Giving Thanks

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL!

While Walla Walla sits in a gentle blanket of snow this week, our Whitman students have the week off and most have returned to their homes or left campus with friends for the week. 

Before leaving, however, men's Coach Jeff Northam came up with the terrific idea to get everyone together and enjoy great food and company.  Jeff stepped up big time with a smoked turkey, two beef briskets, and so much locally caught and smoked steelhead that everyone feasted.  With a bevy of sides and desserts to go along with the main courses, everyone had great food and enjoyed the fireside couches of the Whitman alumni house for our feast.

You can check out photos on our team flickr page here.

I want to wish all the best to everyone out there in the extended Whitman tennis family, may you enjoy time with each other and travel safely.

John

Fall ITA Rankings: Two Whitties in the top 20

If you don't check the ITA webpage as religiously as I do, then you won't know that these rankings actually came out a couple of weeks ago, but the 'off season' feels very busy and full of excitement this year at Whitman.  Part of that excitement stems from the strong showing we had at the top of our lineup in the Fall USTA/ITA regional and national championships.

By making the semi's in singles, Alyssa is currently ranked 12th in the West region, and a strong quarterfinal showing in a deep Northwest field puts Elise at #18 in the West. 

While as a doubles team, Elise and Alyssa placed in the top 8 at nationals, there were no national individual rankings because it is near impossible to compare everyone around the nation based on a single tournament.  Still, our duo has moved up 2 spots from their end of season finish last year from #6 to #4 in the West and gained terrific experience with some of the top teams in the nation in Alabama.

Congrats to Twitch and Sho'Po for a great fall, I am so happy with the work that every single person on the team has put in, this fall season I had more requests than ever for individual work outside of practice, which keeps me on court with my team where I love to be.

Coach

Final Post on the USTA/ITA Small College Nationals

Wow, what a great event to be a part of.  As I've recently written, Elise and Alyssa played an incredibly gutsy match to get into the main draw and earn three doubles matches against many of the top DIII teams in the country.  You can check the ITA website for all the scores and info but a quick recap had us up against the back to back NCAA Doubles champs from U of Chicago.  On paper,this was our best match because in losing 6-2,6-2 we got more games than any other DIII team this week as they rolled to the championship.  While we learned a ton and give them full credit (they are an outstanding doubles team and carry themselves very well), there were times we could have executed better or had a little bit more energy.  The consolation semis was against the 4th seeded Washington and Lee team and after taking 2-0 leads in both sets, they stepped up to get us 6-2,6-3.  This match was much more competitive than the score indicates with lots of outstanding points and games, overall it was super fun doubles with great play and intensity.  The 7th/8th match pitted us against the Gusties from Gustavus Adolphus College and they were the only women's team I observed in any of the draws (DII, DIII, JuCo, NAIA) that consistently got both players to the net.  This tested our defense and provided some strategic breakthoughs for Twich and ShoPo who came off the court feeling good about how they played and how close the match actually was, but even better about where their tennis is going.

The whole week was super fun and for some of our travel adventures and a terrific recap of the best match I saw all week and one of the best DIII doubles matches I've ever seen, check out our Men's team recap at Coach Jeff Northam's blog .  As Jeff says, it is rare that we get to travel together or watch each other play, but the community at Whitman is so strong and our teams truly enjoy spending time together so it was an incredible experience for us to spend time with Coach Jeff, Conor and Andrew (and we learned a few things about great doubles).

Personally, it was also nice to see three of the DIII programs in Mobile represented by coaches who attended my alma mater, UC Santa Cruz.  I can never say enough how wonderful DIII tennis is when programs are run by terrific coaches like Jeff and my coach Bob Hansen.  Thanks Bob for helping me and creating such a terrific culture of tennis and life.

So, alas, we are now in our off season, but before leaving for Alabama I had some terrific individual meetings and while we'll all enjoy some time to focus on the other aspects of college life, I suspect that much of the team will be hard at work to come out strong in the Spring!

My best to all,
John

Oh yes, Alyssa Elise and I flew out of New Orleans so we had a small amount of time to explore the crescent city and cap an incredible week with even more fun.

Nationals Loss to Defending NCAA Champs

After winning yesterday's play in match in thrilling fashion, today Elise and Alyssa took on the daunting task of playing the 2 time defending NCAA doubles champs from U of Chicago.  They are a great tandem and while we had some promising tennis overall and did some things well, they were just too much today.  It is definitely a learning experience and we have a short turnaround to apply those lessons with a consolation match tomorrow afternoon.

