sorry Jasper Steven made me say that!) Jasper is very solid in every aspect of the game. He has the ability to move the ball around and pop the ball on his forehand and serve. Thomas Roston figures to play #4 on Saturday. Thomas possess one of the most graceful one-handed backhands I've seen in a while. Given his natural athletic ability and good instincts at the net Thomas figures to get plenty of playing time this season. Rounding out our match with Whitworth are returning players Robert "roro" Rye and Reid "professor" Bennett. At the end of last year Robert was one of the biggest surprises on the team. At the conference tournament last year I juggled our doubles line-ups and inserted RoRo into the #2 slot. During that tournament Robert played as well as anyone on the team! He was a beast at the net closing off the middle and sticking his volleys. In the Fall ITA Regional tournament Robert beat a good #1 player from one of our conference competitors -- that is how deep this team is! The "Professor" has been working very hard this year and has shown steady improvement in his game. Being around a large group of good players has elevated Reid's game. Reid possesses a big serve and solid groundstrokes. Hopefully given the chance to play a lot of matches this year will give him some court confidence and needed experience.

Should be a great weekend of play. If you are in the Seattle area I hope you will swing by the UPS courts for one or all of our matches. If you are Walla Walla there is still an opportunity to watch some great tennis as we play Whitworth on Saturday.