Congratulations Jasper!

Cool Shades Jasper!
Originally uploaded by jeffnortham

Jasper (class 2010) recently decided to attend Dental school at University of Melbourne in Australia! Jasper reports he is excited to see a new part of the world and study in a new environment. Special opportunity for Jasper as British Columbia and Australia have reciprocal agreement for Dental school. This means after graduation Jasper can return home to practice Dentistry.

For the Whitman tennis family this is pretty special as Jasper is the 4th member of the team to start Medical/Dental school this year!
Jasper Follow - DDS University of Melbourne
Thomas Roston - DR University of British Columbia
Reid Bennett - DR Dartmouth
Christoph Fuchs - DR Baylor

Community Service

Friday the Fighting Squirrels had the opportunity to show their community spirit by helping with the Walla Walla Downtown Foundation's annual trick-or-treat event. This event is truly a special Walla Walla event. Each year the downtown merchants hand out candy to the youngsters of Walla Walla. It is estimated that 3,000-4,000 dressed up kids show up for this event!

With so many kids in costumes (difficult to see) and the sheer volume of people, safety is always a concern. To help out members of the team served as crossing guards at several of the major downtown intersections. Coach even got into the spirit of Halloween and threw on the Fighting Squirrel outfit for the day!

Pumpkin Carving!

Halloween is the time of a great tradition on the Whitman campus -- no not trick-or-treating downtown, not costume parties, but rather the men's tennis team annual pumpkin carving! As is the annual tradition with this event my children pick their favorite pumpkins as winners. The team is full of bright young men who over the years have come to realize the way to pumpkin carving victory was to carve anything that resembled something to do with Pokeman. Anything Pokeman and my kids loved it. Either my kids have matured (they are 12 and 8) or Pokeman is starting to lose its popularity because this is the first year a Pokeman themed pumpkin didn't win.

This year's winners of the Annalise award for Outstanding Pumpkin Carving goes to -- Jeff Tolman and Will Huskey for Lion howling in the moon! And the Benjamin award for Mastery of all things Pumpkin goes to Nasko (for his batman rendition). Note this was especially sweet award for the Bulgarian since he is new to art of pumpkin carving.

I also prepared a HUGE beef brisket in my smoker (15 pounds) for the team to enjoy after the

pumpkin carving. As you can see from the picture it was one massive piece of meat! Everyone raved about the dinner but I'm beginning to think if I BBQ any type of meat the guys on the team will devour it and claim it was amazing food. Something about college guys and food..they never seem to get enough!

ITA Small College National Championship

One of the fun things about traveling is the sense adventure. Playing tennis has provided Whitman players (and myself) a great opportunity to explore new parts of the country. This week I was lucky enough to travel to Mobile, AL with Conor and Andrew as well as Coach John, Alyssa Roberg and Elise Otto of the women's team. Because of the nature of tennis scheduling we really never to get travel or play at the same time as the Women's team. It was a special treat traveling and hanging out as a group.

The trip to Mobile was certainly an adventure -- especially for our talented freshman Andrew La Cava. Prior to the trip Andrew spend almost the entire week in the Whitman health center or the ER. Unfortunately he caught some bug and had a temperature of 103.6. Needless to say he was down and out for the entire week prior to the trip. By the end of the week I was worried if he was going to be able to make the trip. Luckily by Sunday he was feeling well enough to check out of the health center and get in a few practice sessions.

We are very fortunate that Whitman's October break is the same week as the tournament. Since there are no classes on Monday or Tuesday there is a bit less academic stress surrounding the tournament. Still a lot for the players to manage but something that is doable. Our trip started very early Tuesday morning as we all met at 4am to drive to Pasco for our 6am flight. As usual all the players carried their tennis bags onto the flight. As we boarded the jet the players dropped their bags off on the Ala Cart luggage rack and away we went to Denver. At Denver we got off the jet and waited for the racket bags to come off the Ala Cart rack. We watched as the bags unloaded the plane (and sat in the rain) and then were reloaded into the plane! As we were sitting at the gate Coach John ran back down the jet way to find out why the bags were put back on the plane. Apparently this is something you aren't suppose to do as the gate agent started running after him yelling, and I'm not kidding, "Jimmin Christmas you can go back on the plane!"

We made it to New Orleans but unfortunately our bags didn't. Too make matters even worse there was no way to track our bags since they weren't checked. The nice United travel person said they would probably be in on the 6pm flight. Since it was only 1pm and we wanted to get to Mobile to hit we split up: I drove all the players to Mobile (about 2.5 hours) and Coach John stayed behind for the tennis bags.

Once we were at Mobile we had to deal with the logistics of hitting without tennis equipment. We ended up demoing some rackets from the local tennis shop, buying a couple pairs of shoes, borrowing a pair of shoes (luckily Coach John and Andrew have the same shoe size), and borrowing some clothing (I had my bag of tennis stuff). It was very cool to see how the players handled this situation. They had fun with the situation and ended up having a pretty good hit that evening. To finish off our day of adventure Coach John called saying all our stuff had arrived and he was on the road to Mobile.

On Wednesday we had play-in matches against the singles and doubles winner of the Texas region. Since the ITA has Texas and the PNW making up a section (strange geographic mix) the two regional winners playoff to make the final 8. In the morning Andrew faced off against Bobby Cocanougher who is an experienced senior from Trinity. In the first set Andrew forced an early break going up 3-1. At that point the Trinity senior raised his level of play to reel off 6 straight games going up 6-3, 1-0 (up a break). Big props to our freshman he didn't get discouraged and battled hard taking the 2nd set 6-4. The 3rd set went down to the wire. Andrew was serving at 5-5 and had an unfortunate game: second guessed a volley and pushed it long, missed an overhead that was in the sun, a net cord winner from his opponent and he was broken. Cocanougher served out the match for a hard fought 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 victory.