We're enjoying great weather, warm but not too humid and some awesome tennis here in the south.

John

First match in Alabama sends Elise and Alyssa to the main draw

Hello from Mobile, Alabama.

There are some very excited Whitties here in the south as we fought through a very tough UT Tyler doubles team today in the Northwest/Southwest play in match at the Small College Nationals.  The format for doubles here is two out of three sets with a super tie break (to 10) for the third.

UTT came out blazing with big returns and volleys to break us right off the bat and then held to go up 2-0.  From there Elise served a great game and we held for 1-2 and they held for 1-3.  The next game found us down a break and 0-40.  I'm not sure I know quite what happened besides ShoPo and Twitch just stepped up, they fought back and held for 2-3, then ran off 4 straight games for the first set 6-3.

The momentum continued in the second, going up 2-0, but swung back to put us down 2-3.  from there we traded games to 3-4 and went down 3-5.  After bringing it back to 4-5 our Texas opponents finished the set strong 6-4 to send the match to a 10 point tie break for the right to play 3 more matches this week in Mobile.

As was the theme of the match, momentum continued with UTT going up 3-0, then Alyssa answered with a screaming winner and suddenly the momentum was back to us.  Switching at 2-4 it felt like we had it going and we got a lead and held on for the 10-8 win.

Tomorrow at 3pm (CST, 1pm Whitman time), we take on the back to back defending national NCAA champs from University of Chicago and we can't wait!

Articles are on the Whitman site, and our men's team played some terrific tennis which you should read about there, the doubles was right after us and was inspiring to see that level with only 2 breaks of serve the entire match (3 tie breaks!!!).

More tomorrow from Mobile...

Off to Alabama Tomorrow for Small College Nationals

It is a quiet weekend here at Whitman as the campus is on our 4-day fall break.  The long weekend gives students a chance to rest, study, do some traveling and activities etc.  Some of the team has gone home or to visit friends, others have done outdoor program trips or are staying on campus.

Two of those Whitties on campus are Elise and Alyssa, who as Northwest Regional USTA/ITA champions head to Mobile, Alabama tomorrow for the Small College National Championships.

We travel on Tuesday and play Wednesday at noon central time (10amPST) in a play in match against a duo from University of Texas, Tyler.  The winner advances to play on Thursday and Friday.

I'll keep you all updated and am so thrilled that these two have earned the honor to play in Alabama!
John

Finishing touches on the Regional USTA/ITA Tournament

Wow, what a tremendous weekend in Walla Walla.  Our beautiful campus was the showcase of a very busy Whitman weekend with an alumni reunion, home soccer and volleyball, an instant play festival, and I'm sure many other activities.  Along with that, our tournament attracted all 9 NWC teams and filled draws of 64 singles and 32 doubles with players on waiting lists to get in.

The weather cooperated and with the generosity of Anne Thomas and the Walla Walla Country Club, we had 8 awesome outdoor courts and our 4 indoor courts hopping with great tennis, which I'll continue to describe here.

I've already recounted the exploits of much of the team and I'm excited to add that Charlotte in her junior year continues her steady progression as a player and a leader on this team.  After a first round loss she moved into the consolation in singles and eventually lost to Willamette's #3 player who won the consolation.  Her high level of play and great teamwork carried into the doubles consolation where she teamed with 1st year Leah Siegel of Portland, OR to roll through the consolation doubles and take home the title.  Each match they worked better and better as a team and upset some teams that I'm sure will be solid contributors to the lineups of our conference opponents.  The best part was through their sniffles (both had colds), they focused all the way to earn huge smiles and hugs from their teammates at the end.

Our other Portland first year, Maggie Eismeier (of Portland, ME), had a tough first round match and recovered to get some great college experience in the back draw, nearly knocking off a solid player from LC.  What the scoreboard doesn't show is that Maggie has recently re-worked much of her game and is adjusting to new technique beautifully and now she has an idea of the level of college competition so I know she's ready to keep growing her game and will be a force to be reckoned with in the very near future.

Hannah Palkowitz is not from any city called Portland, but rather, hails from San Diego, CA.  Hannah and Amanda had some streaks in doubles and she showed her abilities but also her need to tighten things up a bit. Also, for not having played a lot of singles in high school and coming off of a hamstring injury this summer, her singles game is going to be as good or better than her doubles.

