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