West Coast Rankings Released

New West Region rankings are out today and Whitman remained at #5. In singles Matt Solomon moved to #5 and Daniel Solomon jumped to #15. In doubles Matt and Daniel remained at #4 in the region and the team of Nadeem Kassam/Jake Cappel moved to #7.

No word on when the new National rankings will be posted.

DIII West Region Rankings

Whitties finish with 20 wins!

Saturday was a special day for the Whitties as we finished 16-0 in conference AND won 20 matches. Accomplishing these feats were not easy as part of the team traveled to Portland to play Lewis and Clark College while the other half stayed on campus to play NAIA power Lewis Clark State College (#19 in NAIA).

The team that traveled to Portland had a pretty easy time with the Pioneers winning 9-0 without dropping a set. Robert Rye continued his strong month winning 8-0 at #2 doubles and #1 singles 6-1, 6-1. David Deming overcame a sluggish start and fought off 4 set points before winning 7-5, 6-1. Christoph Fuchs had a bit of a lapse in his second set but posted a 6-1, 7-6 at #2 singles. These wins put Robert, David, and Christoph at the top of the NWC singles leaders.

The half of the team that stayed at home had its hands full with a very good Lewis Clark State team. Earlier in the year LCSC defeated us in 4-3 thriller. This time we were able to turn the tables with a 7-2 victory that featured Whitman winning 2 3-set matches. Since I have been coaching at Whitman this is only the 2nd time we have defeated the Warriors of LCSC. Obviously the undefeated conference season and our win over LCSC gives us tremendous momentum going into the conference tournament.

Whitman 9 Lewis and Clark College 0
Whitman 7 Lewis Clark State College 2

This weekend the NWC conference tournament will be held at the Yakima Tennis Club in Yakima, WA. Being the #1 seed we will play the winner of Whitworth (#4) and Willamette (#5) at 3:30pm on Friday.

During the tournament I will be trying to post match updates using Jott. One of the features of Jott is the ability to post to blogger via a phone. I apologize in advance if the blog (and update emails) gets messy.

If you see any of the Whitman Men's tennis players on campus this week make sure to congratulate them on a 20 win season!

Senior Day -- Robert Rye scores big wins!

Saturday was suppose to be our last our last home of the year (this morning we added an other home match against NAIA power LCSC). Being the last home match of the year we were able to tell stories about our lone senior Robert Rye. I also figured this was a good opportunity for Robert to play both #1 singles and #1 doubles. Robert has been playing very well this year: infact he has only lost 2 singles matches the entire year (both in the Fall) to Bryan Thorpe of University of Portland and our own Matt Solomon. A little known Whitman tennis statistic is that among players whom have played over 50 matches Robert possesses the highest winning percentage at over 75%.

In our match against University of Puget Sound, Robert delighted the crowd with his athletic serve-and-volley game and big forehand. Robert played strong throughout his match winning 6-2, 6-2. In doubles Robert teamed with fellow team captain Justin Hayashi for an 8-5 win against one of the better doubles teams in the conference.

Our record is now 18-9 and 15-0 in conference. Our last matches of the year are next Saturday when we play Lewis Clark College at 10am in Portland and Lewis Clark State College at 10am in Walla Walla (team will be split).

Whitman 9 UPS 0

Whitties go 5-1 in 48 hours!

Please forgive me for the late post but it has been a busy week. Actually the busy week started over the weekend when the Mighty Whitties played 6 matches in 48 hours! Why play 6 matches in 2 days? Well the NCAA has some crazy restrictions. In NCAA III tennis a team is allowed to play a total of 20 dates of competition. An individual tournament counts as 1 date of competition and each day a team competes counts as one date of competition -- playing multiple matches in one day only counts as 1 date. To make matters worse the NWC conference is the only DIII conference that requires tennis teams to play home-and-away with every team in the conference. This means we are forced to play 16 dual matches within the conference. This is a great system for some of the weaker teams in the conference since they can fill their entire season with conference matches. However the format is a killer for the better teams in the conference: it virtually eliminates the ability to play DI teams or a competitive DIII spring schedule (unless a coach can be creative with the scheduling.) One thing our program prides itself on is playing the best possible schedule. In fact this season we have played 3 of the top 10 NCAA III schools (UCSC, Kenyon and Redlands), we have played five different DI programs (Portland, Portland State, Idaho, Gonzaga and Eastern Washington) and multiple matches against a top NAIA schools (Lewis-Clark State College). The only way we can fit all this in is to have a very deep roster and play multiple matches in the same day (hence the 6 matches in 2 days.)

