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!

Woo Woo into the Conference Finals

Sorry this is going to be a very short note: its 11pm already and we have an early day tomorrow. This afternoon in the NWC semi finals we faced a very tough PLU team. Even though PLU went into the tournament as the #4 seed they were arguably one of the hottest teams in the conference. In the two weeks prior to the NWC tournament they defeated both Linfield and Willamette (#2 and #3 seeds).

Our match was scheduled to start at 3:30pm, but our womens team had a GREAT win over #2 seed Linfield. I'm so proud of the women and coach Hein's effort. They are playing in the conference finals at noon tomorrow...will be fun since we will be playing together!

Doubles we started off way too tight. We were up early in all the match only to see those leads evaporate. At #1 doubles Matt and ET started off strong going up 3-0 but the PLU leveled the match at 4-4. At that point it was all Matt and ET as they rattled off 4 games to win 8-4. At #3 Jeffrey and Nadeem played one of the strangest matches of the year. Jeffrey played well and Nadeem not so well. They were able to withstand some adversity winning 8-6. At #2 Quin and Christoph played a bit too tight and ended up losing 8-6. We didn't play as well as we would like and its strange how we felt "bad" going into singles up 2-1.

In singles ET gave us a 3-1 advantage with a 6-2, 6-1 victory. At #1 Matt lost the 1st set 6-4 but rebounded to go up 4-2 in the second. At #2 singles Jeffrey won the first set 6-4 but was down 0-3. At #4 Chris was down a break with PLU serving at 5-3 when.....it got too dark to play. The Yakima Tennis Club only has 4 lit courts and we were put in a holding pattern as we waited for Willamette and Linfield to finish their match. Must of the change in courts or playing under the lights because once we started playing again it was all Whitman. Matt closes out the 2nd 6-2 and goes up in the 3rd. Chris rebounds from being a break down and wins the 1st set 7-6 (7-1) and Jeffrey levels his match at 4-4. Then the rains down down and we are forced to take another break! After the break Jeffrey wins his match 6-4, 7-5 giving us a 4-1 lead. Matt Solomon finalized the win with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 win at #1 singles.

Tomorrow we play in the conference finals at noon against #3 seed Willamette. As usual I'll try to twitter updates.

Conference update

Hi everyone just a quick update. We are currently at the Conference tournament awaiting our 3:30pm match against PLU. PLU defeated Whitworth 5-4 in a nailbaiting match. Tournament is slightly behind schedule so I would imagine a 4pm start time. Also the men's coaches voted and agreed to cancel the 3rd/4th and 5th/6th place match. So its a one and done event for teams that lose.

I'll update more later. I'll try to twitter updates during the match.

16-0 conference season

Yesterday we wrapped our regular season conference schedule with a double-header sweep of Whitworth in Spokane. Double-headers are typically associated with baseball but in an effort to save dates (and travel) we have been playing double-headers with Whitworth the past couple years .. alternating between Spokane and Walla Walla.

I must admit it was a bit of a strange feeling going into the matches at Whitworth. On Saturday PLU defeated Linfield 6-3 giving us the 2010 conference crown regardless of our results on Sunday. As a team we wanted to "win" the conference title by defeating Whitworth rather than another team losing. But that is the nature of sports.

In our first match against Whitworth I was planning on resting a few guys and splitting our singles up depending on how the doubles progressed. However Whitworth had other ideas and submitted their second squad into the line-up. After seeing this I pulled guys out of the singles line-up and played a different group of guys. This turned out to be fantastic because everyone got a chance to play on Sunday.

In the first match we won 9-0 without dropping a set. You can see the box scores here. Note the Whitworth SID got the #1 and #2 doubles doubles teams from Whitworth reserved.

After a quick lunch break we started match #2 with more normal line-ups. Going into the match we opted to rest #1 Matt Solomon, #3 Etienne Moshevich and #5 Christoph Fuchs. With half of our singles line-up out and our standout #1 doubles on the bench we knew we were in for a battle. Speaking of doubles, for this match Jeffrey Tolman and Nadeem Kassam played #1 doubles (they normally play #3). For the record Whitworth has played good doubles this year. In fact this year they have been up after doubles against the #2 team and #3 team in our conference (Linfield and Willamette).

I was quite pleased with our doubles results. At #1 Jeffrey and Nadeem won 8-5. This should give them some confidence going into the conference tournament know that they can beat any team in the conference. At #2 Christoph and Quin completed an undefeated conference season winning 8-6. I believe the Whitworth #2 doubles team had only lost 1 conference match going into Sunday. At #3 Thomas and Conor played unbelievable tennis winning 8-1.