While Dena's 28-26 tie break and our doubles consolation wins were two of the most memorable events of the weekend, it was our top two players who provided some of the best tennis and surely the most excitement and energy to the center of campus.

Elise held to her seed up to the quarterfinals where the first set with finalist and defending champion Abby Olbrich was outstanding.  After Abby snuck out the first, she got a lead in the second and held on, but Elise showed that her outstanding form at the end of last season in singles is not far off and that she can play with any player she'll face.  Alyssa also held to her seed, but just barely.  After falling behind 0-2 in the first set to top seed Natalia Agarycheva of Willamette, Show Pony ran off a string of games to take the set 6-2 in prancing style.  As Natalia heated up in the second she got an early lead and stayed ahead to take it 6-3, and at this point, with all respect to the other semifinal match between two outstanding and talented players, the big hitting, wonderful hustle and ability of both to compete made this the highest quality match of the tournament for me - though I am biased since I coach Alyssa.  Down 3-5 in the third, Alyssa held easily and fought hard to break for 5-5.  Another hold had her a game from the finals, but Natalia, who possesses one of the biggest serves in D3 tennis, came up huge with only one missed first serve and huge groundies to back it up to force a deciding tiebreak.  Unfortunately for Alyssa, who maintained a high level through the tie break, Natalia came up with a couple key shots and ShoPo's somehow found the top of the tape to send the #1 seed to the final with a 7-4 tiebreak win.

So, with some much needed time to rest while Abby and Natalia fought out the singles final, ShoPo and Twitch readied themselves to face Abby and her high school doubles partner and new college doubles partner Sarah Click.  While we had the #1 seeding and had beaten Abby and multiple time doubles all-American Sallie Katter

So, the regional ended in sunshine and victory, but more importantly, it was a great event for our players and fans to enjoy the hard work they've put in and set their sights on how we must keep improving this year in a conference with amazing parity.

Thanks to all who attended and cheered and especially to all the families who came and supported as well as helped out with making the tournament run smoothly.  An extra huge thanks goes to Katie who worked tirelessly to keep things moving, keep our athletes fed and also to coach all at the same time and to the Norsworthy's for running the tournament desk at Walla Walla Country Club, we couldn't have had so much great tennis without you.

From sunny Walla Walla,

John

Days 1 and 2 of the Fall USTA/ITA Regional at Whitman

Hello,

I will endeavor  to catch you up a bit as the tournament is still taking place and will provide more details after tomorrow. We've had beautiful weather in the low 80's and high 70's not to mention some gorgeous sunsets...and sunrises which could give you some idea of how amazing these student athletes are playing all day long, supporting each other and many of them find some time for schoolwork during breaks and at the end of the day.

I'll start with our returners, in singles Emily had a solid first round win which I didn't see as we were indoors and outdoors, and then she fell to #3 seed Rachel Burns and is getting a taste for how her game is growing and matching up with some of the top players in the conference.  Kate has also shown tremendous growth.  Many of you will remember her marathon three set victory of Sarah Watanabe of Linfield at conference last fall.  The first round provided a rematch and Kate's dilligent work showed as she played inspired tennis to win in straight sets this time.  She then took on Pacific's all-conference junior Megan Yoshimoto and pushed her to the limit in the first set losing a tie break 10-8.  Megan stepped up a bit in the second and Kate still played some great tennis, though did not sustain it losing 2-6.  In doubles, Sabertooth and Wolverine, as they are known around here, had a huge second round win over the seeded team from Lewis and Clark.  Casey Schein of LC was battling an illness that took her out of the singles earlier but it didn't show as tremendous tennis was played with our claw and fang Whitties winning 9-7.  In the Quarters it was again Megan Yoshimoto of Pacific, this time with her doubles partner Cat Goya as the #2 seed who Em and Kate were right with to 4-5 before dropping 3 straight games to lose 8-4.  It was a great showing from last year's #3 team.

Amanda had a solid first round win and ran into fellow Idaho native and Linfield first year Caroline Brigham, losing in straight sets with a great quality of tennis but just a few too many errors, but it is wonderful to see Amanda out on the courts again every day finding her old form and now reaching new heights with her game.
In doubles, Amanda teamed up with first year Hannah Palkowitz and I was unfortunate to not see much of their tennis, but they lost, won in the consolation and the lost 6-8 in the consolation quarterfinals.  More on Hannah and our other first year's next time...