Ok on to the matches. We started our marathon weekend with a 9-0 win over Willamette. Because of the long weekend I juggled the line-up giving different people a chance to play while resting arms. In doubles the Brothers Solomon showed why they are one of the top teams in the West Region defeating a good Willamette #1 team 8-4. I moved Justin and Jasper up to #2 doubles where they overcame a 4-6 deficit to win 8-6. At #3 Christoph and Quin never faced a break point winning 8-5.

In singles Chris Bailey played #1 for the first time all year and won a hard fought 3-6, 6-2, 11-9 match over senior Eric MacMillan. Jake Cappel overcame a bit of shakey start to defeat his opponent 7-5, 6-2. At #3 Dan Wilson played his best match defeating Andrew Murakami 6-2, 6-0. As an FYI our team is that Murakimi is one of Willamette's most dangerous players. At #4 Nadeem played flawless tennis defeating Matt Houser 6-0, 6-1. As of a week ago Houser was playing #2 for the Bearcats. At #5 and #6 Jasper Follows and David Deming both has solid performances winning 6-2, 6-2 and 6-2, 7-5.

Whitman 9 Willamette 0

Later in the day was the match I had been dreading all season -- an away match with Linfield. As a coach I always respect the Linfield team. They are well coached and compete hard. However the match can be completely different depending on the weather. If Mother Nature cooperates and its dry the match is played outside on normal courts. However if it is wet the match is moved into the Linfield Fieldhouse "Mars Courts" or as I put it the "House of Doom". The "Mars courts" are a fast rubberized multi-purpose surface with loose removable nets. If Stephen King were to write a horror story about tennis he could certainly use the Linfield Fieldhouse as a setting. On these courts topspin doesn't jump, kick serves don't bite and heavy slice doesn't come up off the ground. These courts are probably the biggest home court advantage in all of college tennis.

In doubles we were outplayed for over an hour. Going in the latter stages of the doubles I was convince we were going to go down 0-3. Somehow the Fighting Squirrels (our team nickname) kept clawing, fighting and working their way into the match. The Solomons won 9-8 (7-4) after being down 2 match points. Jake and Nadeem were buried 7-1 in doubles before making a match of it losing 8-4. And at #3 Justin and Jasper were down a break before winning 9-7.

As expect all the singles were close. Unfortunately for Matt he lost 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 to a player he beat early in the year. I must say that Matt has been playing better each week and is a completely different (and better) player than earlier in the year. He has posted some good wins over many of the regions top players. It is my sincerest hope that this match on the "Mars Courts" doesn't affect his chance for post season play. Hats of to Nick Ruess of Linfield who played a great match.

The only other set we lost was at #4 where Chris Bailey squandered a 5-2 lead in the first set only to lose 6-7. Chris showed great composure and bounced back to win 6-7, 7-2, 10-2. Other victories of the day included:
#2 Dan Solomon 6-3, 7-5
#3 Jake Cappel 7-5, 6-4
#5 Dan Wilson 6-2, 7-6
#6 Christoph Fuchs 7-6, 6-4

Whitman 7 Linfield 2

After not enough sleep (we got back to the hotel at 11pm) we had to get up early for a round of matches against DI opponents U of Portland and Portland State. Because of match conflicts at UP we played both matches on the covered courts at PSU. The courts sit on top of a building and have a roof but no walls. Only windscreens keep the balls from bouncing off the roof. It is certainly an interesting place to play, but after the Linfield match these courts seemed like paradise.

Against UP we started with 3-6 singles (they have 4 courts). If the match wasn't decided after the first round of singles we would play #1 and #2. If the match was tied after singles we would play doubles (DI plays the doubles as 1 point). In singles we had great performances from Chris and Jake. Chris Bailey(#3) defeated high touted freshman Bryan Thorp 6-4, 6-4 and at #4 Jake Cappel played some of his best tennis winning 6-3, 6-3. At #5 and #6 we dropped 6-3, 6-3 and 6-1, 6-1 decisions. With the Solomon's on court at #1 and #2 singles things were looking great. In fact at one point we were up 4-1 in both of the first sets! However Portland showed why they are typically a top 100 DI team and took both matches in straight sets.