After an hour break Andrew team-up with Conor Holton-Burke to face Cocanougher and Kowal of Trinity. We knew this was going to be a tough match -- Cocanougher/Kowal have played together for 4-years and had great results. In fact last year they lost in the NCAA doubles final and two years ago they lost in the semi-finals. Going into the year they are the undisputed #1 doubles team in DIII. In the first set the Trinity duo outplayed Andrew/Conor -- they several chances to break Conor/Andrew (in fact in one game Conor served at 0-40) and the closest we got to break was one game that went to 30-30. Then a funny thing happened in the tiebreaker: we ripped off 6 straight points and took the 1st set 7-6. The second set was a reversal of the 1st. Now we were holding serve easy and having break points. In fact Andrew/Conor broke pretty early in the match to go up 3-2. They held that lead through the set and Andrew served for the match 5-3. The Trinity guys rose to the challenge nailing returns and broke at love. Just like the 1st set the 2nd set came down to a tiebreak. We had a match point on Trinity's serve at 5-6 in the breaker but missed the return. However we won the next point going up 7-6 with Conor serving. Our guys play I, Conor nails a big 1st serve, and Andrew moves to intercept the weak reply with a forehand volley and then a funny thing happened -- he carved the ball too fine and misses the volley. With new life the Trinity team wins the next two points stealing the set and more importantly the momentum. In the 3rd set match breaker the Trinity duo went up a mini-break early and never looked back winning 10-6. Tough, tough match with the Trinity team escaping with a 6-7, 7-6, 10-6 win.

Obviously Andrew/Conor are disappointed losing that match. However I have to say that it was one of the best doubles matches I've seen. Both teams played great pushing each other to great heights. Also great to see the wonderful sportsmanship displayed by both teams. Not sure about the Trinity team but I know Andrew/Conor felt like they had made new friends after that doubles match. My feelings about the doubles match were confirmed when Mr Kowal came over and told me that he has been watching DIII tennis for almost 4 years and that was the best DIII doubles match he had ever seen.

I should mention that yesterday the Trinity team won the DIII title knocking off Emory's #1 team 6-2, 6-2 in the finals. We wish them the best of luck in the Super Bowl play off this weekend.

Even though we dropped two close matches I, and the players, come away from the ITA's with the belief we can compete with anyone in DIII. I know this experience will prime the pump of passion and drive our guys to work hard this off season. Even though we lost 7 seniors to graduation I feel the Fighting Squirrels will have a special year.

An outdoor team adventure!

Over the weekend we had our annual team backpacking trip. For some on the team it was their first time camping and for many it was their first time backpacking. For me the backpacking trip is a combination of two things I love -- coaching and exploring the outdoors. I find this trip to be a very powerful team experience. There is nothing like sitting around a campfire while being miles away from other people and at a place where there is no cell phone service, no electricity, no email, no twitter or facebook. Freshman Will Husky summed it well when in the middle of trip he made the observation "I never realized how noisy my life is."

The spot I picked for this year's trip was the Elk Flats trail which is deep within the Wenaha Wilderness area. A Wilderness Area is a federally protected tract of land where the use of mechanized equipment is prohibited -- even the use of a bicycle is forbidden. The only way into such areas are on horseback or on foot. At the base of Elk Flats the North and South Fork of the Wenaha run to together to form the main Wenaha. Its a beautiful but long hike (5 miles). I also like the "pacing" of this trail. The first and last third of the trail are pretty steep whereas the middle third is pretty flat which allows for easier walking. Another reason I decided on Elk Flats is that I'm pretty familiar with the area. Earlier in the year I had done two different overnight backpacking trips on this trail. During my previous treks I was lucky enough to have seen a wide variety of wildlife including a small herd of elk, deer, and a mother bear with her cub.

For this trip I decided to drive the team up Mill Creek and along the top of the Blue Mountains. Besides being a stunning drive it is actually a shorter drive than taking the maintained mountain roads. However part of the road along the top of the Blues isn't maintained and is very rocky and rutted in places. For the trip we a rented Surburan and took my '85 Jeep CJ7. Over the years I have been rebuilding my Jeep as a mountain vehicle and was confident it could make it across the high mountain road. However I wasn't so sure about the newer Surburan. My fears of the Surburan proved to be true as it's tires couldn't handle the mountain road. Luckily I've had plenty experience changing flat tires on my trips in the Wenaha (8 flats now and counting) and am comfortable changing a flat.

Once to the top of Elk Flats and got all the gear situated and packs adjusted we headed down the trail. I was hoping we would come across some wildlife on our hike but 10 guys hiking together make a fair amount of noise and I'm sure any animal within miles scampered off before we got close.

Once at camp we had a few hours of daylight left to set up tents, gather firewood for the night, and explorer the area. I find it a good experience for guys to learn how to set up a tent. I also find it amusing to watch people who have never set up a tent wrestle with poles, move tents about and try to figure out how everything goes together. I don't find it so amusing getting out of my tent and warm sleeping bag to help someone put on a rain fly (you're welcome).

For dinner I made a mess of fajitas over the camp fire. The day prior to the trip I cooked up (and froze) steak and chicken for dinner. To save time while camping I also sliced up onions, a variety of peppers, and jalapeños. To complete dinner preparations I used a food dehydrator on several containers of salsa. I have never used a dehydrator and was surprised how well salsa dehydrated.

As far as dinner was concerned let me state it was hectic cooking for 10 people over a campfire! I had several things going at once with minimal equipment: water boiling to make rice, reconstituting the salsa, cooking beans over the fire, and had 2 big Fry Bakes (which are awesome for camping) going with steak and chicken fajitas. Not to brag but the dinner was awesome and guys wolfed down 5 pounds of the steak fajitas and about 3 pounds of chicken. And of course for dessert we made s'mores over the campfire.