Finally for today, the event of  the tournament in my mind happened in the first round.  After a building season last year with some great doubles wins, Dena has worked so hard on her overall game and her singles and in the first round she jumped on her opponent from Pacific 6-1 in the first.  All credit to Traci Mo from Pacific for cutting down her errors and lifting her focus to take the second set 6-3.  We were playing match tie breaks (tie break to 10) in lieu of the third set and Dena got down 3-0, then looked really good going ahead and battling back and forth to 6-6.  In an exciting match, it would end 10-8, or maybe even get to 13-11 or 14-12 for another changeover. NOT on this good day friends.  These two competitors would not give an inch and earned and fought off match point after match point after match point.  After 8, yes 8 changeovers in the super tiebreak, on the I don't know how manyth match point, Dena's iron focus and amazing willpower was rewarded with a 28-26 match tie break win.  I've never seen that in all my years of tennis and may not again.  It was thrilling and nerve racking and amazing but before the tie break, Dena, who as I said is pushing to make a run at the lineup this year, told me she wanted to stay in the main draw, not go into the consolation.  Well it was certainly well earned and I am still amazed by both her tremendous tennis but also her superb effort.

I'll post again once we're finished, but Charlotte and Leah are still in the doubles consolation and Elise and Alyssa are in the doubles final while Alyssa has played her way into the singles semifinal, all tomorrow at our outdoor courts.

Have a great start to your week and check online via the athletics webpage for updates.

Best,
John

USTA/ITA Regional Championships in 2 days!

The tournament is almost here, I can't wait. The team has done great work and this tournament is one more step in our journey this year. Welcome to those of you on your way into town and for everyone else, the link below will update you and links on the right will also have draws and results.

News and result links

The photo here is of Katie and Elise after winning in 2008; as you can see, Whitties even have fun after flying all the way from Walla Walla to New Orleans on the way to Alabama for Nationals.

PS A very happy birthday to Zoe!!!!!

Fall USTA/ITA Tournament Coming Up!

Hello out there,

In less than a week on this Saturday (9/25) we host the annual USTA/ITA regional championships. This is a wonderful singles and doubles event that includes players from all nine of our Northwest Conference teams. It gives us a well timed tangible goal for our fall practices and I love the chance for new players to show their stuff as well as for returners to demonstrate the growth in their games. As a bonus, the tournament winners receive ITA All-American status and travel to the National DIII tournament.

Our first two weeks of practice and fitness have been outstanding. This group is balanced with 2 seniors, 3 juniors, 3 sophomores and 3 first year's and it has been inspiring to see them work with the efficiency of a well-oiled machine. First year's Maggie Eismeier (Portland,ME), Hannah Palkowitz (San Diego, CA) and Leah Siegel (Portland, OR) are adjusting rapidly to college life and college tennis and I'm excited to introduce them to their first college competition. And I can't deny the small pleasure I get in Hannah being the filling of a Bi-coastal Portland sandwich.

If you are planning on being here this weekend, keep in touch with me as we'll have a team dinner with family and friends on Friday in the late afternoon/early evening and I'm also planning a meal on campus Sunday evening for everyone.

I'll post more updates this week as the seeding and draws get posted.

Best,
John

Berry Picking with the Men's Team

Apologies to those who follow Coach Northam's men's blog but we've got more pictures from our Friday activity.

To those who haven't heard, after the first week of classes, the men's and women's tennis teams headed out to the banks of the Walla Walla river at the base of the Blue Mountains where Biology Professor (and 2010 Convocation speaker) Delbert Hutchinson and his wife Kathleen hosted an afternoon of berry picking and hanging out by the fire.

We enjoyed the wonderful outdoors, the teams got to spend some time together off court and Hutch and Jeff (with Katie's help) made some mean Blackberry cobbler in dutch ovens in the fire.

It was a ton of fun, thanks so much to the Hutchinson's for their hospitality and to Jeff for the idea.

Check out photos here.