Singles had its up and downs. At #1 Jeffrey played another streaky match. He lost the 1st set 6-2 (after going down 0-3 two breaks) but wins the 2nd 6-1. In the 3rd set he again goes down 0-3 but ends up winning 7-6 in the 3rd (7-2). Speaking of streaky Chris had a streaky match of his own. He was up 4-2 in the 1st but drops that set 6-4. Like Jeff he wins the 2nd set 6-1 but after being up in the 3rd he loses 7-5. Very disappointing loss for Chris.

Conor was very excited to be playing and even more excited when he found out he was playing #3! Conor had a wonderful spring break trip defeating the #6 from Pomona, the #5 from UC Santa Cruz and lost in a match tie-break to Cal Lu. Unfortunately he was sick last weekend and wasn't able to play in our last home matches. Against Whitworth he made up for lost time being the 1st off the court with a 6-2, 6-3 victory.

Much like Conor, Nadeem is excited to be back playing and posted a very good 6-4, 6-4 win over Whitworth's solid #4 player. Good for Nadeem to get through this competitive match. At #5 Sam won 7-6, 6-4 and Quin won 6-3, 6-1 at #6.

All in all a very good effort from the Fighting Squirrels. Certainly shows the depth of our team defeating the #5 team in our conference without our #1 doubles and half of our singles line-up.

Whitman 8 Whitworth 1

With the regular conference season wrapped up we start the NWC conference tournament on Friday in Yakima. We go into the tournament as the #1 seed and face the winner of PLU/Whitworth Friday at 3:30.

Last home match of the year

Yesterday was the last home match for the Fighting Squirrels. Fittingly, the match was against the #2 team in the conference Linfield. We always know matches against Linfield are going to be intense affairs: they are well coached and play good doubles. Last month we defeated Linfield 7-2 on their home courts (losing at #1 doubles and #5 singles). That victory was a bit tainted as Linfield was missing their standout senior Kyle Anderson. So far this season Anderson has only lost to our own Matt Solomon (in the fall) and UC Santa Cruz #2 player (in 3 sets).

As I mentioned above, Linfield plays good doubles so we had to start strong to take control of the team match. The Squirrels started off by quickly going up two breaks at #1 (Matt and ET) and #3 (Jeffrey and Nadeem). Jeffrey and Nadeem were the first ones off with a 8-5 victory. Matt and ET were up 5-2 when the Linfield team really hit their stride. Credit to the Linfield duo for battling hard and playing some good doubles at the end of the match. Turning point of the match -- ET serving at 6-4 and comes back from 0-40. Lose that game and Linfield has the momentum and is back on serve. The Lion (I call ET the lion because he has a huge heart) put in 3 straight 1st serves and was able to hold. Matt and ET end up winning 8-5 giving us a 2-0 lead. Quin and Christoph had a battle at #2 doubles. Late in the match they were down a break but managed to break back and force a tie breaker. In the breaker they had great intensity and crashed hard on the net. Christoph finished off the tie breaker with an ace to win 7-1. Sweep of the doubles and we are up 3-0 going into singles.

Anyone that follows DIII tennis knows that a sweep of doubles almost always means a team victory. Going up 3-0 means that the opposing team needs to win 5 of the singles matches and against an equally matched team this is all but impossible. As a side note hats off to PLU who last night accomplished that very feat against Willamette -- they were down 0-3 after doubles and ended up winning 5-4.

We certainly had momentum going into the singles. I'm sitting on the court looking across the 4 indoor courts at these scores: #1 Matt is up 6-1, #2 Jeffrey is up 5-0, #3 ET is up 6-1, and #4 Chris is up 4-1. Such a lead was simply too great. Matt is playing very well...each match he is getting stronger and playing better. Yesterday he beat the #8 ranked player in the region 6-1, 6-2. At #3 the Lion clinched the team match 6-1, 6-4. However #3 and #4 both split sets. At #3 Jeffrey had a very streaky match. To start the match he wins 5 straight games and wins the 1st set 6-2. In the 2nd set he goes down 0-4 but manages to bring the set to a breaker (losing 7-3). In the match breaker Jeffrey regains his focus winning 10-4. Unfortunately Chris wasn't so lucky at #4 singles losing 3-6, 6-3, 10-6.