Darkness comes quick and heavy when in the wilderness. After dinner we sat around the campfire sharing stories and chatting about everything - girls, tennis, life. As everyone was getting ready for bed a few guys took advantage of the surroundings and walked over to a near-by clearing to watch the stars. It is amazing how bright the night sky is when there are no lights within 20 miles!

Sunday morning everyone woke up on their time. I was the first up about 8am and others (Will and Etienne) slept in until 11am. Once everyone was up we wandered down to the S Fork of the Wenaha to explore around the water. I dared a couple people to wade across the stream in their bare feet. In the end only Andrew and Will made it across the small stream. For the rest that attempted the wade it was simply too cold and they turned back (or in Etienne's case he fell down). For the record the stream is pretty chilly. In August I measured the water temp in the heat of the day and found it be about 52. My best guess is the water temp that morning was in the high 40's.

Once we cleaned up camp making sure we left no trace it was time for the pack out. Its MUCH harder packing everything uphill and the hike really took its toll on me. I'm in nowhere near the shape of the young guys it took me nearly 2 hours to make the pack out. Conor and Steve decided to use the hike as an opportunity for conditioning and jogged part way (with packs) and made it in 1 hour 10 mins!

Drive back to Walla Walla was uneventful. Since we were down a spare on the Surburan we took the "maintained" route back to town. Luckily we made it back without blowing out anymore tires!

I posted pictures on my flickr page. I'll try to post video from the trip later this week. Lastly I should mentioned we were lucky enough to convince '09 alum Justin Hayashi to join us on the trip. He is part of the Boeing management program and was visiting Whitman over the weekend to recruit for Boeing.

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

Adriel's band releases first album

First album released by Whitman student band, Dabbles in Bloom

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Tuesday, Jul 27, 2010

From left to right: Adriel Borshansky, Rimmy Doowa, Robby Seager, Jonas Myers. Photos courtesy of Dabbles in Bloom.

The popular Whitman College music group, Dabbles in Bloom, has reached a musical milestone with the release of its first album, featuring the combined talents of band membersAdriel Borshansky ’12, Rimmy Doowa ’12, Robby Seager ’13 and Jonas Myers ’13. The album, titled, “Found It,” includes 11 original songs from the “jazz-influenced, indie-pop” band, and is now available for purchase from the iTunes Store, Amazon.com and other online music retailers.

Listen to a track from the CD
“Greetings”

The band’s new release, which features original cover art by Markel Uiru ’11, celebrates the fruitful collaboration of four Whittie musicians — and friends — who truly enjoy creating together. Though Borshansky and Doowa have collaborated musically for more than two years, Seager and Myers joined the group less than six months ago, quickly adding their own layers to the band’s unique, quirky style. “It’s been less than a year, but it feels like we’ve been playing together forever. We all just clicked right away,” Borshansky said.

Borshansky, a Ridgewood, N.J., native who plans to major in religion, is the band’s lead singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional piano player. Doowa, an economics major from Bangkok, Thailand, sings, develops musical concepts and plays several unique Indian and Thai instruments. On piano, keyboards and occasional bass is Myers, hailing from the Seattle area, who is still determining his major. Also from the Seattle area is Seager, the band’s drummer, who plans to study economics and mathematics.

“I chose Whitman College because of the amazingly diverse, inspired and energetic student body. I joined the band for the same reasons,” Seager said. “Adriel, Rimmy and Jonas all have such compelling, creative energy – and our different backgrounds complement each other musically and personally.

“Practicing with Dabbles in Bloom is similar to Whitman academics: One moment you're enjoying life to the fullest, and the next you realize that the whole time you've actually been getting things accomplished, too!”

In short order, these bright young musicians have swiftly carved out a place in Whitman’s entertainment scene, playing lively concerts at a number of the college’s fraternities and interest house gatherings last year. Though Borshansky will study abroad in Nepal this fall, he said the band will continue making music while he’s away.

“Dabbles in Bloom will definitely storm the campus when I get back this spring,” he said, referring to future concerts, including a large show the band hopes to play in the Reid Campus Center’s Young Ballroom.

While this is the first recorded album for the group, in 2009, Borshansky, with creative support from Doowa, had the opportunity to write and record a solo song for award-winning filmmaker Dana H. Glazer. Borshansky was commissioned to create a song for the soundtrack of “Evolution of Dad,” Glazer’s feature documentary, released in May 2010, about the changing role of fatherhood.

“It was an interesting experience for me,” Borshansky said. “Especially because I had never been asked to write a song for a specific subject, let alone something I couldn’t really relate to.”

The song, titled, “I Stepped Down,” was featured in the film and released in April as Borshansky’s first single. The track also appears on “Found It.”

While Dabbles in Bloom enjoy a growing following of fans, the members work to enjoy their time performing together without putting too much pressure on the future of the band.

“Who knows what will happen? There are infinite directions for us,” Borshansky said. “We’re just waiting to see what happens, and we’re letting our listeners determine that for us.”

Matt Solomon beats Maria Sharapova!!

Pretty funny story/video. Upon graduation Matt landed a job with IMG and has been working on the WTA Bank of the West tournament all summer. Besides his normal duties, Matt had the opportunity to play Sharapova in a point while dressed up has Bank of the West "Bear". Matt used the opportunity to ham it up a bit. Fortunately his sister took video of the event and put it on youtube.

Check out the video here

Christoph 1st team Academic All-American!

As a capstone to a stellar academic and athletic career, Whitman College tennis player Christoph Fuchs has earned Academic All-America First-Team honors.

Christoph Fuchs

Fuchs, a four-year mainstay in the Whitman tennis lineup, graduated magna cum laude in late May with honors in his biology major.

The Academic All-America first, second and third teams, sponsored byESPN The Magazine, are selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America.

Fuchs, who was part of three Northwest Conference (NWC) title teams at Whitman, is one of 17 student athletes voted to the men's At-Large Team in the College Division.