-Coach Hein

Player feature: Charlotte Scott

Name: Charlotte Scott
Real Name: Squeaks
Year: Junior (2011)
Hometown: Seattle, WA
High School: The Bush School
Major: Spanish
Academic Interests: First became seriously interested in Spanish after a high school trip to Guatemala and decided to choose it as a major after reading Julio Cortázar’s "La noche boca arriba". She is also planning on getting a minor in Anthropology and wants to travel abroad next year, although where is unknown.
Family: daughter of Jim Scott and Linda Chalker-Scott, sister of Jack

Life before Whitman: Born in Buffalo, NY with a bagel and sponge candy in hand. Having grown up in Seattle and with both her parents each earning 3 degrees from Oregon State where Charlotte went to tennis camp every summer, she opted instead for Whitman. As a 4 year varsity letter winner at the Bush school, Charlotte was a three time team league champion and was the Emerald City league and district doubles champion with her doubles partner before falling the the State 1A/B doubles finals.

Life as a Whittie: Always a solid force in doubles, Charlotte has contributed in singles as well with some notable non-conference wins playing in the 7 and 8 spots against Claremont and Chapman. A wonderful ambassador for Whitman tennis, this dual language, multifaceted, versatile player is a huge asset on and off the court. Her heart is as big as her huge serve and if there is a chance to be there for her friends and team, you'll find Squeaks.

Hadley is famous!

Ok, sort of. There is an article on the Whitman webpage about our new desert biological field station and look who's sporting their Whitman Tennis hat in the photo. Nice work Had putting your smarts to good environmental use.

For the ecology minded out there (check this out Linda C-S!), they are doing a project on cheatgrass, an important desert invader.

Here is the link or go to http://www.whitman.edu/content/news/fieldstation

Women's tennis gives back to Walla Walla youth

I've posted on this before as it is a project I'm extremely proud of. Yes, it's our team's tennis in schools program where the ladies volunteer their time, energy and expertise with the racket to introduce tennis to local schoolchildren. You can read the PNW tennis times with an article and photo of Emily teaching on page 11 right here.

This year, the men's team has expressed interest in joining us and we'll continue to use the equipment funded by the USTA and start branching out to a second school in Walla Walla. While just providing the lessons and developing hand eye coordination skills while spreading knowledge of the game is enough reward in itself, last week during the first week of Walla Walla Parks and Rec tennis camps, Jeff Northam and I were excited to have a few kids enrolled who were first introduced to tennis at Sharpstein Elementary last year with our team!

Whitman Player Features: Alyssa Roberg

Ok, so putting together some in depth player bios has been on my to do list all season, so now that summer is here, I'll get started and share them with you all. Here goes with Whitman's 2009-2010 freshman female most outstanding performer:

Name: Alyssa Roberg
Real Name: Show Pony
Year: Sophomore (2013)
Hometown: Scotts Valley, CA
High School: Santa Cruz High School
Major: Undecided
Academic Interests: Environmental Studies (Sociology) and Psychology, and Education
Family: daughter of Arlene and Roy Roberg

Life before Whitman: found her way from the beaches and misty coastal mountains of Santa Cruz onto a tennis court by age 7, was playing tournaments by 10…four time singles champion in the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League...led her team to SCCAL league championship as a senior…competed in the CCS singles tournament four times… ranked in the top 40 USTA Norcal 18’s

Life as a Whittie: Playing mostly #1 singles and #1 doubles, earned a ranking of #5 doubles and #20 singles in the West Region, alternate for NCAA Individual Nationals, first team All Northwest Conference, Most Outstanding Freshman Female Athlete, tiebreak tournament champion, team leader, rambunctious dancer, a laugh you hear across Ankeny (and more likely notice the absence of laughter as she catches her breath)

Adult Wine and Tennis Camp at Whitman July 22-25

Hello and happy summer (or almost summer) to all!

As the season and school year have both finished up, the team has earned several accolades which I'll share in future postings, but for now I'd like to spread the word about an amazing idea that is coming to life this summer... an adult tennis and wine camp in Walla Walla! Jeff Northam has been talking about this and if you or anyone you know loves wine, food, and of course tennis, you should check this out. I feel lucky to be involved with a tremendous coaching staff that includes one of the best college coaches alive in Greg Patton from Boise State, Pat Dreeves from Spokane who was an amazing college coach at Linfield and Eastern Washington before striking out as one of the premier private coaches in the Northwest with our own superstar Elise Otto on his list of successful students. And yes, Jeff and I will be there too!

Any profits will go to the Men's and Women's teams at Whitman, but really I'm extremely excited to spend time on court with these coaches and our "campers" as well as getting to know some of the finer points of life in Walla Walla (food and wine) a little bit better.

Information on the camp can be found online by clicking here or feel free to contact me with inquiries, and spread the word as summer is fast approaching!