With the match clinched, Christoph and Nadeem took the courts at #5 and #6. Christoph had a rematch against the opponent that beat him a month ago. Yesterday Christoph was victorious 6-2, 6-2. It is a pleasure to see Nadeem playing after nursing a sore arm all year. He is enjoying his time on court and playing with great enthusiasm. Nadeem gave us 8-1 victory with his 6-2, 6-3 win.

Whitman 8 Linfield 1

Today's win gave us at least a share of the conference 2010 conference title and we clinched the #1 seed at the NWC conference tournament. Next weekend we play Whitworth (doubleheader) and if we win one of those matches we are outright conference champions!

This was the last weekend of home matches for seven seniors. Over the course of the year these seniors have provided incredible leadership for the team. Our season started off very shaky after getting blown out at home by the #1 ranked UC Santa Cruz and the following weekend narrowly defeating PLU 5-4 (we were down 2-4 and had to win the final three matches in 3-sets). I remember getting back late from Tacoma and venting to the team about our recent performances. I believe that weekend was the defining moment for the team. Since then we have played with passion and purpose. I love how the team (and individuals) are playing better with each passing week.

Consider our scores with opponents this year:

1st match Whitman 5 PLU 4 -- 2nd match Whitman 9 PLU 0

1st match Whitman 1 UCSC 8 -- 2nd match Whitman 3 UCSC 6

1st match Whitman 7 Linfield 2 -- 2nd match Whitman 8 Linfield 1 (and Linfield had their standout senior back for this match)

1st match Whitman 7 Willamette 2 -- 2nd match Whitman 8 Willamette 1 (on their home courts)

I look forward to seeing how the rest of our season unfolds.

Senior Day!!!!

Yesterday we honored our seven seniors before our home match against Pacific. To say these seniors have had an impact on Whitman and the tennis program is an understatement. They have set the bar incredibly high for any sports team at Whitman. These seven seniors have never lost a regular season conference team match (60+ and counting), have qualified for three straight NCAA III appearances, won two conference titles, been an ITA All-Academic team for three straight years and have a team GPA around a 3.5!

Below are some stats (going into the match) about the seven seniors:

Thomas Roston

Major: Bio-Chemistry, Bio-Physics, and Molecular Biology

Hometown: West Vancouver, Canada

31-4 Singles

25-3 Doubles

56-7 Overall

Thomas's winning percentage of 88% ranks #1 on the Whitman all-time list

Thomas is looking to attend medical school

David Deming

Major: Economics

Hometown: Brush Prairie, WA

39-10 Singles

22-4 Doubles

61-44 Overall

David's 81% winning percentage is #2 on Whitman's all-time list

David is currently applying to Law school

Jasper Follows

Major: French

Hometown: West Vancouver, Canada

24-13 Singles

41-13 Doubles

65-26 Overall

Played in the 2008 NCAA III team tournament

Jasper is hoping to attend Dental School in Canada

Nadeem Kassam

Major: Economics

Hometown: West Vancouver, Canada

29-15 Singles

44-27 Doubles

73-42 Overall

Played in the 2009 NCAA III team tournament

Jake Cappel

Major: Economics

Hometown: Chicago, IL

51-20 Singles

35-24 Doubles

86-44 Overall

Ranks 7th on singles wins

Ranks 11th in overall wins

Played in the 2009, 2008, 2007 NCAA team tournament

2nd team all-conference 2009, 2008

Christoph Fuchs

Major: Biology

Hometown: La Center, WA

40-20 singles

54-26 Doubles

94-46 Overall

Ranks 7th in doubles wins

Ranks 8th in overall wins

Played in the NCAA team tournament 2009, 2007

Inducted in Phi Beta Kappa

ESPN Academic All-American

Attending Baylor College of Medicine in the fall.

Matt Solomon

Major: Economics

Hometown: Los Gatos, CA

61-35 Singles

61-33 Doubles

122-68 Overall

Ranks 5th in singles wins

Ranks 6th in doubles wins

Tied 5th in overall wins

2007 2nd team All-Conference

2008 Conference Player of the Year

3 time All-American in singles

3 time All-American in doubles

Recently accepted a position with IMG.

Obviously these seven have been instrumental in our success the past four years. We will all be sad to see them leave, but they will always be apart of our family.

To honor the seniors they made up the singles line-up against Pacific (except Jake who couldn't play so he helped coach). The seniors played "Senior Day" with energy, passion, skill and did not drop a set to Pacific.

Whitman 9 Pacific 0

We take to the courts at 1pm today to face Linfield. Should be a competitive match today as Linfield is currently in 2nd place in the conference standings. We beat them earlier in the year 7-2 in McMinnville, OR but they were missing one of their key players. It should be a good match today.