Whitman 2 Portland 4

After a quick sandwich we took the courts against home team Portland State. In a replay of the prior evening we were a bit lucky to win the doubles. In fact once again the Solomons fought off match points to win 9-7 giving us the doubles point.

In singles we got quick wins at #1 (6-4, 6-2) and #2 (6-0, 6-1) to give us a 3-0 lead. The match got close when we dropped a 6-1, 6-2 decision at #3 and a 6-4, 6-4 match at #5. With the match on the line at 3-2 Jake (who was named NWC player of the Week) battled to a hard fought 6-7, 6-1, 7-6 victory sealing the team win. Christoph quickly followed with his own three-set victory at #6 2-6, 6-3, 10-8 to give us a solid 5-2 win over DI Portland State.

Whitman 5 PSU 2

While we were battling the DI teams Coach Steven Ly had a second group of Whitties playing against Pacific and George Fox. Our incredible team depth was in evidence as we blanked both Fox and Pacific.

Whitman 9 Pacific 0

Whitman 9 George Fox 0

We are now 17-9 on the year and 14-0 in conference. Our last home match of the year is Saturday at 1pm vs University of Puget Sound.

Whitties go 2-1 at Stag-Hen Classic

This picture doesn't have anything to do with the Stag-Hen classic but it is a very unique picture that I simply had to put on my blog.

The Stag-Hen, hosted by Claremont and Pomona, is one of the few DIII team tournaments (outside the NCAA tournament and National Indoors) and features top teams from across the country. This year's field included #5 CMS, #7 Trinity, #11 Bowdoin, #12 Kenyon, #16 Whitman, #25 The College of New Jersey, #30 Pomona Pitzer, and UT Tyler.

Unfortunately for us we drew the very hot Kenyon team in the first round. Coming into the tournament "The Lords" were undefeated this season and might have the best player in the nation in transfer Michael Greenberg. I don't know how else to put it but in doubles we got rolled. At #1 and #2 doubles we lost by identical 8-2 scores. Our only doubles bright spot was #3 Justin and Jasper who had numerous match points. Unfortunately we couldn't convert any of those key points and dropped the match 9-8.

In singles we faired a bit better. At #2 singles Dan played well (and smart) winning 6-2, 6-4. Our only other victory was at #3 singles with Chris taking the honors 6-3, 6-4. However all but one of the singles were very competitive. In fact we lost at #1 (Matt), #4 (Jake), and #5 (Dan) in three sets. Unfortunately for Jasper his very bad week continued and he lost in straight sets at #6.

In retrospect the 7-2 loss at the hands of Kenyon wasn't such a bad loss (although after the match I was pretty upset about losing 3 3-set matches). Honestly we should of won at #3 doubles and could of picked up one of the singles we lost in three. Under that scenario the match would be tied at 4-4 and anything can happen. In the next round Kenyon defeated host CMS (#5 in nation) on the Stags home court. Another highlight of the match was Matt proving to be on tough competitor taking Greenberg three sets. As an FYI Greenberg won his next matches against the #1's from CMS and Trinity without losing more than two games a match!

Whitman 2 Kenyon 7

The following day we squared at 8:30am off against a very tough UT Tyler team. One of the things I dread as a coach is playing an earlier morning match against a team from a mid to eastern time zone. Lets face it 99% of college students HATE getting up early and typically don't perform well in the morning. The 8:30am match for us is like a 10:30am match for the Tyler team.

In doubles we again got off to a slow start at #1 and #2. At #1 doubles Matt and Dan were down two breaks before coming back to win 8-6. At #2 Jake and Nadeem played a poor match losing 8-2. Jasper and Justin were up an early break but couldn't maintain their momentum losing 8-5.
Going down 2-1 put us in the difficult position of having to win 4 of the 6 singles to take the match. This is always a tough proposition and even more difficult because the UT Tyler team was fired up sensing a potential upset.

