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.