The At-Large Team represents a number of sports, including tennis, swimming and golf, while the College Division includes all schools affiliated with NCAA Divisions II and III and the NAIA.

Whitman students have earned Academic All-America honors 10 times since the school began submitting nominations in 2003. Fuchs is the first Whitman athlete, however, to receive first-team recognition at the national level.

More than 30 Whitman athletes have received all-district honors in recent years.

Fuchs travels to Houston, Texas, later this summer to begin medical school studies at the Baylor College of Medicine, which is part of the Texas Medical Center, the largest such center in the world.

In his four seasons at Whitman, Fuchs was part of a men's tennis squad that posted an overall win-loss record of 90-27, which included a 64-0 regular season mark against NWC teams. Whitman advanced to the NCAA Division III national championship tournament in each of those four seasons.

Fuchs made his share of contributions on the tennis courts, winning more than 100 career matches in singles and doubles.

"I want to say how thankful I am to my coach (Jeff Northam), teammates, Whitman athletics, and the Whitman faculty for a wonderful four years on the court and in the classroom," Fuchs said Monday. "I also want to say a special thank-you to my parents who sacrificed so much to help me achieve my goals."

Valerie Fuchs and Dr. Axel Fuchs, who live in La Center, Wash., have home schooled each of their four children. Dr. Fuchs, a graduate of the medical school at Germany's University of Dusseldorf, is an obstetrician-gynecologist.

Christoph Fuchs

Following his sophomore year at Whitman, Fuchs spent a summer as a volunteer nurse's aide at a hospital in Offenburg, Germany. His work ranged from basic patient care to making rounds with doctors and observing surgeries.

A year later, Fuchs received funding from the Whitman Undergraduate Research program to assist with breast cancer research at the University of Lousiville's Brown Cancer Center. His research that summer was the basis for his honors thesis on estrogen receptor protein modifications.

Fuchs was elected a year ago to Phi Beta Kappa, the national academic honor society. While at Whitman, he volunteered at a local AIDS clinic and for the Friends of Walla Walla, a group that mentors at-risk youth.

Last month, Fuchs was named Scholar-Athlete of the Year at the Blue Mountain Sports Awards, an awards program for high school and college student athletes in the Walla Walla Valley. The awards program is run by the Walla Walla Union-Bulletinnewspaper.

Fuchs was eligible for the Academic All-America Team based on his election earlier this spring to the Academic All-District First Team for 11 western states and British Columbia.

A year ago, following his junior season, Fuchs earned Academic All-District recognition and then was voted to the Academic All-America Third Team.

Fuchs is the second Whitman tennis player to earn Academic All-America honors in back-to-year years.Brad Changstrom '05 earned third-team recognition as a junior and senior.

Last fall, following the most prolific soccer scoring season at Whitman in two decades, seniorCorina Gabbert was voted to the Academic All-America Second Team.

Whitman is the top-ranked liberal arts and sciences college in the Northwest, according to the annual U.S. News and World Report survey of colleges and universities.

Since starting its program in 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic All-America honors on more than 15,000 student athletes in all NCAA championship sports.

Congratulations to Charlie Larson

Hardy congratulations to Whitman tennis alumni Charlie Larson ('99) for receiving his PhD in Biochemistry from Washington State University! Charlie reports that he has "decided to accept a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institutes of Health, Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton, MT. I am pretty excited to take the next step in my career and to move out of Pullman. More importantly, RML is one of the top infectious disease labs in the country/world. I’ll be working with Bob Heinzen on Coxiella burnetti (a pathogenic bacteria)".

Now that Charlie is in Hamilton (a great fly fishing area) he might get some unannounced visits from his old college coach!

Reid goes to Dartmouth Medical School!

I recently received word that Reid Bennett '09 was accepted to Dartmouth Medical school! I hate to sound like a proud parent but that is the third Whitman tennis alumni entering medical school this year -- Christoph Fuchs at Baylor, Thomas Roston at University of British Columbia, and Reid at Dartmouth.

Good luck and congratulations to all three!

Solomon falls in National Tournament

WALLA WALLA, Wash. -- A lost service game early in the first set proved costly as Whitman College senior Matt Solomon dropped a 6-4, 6-2 decision to Williams College senior Nick Lebedoff in this morning's opening round of the NCAA Division III National Tennis Singles Championship Tournament.

The 32-player singles tournament, taking place at Ohio's Oberlin College, continues through Sunday.


Matt Solomon
"It was a thrill to be invited to this tournament, but I definitely didn't play my best today," Solomon said. "This obviously wasn't the outcome I was expecting and wanted."

The difference in the first set came early, when Solomon dropped his first service game. After that the two players held serve until Lebedoff finished off his 6-4 first-set victory.

"I kept trying to change tactics to get back into the match, but I felt a little off my game the whole way," Solomon said. "I felt good from a physical standpoint, but I wasn't hitting through the ball as well as I can."

Lebedoff advances to play a second-round match today against the survivor of a first-round match between Chris Goodwin (Emory University) and Scott Sundstrom (Luther College).

The tournament continues Saturday with quarterfinal and semifinal matches. The championship finale is set for Sunday.

Solomon, a senior, is one of seven West Coast players -- but the only one from the Pacific Northwest -- invited to the singles championship. Invitations were issued to players based on win-loss records, rankings and strength of opposition.

Solomon, who has played No. 1 singles for Whitman since his sophomore season, led Whitman to a third consecutive Northwest Conference title this spring. He is a two-time NWC Player of the Year and was named the 2010 winner of Whitman's R.V. Borleske Trophy, which is presented annually to the top male athlete on campus.

"What a great season and great career Matt has had," Whitman coach Jeff Northam said. "He's had a huge impact on our team and athletic program in general.

"Our men's tennis program is stronger right now than it's ever been in my many years of coaching, and Matt is a big reason why that's the case."