Coaching is a such a wonderful calling (as my good friend Greg Patton says) -- it is a thrill to be on the court hours each day with so many outstanding young men. It is a great feeling to watch your team, the men you coach, compete hard and battle tooth-and-nail for each and every point. However there is absolutely not better feeling in coaching that watching your players grow before your eyes. I felt like a proud father watching our three sophomores Matt, Dan and Jake (each of whom lost in three sets the prior day) play their hearts to lead us to a 5-4 victory. One thing I should mention about this tournament is all the dual-matches are played on 4 courts. Because of the court situation we rotated which two players would go on in the 2nd rotation of matches (so #5 and #6 weren't the players always the last on). In singles first off for Whitman was Jake (#4) with a solid 6-2, 6-3 win. Dan (#5) quickly followed Jake blasting his opponent off the court winning 6-3, 6-4. As Dan was finishing Jasper (#6) lost 6-3, 6-2 tying the team score 3-3. At #3 singles Chris Bailey was locked in a tough three set battle as both Matt (#1) and Dan (#2) took the courts. Chris played his heart out in the 3rd set but his 1st serve let him down and he ended up dropping the match to a very talented UTT player 1-6, 6-2, 7-6. Down 3-4 we needed to pick up both #1 and #2 to win the match.

At #2 Daniel overcame an early break and was able to stick with his "Natalie" and post a big 6-4, 6-2 win. I have to add that Daniel has been such a great addition to the team. Besides being a big boost in our line-up he is a great influence on the members of the team. His maturity and quick wit are an absolute pleasure to be around. Additionally it is a thrill to watch the brothers Solomon play doubles. They compliment each other well and are incredibly supportive of each other (both on and off the court.)

With the match tied at 4-4 our fate would be decided by #1 singles. Going into this match we knew this was going to be a battle because the UTT player had defeated the #17 player in the nation (Larry Wang of CMS) the previous day. The first set was a see-saw battle with Matt going up early but then had to face down a set point before taking the opening set 7-6. The second set was close all the way through until Matt dropped serve late in the set and the UTT player served out the set 6-4. With all eyes on the match and both teams trying to will their player to victory Matt proved victorious 6-3 giving us a thrilling 5-4 victory. As I told Matt after the match -- last year he was like a moody Momma Bear (we call Matt the Bear) but this year he is more like a Papa Bear who aggressively defenses his family and turf.

Whitman 5 UT Tyler 4

Big kudos to Coach Chris Bizot and the UT Tyler team, they are damn good and compete hard. If they don't crack the top 25 in the next ranking period something is wrong. Later in the day UT Tyler beat host and #30 ranked Pomona 5-0.

Following the UT Tyler match we faced off against #25 The College of New Jersey. Since this was the last match of the tournament and rain was impending it was decided to play the match to decision (i.e., stop all the matches when a team reached 5 points). The only match we lost was #2 doubles were the new combo of Jake Cappel and Robert Rye lost 8-6. We were actually a bit lucky (Matt was unlucky) to finish the match as it started to sprinkle about an hour into the singles. We were able to post quick victories at #2 (Dan), #4 (Jake), and #6 (Justin) to seal the 5-1 win. At #3 Chris was serving for the match at 5-3 and at #1 Matt was up a set against the #7 player in the nation (he really wanted to finish this match).

Whitman 5 TCNJ 1

We finished our spring break trip with a 2-2 record. Interestingly enough the two teams we lost two have a combined 24-1 record!

Whitman falls to Redlands 5-2

Since I have a coaches meeting in 15 minutes this will be a short post (please forgive any typos and/or bad grammar.) Yesterday we ran into a fired up and hungry Redlands team (#15 in nation). One thing I knew going into the match was the Bulldogs were going to fired up to play us. Last year we were able to sneak out a 5-4 over Redlands on their home courts and I'm sure they have been looking forward to a rematch for the better part of a year. Also Redlands does much of its recruiting in our backyard (the Pacific Northwest) and a victory over #16 Whitman would be a feather in their hat.

Even though Redlands was our first match of Spring Break I already feel like our team is the walking wounded. Its a good thing we have such a deep roster with players that are willing and able to fill at a moments notice. Yesterday doubles standout Nadeem Kassam couldn't go because of a sore achilles. Instead of juggle doubles teams I moved Chris Bailey and Robert Rye into the #3 slot and bumped Jasper Follows and Justin Hayashi up to #2. As an FYI all 4 of my Canadians are now hurt: ET with his lingering shoulder problems, Nadeem with an achilles, Thomas (heck I think Thomas has 3 different injuries, and Jasper's bad week continues has he is now sick.