Solomon is the first Whitman player to compete in the national singles championships since May of 2006, when Steven Ly got an invite to cap his junior season.

Tim Mullin made the national singles tournament in both 2001 and 2002. Mullin and Eric Bartee competed in the doubles championship bracket in 2000.

Solomon got his senior season off to a strong start last fall by winning the ITA's Pacific Northwest NCAA Division III singles title for a third consecutive season. He advanced to the ITA's National Small College Championships, where he won two of his four matches against other regional champs.

Solomon, who graduated from Whitman last Sunday with a degree in economics, starts work next Tuesday with IMG, the world's premier and most diversified sports, entertainment and media company.

Solomon, who is from Los Altos, Calif., will be working in IMG's San Francisco office, helping prepare for 40th annual Bank of the West Classic, which starts July 26 at Stanford University. The classic is the longest-running women-only professional tennis tournament in the world and the first stop of the Olympus U.S. Open Series.

Fuchs Named to ESPN The Magazine's Academic Team!

WALLA WALLA, Wash. -- Christoph Fuchs, a graduating senior on the Whitman College men's tennis team, has been voted for a second consecutive year to ESPN The Magazine's Academic All-District At-Large First Team.


Christoph Fuchs
Fuchs, who helped Whitman win its third straight Northwest Conference (NWC) title earlier this spring, is one 10 athletes chosen for the men's at-large team in the College Division of District VIII.

The district includes all NCAA Div. II/Div. III and NAIA schools in the states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Alaska, Hawaii, California, Utah, Nevada and Arizona, as well as British Columbia.

The at-large teams represent student athletes in a variety of sports, including golf, skiing, gymnastics, ice hockey, swimming, lacrosse and tennis.

Players on all-district at-large teams from around the nation are now eligible for election to the Academic All-America team. Fuchs was voted to the All-America Second Team a year ago.

The College Sports Information Directors of America administers the nominating and voting process for the Academic All-America program, which is in its 59th year and has honored about 15,000 students at all levels for all recognized NCAA sports.

Fuchs, a member of the Phi Beta Kappa national academic honor society, graduates from Whitman this Sunday and begins medical school studies later this summer at the Baylor College of Medicine. He and three siblings were home schooled by their parents, Valerie and Dr. Alex Fuchs of La Center, Wash.


Christoph Fuchs at Baylor College of Medicine
Fuchs is one of seven graduating seniors on the men's tennis team who sailed through four seasons at Whitman without losing a single regular season match to a Northwest Conference team. Whitman's win-loss record during those four seasons was 64-0.

Fuchs was a consistent winner in his time at Whitman, collecting more than 100 victories in singles and doubles.

A biology major with a minor in chemistry, Fuchs received Whitman Undergraduate Research funding two summers ago to work on breast cancer research at the University of Louisville’s Brown Cancer Center. His research that summer was the basis of his honors thesis on estrogen receptor protein modifications.

In the summer of 2007, Fuchs was a volunteer nurse's aide at a hospital in Offenburg, Germany, as part of a program required of German students for medical school eligibility. Fuchs, who is fluent in German, handled duties ranging from feeding patients and taking vital signs to shadowing physicians on their rounds and assisting with surgeries.

While at Whitman, Fuch has been a volunteer for a local AIDS clinic as well as the Friends of Walla Walla, which mentors at-risk youth.

Earlier this week, Fuchs was named Scholar-Athlete of the Year at the Blue Mountain Sports Awards, an awards program for high school and college student-athletes in the Walla Walla Valley. The awards program is run by the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin newspaper.

Whitman is the top liberal arts & sciences college in the Northwest, according to the annual U.S. News & World Report survey of colleges and universities.

Congratulations Thomas Roston!

Graduating senior Thomas Roston recently received notice that he was selected to enter the University of British Columbia Medical school! Thomas is very excited to be going back home (Vancouver, BC) to start the next part of his education.

With Christoph Fuchs going to Baylor to this fall that means that two members of the Whitman tennis team class of 2010 will be entering Medical school this fall. It is rare for students to gain admission to medical school immediately upon graduation. Most students end up working for a few years, improving their resume, and MCAT scores before gaining admission to Medical School. It speaks volumes of Thomas's and Christoph's dedication and hard work to get admitted immediately after graduation.

Big congratulations!

Matt Solomon -- R.V. Borleske award!

WALLA WALLA, Wash. -- Matt Solomon, a two-time Northwest Conference Player of the Year in men's tennis, is the 2010 winner of the R.V. Borleske Trophy, which is presented annually to the top male athlete at Whitman College.

The trophy, which is awarded by a vote of the Whitman coaching staff, recognizes athletic ability and accomplishments, leadership and sportsmanship qualities, and contributions to the campus as a whole.

Matt Solomon

Solomon, playing No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles, led Whitman to its third straight Northwest Conference title this spring, and to its fourth consecutive 16-0 NWC regular season.

Ranked No. 22 nationally in NCAA Division III, Whitman advanced to the national championship tournament for the fourth time in as many years. A loss in the regional semifinals to No. 3 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps ended Whitman's season with a 20-5 record.

Solomon, however, has as at least one more match left in his college career. He is one of 32 players from around the country invited to play in the NCAA DIII national singles tournament, slated for late this month in Oberlin, Ohio. He is the first Whitman player to make the singles tournament since Steven Ly in 2006.

Solomon got his senior year off to a strong start last September when he won his third straight singles titles at the ITA's Pacific Northwest Fall Tournament. Despite playing with a torn stomach muscle, he then split four matches at the national small college championships, placing seventh and earning ITA All-America honors in singles for a third time.

As a three-time winner of the ITA's PNW doubles title, Solomon is also a three-time ITA All-American in doubles.

After a slow start early this semester, Solomon posted a 12-5 singles record in spring dual matches, which included an 8-2 record against NWC opponents. His only losses in conference came early in the season and were later avenged.