In doubles brothers Solomon posted a great win at #1 doubles with an 8-4 victory. We spend a fair bit of time talking about momentum in practice and how quickly doubles matches can change. Yesterdays #1 doubles match was a classic example of switch momentum. The brothers were broke at 4-3 giving the big serving Redlands team the early lead. However, for whatever reason, Matt and Dan rallied to win the next 5 games.

At #2 doubles Justin and Jasper were getting their feet wet in their new position. The J's didn't play as they are capable of losing 8-4. With the match tied at 1-1 our new #3 doubles team of Robert Rye and Chris Bailey were unable to capitalize on their many opportunities and dropped the match 8-6.

In singles the match of the day goes to Matt who posted a 7-6, 7-5 victory over Redlands #1 player. Earlier in the week the Redlands player had defeated the #7 player in the nation in straight sets. Kudos to Matt for playing a very mature match in a difficult situation.

We were close in most of the other matches but couldn't win the critical points that often determine a set (or a match). After the match the team all agreed we would like to play them again. Who knows if we can win the NWC perhaps we will get another chance at them.

We are off to play #12 Kenyon at the Stag-Hen tournament.

PS Big shout out to Kelsey from Colorado College who keeps up with friend Daniel Solomon via my blog!

Jasper's Terrible horrible no good very bad day!

It has been a busy week for the team. After our 9-0 victory over Lewis Clark College we drove to Spokane for a double header against Whitworth. It is a bit unusual to play double headers in College tennis but it allows us to save a date of competition and knock out two conference matches. Because of the double header I varied the line-up(s) to give the guys different matches.

In match #1 we defeated the pesky Pirates 7-2. In both the matches we lost, #1 doubles and #6 singles, we had match points. While it is disappointing to lose those close matches I was proud that we won 2 of the 3 singles matches that went three sets. Match #2 went a bit smoother as we were able to blank Whitworth 9-0.

The sweep of Whitworth improved our conference record to 10-0. In those 10 conference matches we have won an amazing 83 matches against only 7 losses.

Match #1 Whitman 7 Whitworth 2
Match #2 Whitman 9 Whitworth 0


As the title suggests Jasper is having a legendary spring break trip. His bad day (actually bad week) started Saturday night. As we are getting ready to leave Walla Walla Jasper realized he is missing his passport -- which he will need to get back into Canada. Before we can hit the road we have to phone security so Jasper can get back into the French house to find his passport (all the residence halls at Whitman are closed for spring break).

The troubles of Jasper continue on Sunday when he (along with Christoph, Jake and ET) were left at the hotel prior to our Whitworth match. Early that morning we had a team breakfast and the team was informed that we were leaving at 10:30 for the Whitworth campus. At 10:45 I was tired of waiting for the trio so they had the honor of waiting an extra 45 minutes as I drove the rest of the team to our match. Unfortunately for Jasper and company they only had 10 minutes to warm-up before the match. Hopefully I made a point about being punctual.

On Monday Jasper's interesting week continued as he left his plane ticket on the airplane during a layover in Sacramento. Luckily for Jasper he was able to run back onto the plane and find his ticket.

Tuesday we had a wonderful day at the Pacific Life Open. It was one of the last days of qualifying and we were lucky enough to see some great matches and many of the top professionals practicing. It is inspiring and motivating to see so many great players applying their trade.

Unfortunately for Jasper he was left at the A & W in Indian Wells! We made a quick stop for snacks and drinks before heading back to L.A. and were almost back on the the freeway when Jasper called saying we had left him at the A & W. Honestly if Jasper hadn't called we would left him. To solve and future missteps I've now assigned the three freshman to keep of Jasper. They are tasked with keeping track of Jasper for the remainder of the trip -- hopefully he won't get lost, dropped off or forgotten for the rest of the trip!

We have had a wonder couple days in California but are looking forward to some competition. Tomorrow we take on #15 Redlands (we dropped to #16) and Friday we take on the very hot #12 Kenyon team.