In non-conference play, Solomon split a pair of matches with UC-Santa Cruz No. 1 Bryan Pybas, and lost close decisions to Tommy Meyer and Andrew Giuffrida, the No. 1 players at Pomona-Pitzer and Cal Lutheran, respectively.

Solomon was named NWC Player of the Week three times during the spring season. His latest Player-of-the-Year award, announced at the NWC post-season tournament in April, makes him only the second Whitman player to twice take home the honor.

Whitman's Tim Mullin was a two-time winner earlier this decade. The NWC began giving the award in the early 1990s.

Solomon, who earned All-NWC Second-Team honors as a freshman, was named NWC Player of the Year for the first time at the end of his sophomore season. He took a one-semester leave of absence from Whitman last spring and helped Boise State make the Round of 16 in the NCAA Division I team championships.

Matt Solomon

"As a player Matt is probably Whitman's most decorated male athlete of the past 25 years, but he is also one of the most outstanding young men to ever play tennis here," Whitman tennis coachJeff Northam says.

"He obviously had a tremendous impact on the courts, but the leadership he gave our team was just as important."

Solomon, an economics major, is a "serious student who was recently named to the NWC's Scholar-Athlete Team," Northam adds. "He's been very involved on campus, contributing time to the Student Athlete Advisory Committee, his fraternity, the school newspaper and the Whitman Investment Club. He also took time from his busy schedule to mentor students at a local elementary school."

"Matt has been a very special part of the Whitman community," Northam says. "I can think of no other player who embodies all the characteristics represented by the Borleske Trophy. I just wish Matt could stay at Whitman for four more years to help mentor and inspire his teammates."

Solomon, a graduate of St. Stephen's Episcoal School in Austin, Texas, is the son of Joanand Murray Solomon of Los Gatos, Calif.

The Borleske Trophy honors Raymond V. Borleske, who achieved legendary status as an athlete and later as a coach at Whitman during the first half of the 20th century. He starred on Whitman's football and baseball teams, and he was the first football player from the Northwest to be recognized by Walter Camp's Spaulding Football Guide.

After graduating from Whitman and earning a law degree, Borleske returned to campus in 1915 to begin a coaching career that continued until 1947.

For a complete listing of past Borleske Trophy winners, please click here.

Whitman Athletic Banquet

Last week was the Whitman athletic banquet. This is a wonderful event where all of Whitman's athletes (about 20% of the student body) gather to celebrate the year in sports. It is very fun to mingle with other teams, see the accomplishments of all Whitman sports, watch the slide/video show, and be apart of the outstanding athlete awards.

The highlight of the evening is Whitman's version of the "ESPies." Student-athletes are nominated in different categories and the coaching staff votes for a winner. Tennis players were nominated for the following awards:

Freshman male athlete of the year: Jeffrey Tolman

Sophomore male athlete of the year: Conor Holton-Burke

Junior male athlete of the year: Etienne Moshevich, Chris Bailey

Senior male athlete of the year: Christoph Fuchs

Borleske award: Matt Solomon

Matt Solomon won the coveted Borleske award. This award is giving to the outstanding male athlete/leader/student at Whitman. Matt certainly earned this award -- besides being Whitman's most decorated modern athlete (3 time singles All-American, 3 time doubles All-American, 2 time NWC Player of the Year), he volunteers his times at local elementary schools, has been active on SAAC (student athletic advisory council), is business manager for the school newspaper, CFO for WIC (Whitman investment club), and even performed in the Mr Whitman competition. Wow, Matt has done it all and is deserving of this very prestigious award!

Kudos to Christoph Fuchs and Conor Holton-Burke for being listed among the top 5 GPA's. It makes me proud to think that two tennis players were listed among the top 5 student athlete GPA's at Whitman!

Speaking of academics, a number of Whitman players were named to the NWC All-Academic team: Matt Solomon, Etienne Moshevich, Chris Bailey, Christoph Fuchs, Conor Holton-Burke, and Thomas Roston (hopefully I didn't forget anyone). It speaks volumes about the dedication of the men's tennis team when 5 of our top 6 players have a GPA over a 3.5!

Lastly the team was nominated and received the George Ball Award for Sportsmanship. This is given to a team that competes with class and is supportive of other teams on campus. Absolutely incredible to win the award named after the man who has given so much time and guidance to our team!

Squirrel's Season Stymied

Our foray into the national tournament was ended at the hands of the #3 team in the nation and host Claremont. In doubles we never got our teeth into #2 and #3 doubles and quickly went down breaks. All the doubles ended with a minute of each other..first off was #3 Christoph Fuchs/Conor Holton-Burke who lost 8-4, next off was our number #2 team of Nadeem Kassam/Jeffrey Tolman who also lost 8-4, our #1 team of Matt Solomon/Etienne Moshevich had a several chances to break but ended up losing 8-6.

Down 0-3 against the #3 team in the nation isn't the way to start the singles. We had plenty of fight and spunk but couldn't pull out any singles victories. At #3 ET was a few points from winning his match (6-2, 5-1) but we dropped two singles matches (#2 Jeffrey Tolman and #6 Conor Holton-Burke) sealing the match 0-5.

I'm beginning to feel a bit jinxed about the national tournament. Each of the past 4 years our loses have been at the hands of the eventual regional champion (yesterday CMS defeated #6 UC Santa Cruz to win the West Regional).

Interesting story for the trip. Because of the short turn around time between team selection and the start of play there wasn't a flight available with enough seats for the entire team. To make the trip work Women's coach John Hein drove us to Pasco where part of the team was going to fly Pasco->Seattle->Ontario and the other part was going to fly Pasco->Denver->Ontario. However the Seattle flight was canceled due to mechanical problems. We were able to get four members of the team onto the Denver flight but three players had to stay in Pasco. Lucky Nadeem, ET, and Adriel all have extensive travel experience and were able to work their way to Ontario. However the trio didn't arrive until midnight which didn't allow them any practice time after a long day of travel.

Thus concludes the team season for the Fighting Squirrels. Great year for the team -- we once again won over 20 matches, went undefeated in conference play, won the NWC team tournament, and advanced to the NCAA tournament.

On the road again

Wow talk about a crazy couple days! Have a lot to tell about Whitman tennis: athletic awards, dinner with President Bridges, NCAA tournament preview, article on Christoph and more! Over the next couple days I'll try to an update on the team.

We (at least most of us) are currently waiting at the Pasco airport to fly to Claremont for a 4-team regional playoff. The NCAA, in their wisdom, decided to have a 4-team regional event (there are 42 teams total) that has the #3 team in the nation (Claremont), #5 team (Cal Lutheran), #6 (UC Santa Cruz) and us at #22...kind of a brutal region. At least one other regional event only has 1 ranked team.

At the last minute the NCAA also deviated from the published Friday-Saturday schedule and moved our tournament to Thursday-Friday. This has created some travel issues for us and have had to split the team into two different flights today. Even with the travel headaches and rushed scheduling we are looking forward to the opportunity of proving ourselves against the best teams in the nation.

We are scheduled to play at 11am tomorrow and I'll try to twitter match updates as I can. Sorry for any spelling or grammar errors in this post but we are getting ready to board the plane!

Waiting

Sorry for the lack of posts but we are currently in limbo as we wait to see where the NCAA will send us for nationals. At this point all we know is the NCAA has to fly us to some regional tournament next weekend. The past two years we have been shipped to California, three years ago we were shipped out to Indiana, and before that we traveled to Texas.

The NCAA committee meets all day Sunday and I should get a call that evening with our destination. I'll post the location and match-ups as soon as I know!

Wrapping up the Ojai

Sorry for the lack of posts the past couple days. With individual tournaments the days are long (starting before 6am) and with players playing at different times and sites its pretty much none stop all day. Good news for the tournament is everyone won a match. Jeffrey started us off by winning against the #3 from Pomona 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. He was down 0-3 in the 3rd before rallying for the victory. Later in the day he lost to Willamette's Josh Wong 6-4, 6-1. I was impressed with the play of Wong this weekend and I imagine I will see many Wong vs Tolman battles in the coming years. Nadeem lost his 1st match to the #5 from UCSC 6-3, 6-1. Matt had a bye in the 1st round then defeated a player from CMS, the #2 from Pomona (6-2, 4-6, 6-4) and then lost to the #3 from UC Santa Cruz in the quarters.

In doubles Nadeem and Jeff defeated a CMS team before losing to the #1 team from UC Santa Cruz (this team is probably the best tadem in the nation). Jeff and Nadeem played well and had chances to make it a pretty close match.

Our flights aren't out until this evening so we currently hanging out Robert Rye '08 (currently coaching at Chapman).

At the Ojai!

We are currently in Southern CA getting ready for the Ojai. The Ojai is a very special event..in fact I think it is the oldest amateur tournament in the nation. The tournament has draws for juniors, college players and even a pro-draw. Its a special playing opportunity for the Whitties. Tomorrow morning Matt Solomon (#4 seed), Jeffrey Tolman (#9 seed) and Nadeem Kassam start singles play. Later in the afternoon Jeffrey and Nadeem play doubles.

Here is a link to the singles draw

Here is a link to the doubles draw

I'll try to twitter match updates during the day tomorrow.

Tonight was a very special night as we had the opportunity to have dinner with Nick Dupuis '03. Nick just finished his PhD in Chemistry from UC Santa Barbara. Big news from Nick is his getting married this summer to his Whitman sweetheart! So big congratulations to Dr Dupuis!

NWC Tournament Champions!

Yes! We finished up an undefeated conference season by winning the NWC team tournament. This is a very important tournament as the winner gets an AQ (automatic qualifying) spot in the NCAA III team tournament (May 14-16).

One of the many things I love about Whitman is the institutional support of athletics. Our program is well funded and we get the opportunity to travel extensively to compete against the best teams in the nation. This is, without a doubt, one of the reasons our players improve and the tennis program continues to improve (also one of the reasons our team chemistry is so unbelievable but that is another story). This season three of our losses have been to teams ranked in the top 10 and the fourth loss was to a team that started the year at #11. In all those matches we were competitive and everyone on the team knows if we play just a little better we can win those matches. I strongly feel that has a team, as a player, and as a coach one doesn't improve unless they challenge themselves against better opponents.

I'm convinced one the reasons we defeated a very strong PLU team and up and coming Willamette team in the conference tournament is because of our spring break trip. Earlier in the year we defeated a very good Pomona team (top 20 in the nation at the time) in Santa Cruz. In that match we won at #1 and #2 doubles. However #3 doubles struggled and ended up dropping a close match. That win completely energized the Pomona team: they knew they were back in the match and were excited to start the singles. We, on the other hand, were a bit deflated. Its a strange feeling, even though we were going into the singles with a 2-1 lead we were also going into the singles after dropping the last match and the team was a bit deflated. In the NWC tournament we were able to draw on that past experience, know what to expect and manage our energy going into the singles. Against both PLU and Willamette we won two of the doubles but dropped the last doubles match.

Against Willamette we came out came out smoking at #1 doubles. Matt and Etienne are playing good doubles and their energy is unbelievable. Against Willamette I think they won the first seven games before winning 8-1. The match was much closer that the score with quite a few of the games went to deuce. In fact they finished mere moments before #3 doubles won 8-5. Speaking of #3 doubles after a disappointing performance against PLU I decided to mix up that team. It is a bit of a risk putting together a team that hasn't played together (not even in practice) but I thought Jeffrey and Conor would make a good team and more importantly have good chemistry and even better energy. Kudos to Conor for "coming off the bench" to play with Jeffrey and winning 8-5. Unfortunately Quin and Christoph again didn't play well and lost 8-5. The "quintoff" combination had been rock solid this year not dropping a conference match all year; however this weekend they lost both of their matches. Both Quin and Christoph are very competitive driven young men and I'm sure they will draw on this experience to make them better players and a better team.

Just like Friday (and against Pomona) we are starting up 2-1 but dropped the last doubles match. In singles we came out fired up, ready to play and it showed in our attitude and our performance. One thing that is a bit a strange about playing the finals at the Yakima tennis club is we play 1-4 on 4-lower courts and 5 & 6 on their upper courts (which are 400 yards away). Certainly this is not an ideal situation because everyone wants to play together. However it is better than making #5 and #6 wait and perhaps not getting a chance to play if the team match is clinched before they can take the court.

The top four all start solid and we are up in all the matches. With the top four in charge I go to the upper courts to check on #5 and #6. As I'm walking up to the courts I see Christoph come to the net, put away a volley and then reach across the net to shake hands with his opponent. After a disappointing weekend of doubles I'm very proud of how Christoph responded...he was incredibly positive in his singles. His 6-1, 6-0 victory gave us a 3-1 lead. Christoph has been a great leader this year. He is very goal orientated and that attitude has rubbed off on our team. At #6 Conor was seeing his first singles action of the weekend (on Friday the team match was clinched before he could play). Conor is one of the reasons our team has improved over the course of the season. He works as hard as anyone I have ever had on a team and he pushes those around him. Every successful team I have been a part of has had to similar two components -- a strong push from the lower part of the line-up and leadership at the top. Conor is that push, his hard work inspires everyone and forces everyone to get better. Conor finishes his singles a few moments after Christoph with a 6-3, 6-2 victory giving us a 4-1 lead.

If Conor is our push then Matt is our leader -- our warrior at the top. I can't begin to explain the feeling I get when I think of Matt's improvement and maturity during his time at Whitman. His freshman year he dropped his match at #4 in the conference finals. Now he is our #1 player, ranked #6 in the West Region, and was just named NWC Most Valuable Player. Matt is also the leader of the team: everyone looks to him for guidance and advice, and they feed off of his success. He has also shown the younger members of our team how to train, how to work, how to act, and how to compete. Its funny on teams how the next generation of players benefits from the earlier generations. Matt certainly benefited from a strong senior class his freshman year. Now Matt has shown the younger players how to be leaders and I'm sure his legacy will be felt for years on the Squirrel team. Matt was up 6-1, 5-2 (match point) when the team match was decided.

Our Lion (Etienne) has also been a major reason for our success this year. Sometimes I think he has a heart big enough for the entire team. I've never had a player that does more to fire up his team that ET. His booming "lets go Whitman" and fiery attitude is special and inspiring. ET is the player that a coach loves to have and hates to play against. He is going to be fired up and fire up those around him no matter the situation. He is also the player that is not going to show any weakness, lose his fight, or stop trying to motivate his teammates no matter his score or the team score. His passion, his fight and his energy fuels our team. Our Lion had his hands full at #3 singles but was up 6-3, 3-1 when the match was halted.

At #4 Chris was beginning to regain his form. He would be the first to admit he has been in a slump and hasn't been playing confident tennis. Chris's game is based around his punishing flat groundstrokes. However those same punishing groundstrokes can go awry when he gets tight. It was nice to see Chris start to crack his forehand again. More importantly, at least in my mind, was to see Chris being positive on court. Bails is one of the nicest young men I have ever been around and he is a big part of the glue that bonds our team. Sometimes though, Chris tends to be negative on court and dwell on a poor shot. Over the weekend Chris more positive with himself, lifting his teammates, and enjoying the competition. Chris was up 6-3, 1-2 when the match was decided.

Jeffrey Tolman clinched our match with a very good 6-4, 6-3 win over one of Willamette's talented freshman. I'm so proud of Jeffrey's growth this year. He has had an incredibly rough year losing a dear friend. I know as well as anyone Jeffrey's struggles this year and I'm proud of the adversity he has overcome. I'm also proud of how he has put his game together at the end of the year. Jeffrey possesses every shot in the book and can play amazing tennis. But earlier in the year he tended to play a great set and then immediately drop the second set (sometimes very quickly). This weekend he took care of business winning both his singles matches in straight sets (both against very good opponents). He also won both of his doubles matches with different partners. I find it fitting, and rewarding, that Jeffrey clinched the team match and propelled us into the national tournament.

Kudos to coach Kraul and the Willamette team. They showed incredible improvement this year and look to become one of the better teams in the conference. Under Kraul's leadership and coaching this team should continue its improvement and make our conference even better. Speaking of coaching well deserved NWC Coach of the Year honors to our womens Coach John Hein. He has done an amazing job with our women's team and its telling that the women's coaches voted him Coach of the Year.

Whitman 5 Willamette 1

This coming weekend Matt, Jeffrey and Nadeem will represent Whitman at the prestigious Ojai tournament in Southern California.

Thanks to the huge Whitman "family" that came out to support us this weekend. The women's team hung around after their matches to watch us play. The many families that came out to watch us play -- the Fuchs, Moshevichs, Pat Burke, Bailys and the Millers. Thank you to the Whitmann Athletic Director Dean Snider for making the trek to Yakima to watch us play in the finals. And thanks to the Whitman W Club for hosting an alumni dinner for all the players, parents, grandparents, coaches, alumni and friends after the conference tournament. Not sure how many other programs have alumni events after tournaments/matches but they are great...thanks to the Adkison's for hosting this wonderful event. Annie Kunkel-Patterson for an unbelievable, amazing, delicious dinner on Friday night .. and for the Fighting Squirrel cookies! Dan Wilson great to see you and congratulations on the engagement!