Cheers!

John
heinj@whitman.edu

NCAA Nationals Selections Announced...Whitman on the bubble

Well, as tomorrow marks the first day of final exams and our men's team competing at Regionals in Claremont, CA, we enjoyed a beautiful spring day with the news that our top doubles duo of Elise and Alyssa has been named the first alternate for the West Region in the selections for individual nationals May 28-30 in Fredericksburg, VA (see the NCAA website for information).

I'm really proud of this honor and excited about practicing with these two as they take on court study breaks. There are a lot of very good teams in our conference and the West region is strong in doubles, so to have the opportunity to prepare for nationals is outstanding.

-John

Fall ITA at Whitman so Plan Ahead

Just a quick note about next fall, we are hosting the Fall Regional ITA tournament Sep 25-27. If you're like Alyssa and ready to swing into action, I'd suggest looking early for lodging. During this beautiful time of year any weekend in Walla Walla will be busy, but it is a reunion weekend at Whitman, which will make the feel on campus that much more exciting, but the competition for rooms that much more intense.

Long term planners, get your calendars out, I hope to see you on campus as we look to start next season off strong.

John

Big Omission from my last message

Wow,
In writing up the tennis events of the weekend I neglected to mention the amazing W Club event that we had. Our athletic booster club joined forces with Whitman Alum John Adkinson and his wife Maureen to have a post tournament BBQ at their wonderful home in Yakima. Both teams, parents, alums and supporters enjoyed great hospitality and so I have to send this follow up to thank Cathy, John, Maureen, and Dean for putting this on.

Go Whitman!
Coach

Second at NWC Tournament, Lot's of First's

FIRST, the good news.

We finished our 2009-2010 season on a great note at the Yakima Tennis Club playing in the final match against Whitworth while our men's team was right next to us taking FIRST in their draw and advancing to the NCAA national tournament. We had our FIRST win over Linfield since 01-02 in the semi's, we earned two FIRST team All NWC players in Alyssa Roberg and Elise Otto (go Show Pony and Twitch!) and I was voted to my FIRST NWC Coach of the year award, which is a truly humbling honor that is a reflection of the wonderful students that I am fortunate enough to coach.

Now, to the second. In windy conditions that took us a little longer to adjust to than Whitworth, we went down early in #2 doubles and played from a game behind for most of the match at 3. To their credit, our seniors showed their mettle and played the type of doubles that would have won them the match, unfortunately, they were already down 6-1, and ended up losing 8-3. Next, Wolverine and Sabertooth (Kate and Em) could not quite claw and bite their way back into the proset, falling 8-5. Going down 3-0 would have been an absolute disaster and as all of the players and fans descended on the stadium court for the conclusion of 1 doubles, Show Pony and Twitch had just earned a break and then responded to the pressure and crowd by playing their best games of the match to score an 8-5 win. Alyssa was prancing even after spraining her ankle in the Pacific match and she made some huge serves, smart groundstrokes and poaches so big you would think she was over 6 feet tall with all the court she covered. As a team, they had talked about the need to own the net with the windy conditions and Elise's volley game had fans wowing and Whitworth wondering as we pulled the match score to 1-2.

In singles, we had 5 courts at the main part of the Yakima tennis club and a contingent led by assistant coach extraordinaire Katie went to the upper courts a few hundred yards away and completely out of site for the #6 match. At the lower courts, Div put the finishing touches on a stellar Whitman career avenging her only conference losses of the season in straight sets with a smart blend of offense and defensive tennis. I need to do some final counting, but Div has over 130 wins (singles and doubles) over 4 years and might be the winningest Whittie Woman that we have on record (a summer project for me to find out).

Emily was next to her and while her doubles struggles carried through her first set she showed wonderful composure and nearly fought back in the second. Emily had a tremendous sophomore season and is not showing any signs of leveling off as she gets better and better, proving that she is a force in singles and doubles in our lineup.

Hadley and Elise played side by side and the score does not do justice to Hadley's efforts. She will be the first to admit that she can play better, but her opponent deserves the credit as her consistent topspin was a perfect game for yesterday's windy conditions. Like Div, Hadley has accomplished so much in 4 years and I am so proud to call myself her coach, she is such an amazing player, student and person so look for great things from her post-graduation.

With the score overall 4-2, Elise knew we needed every point and was pumped up to be able to provide that spark. What was most gratifying to me, however, was that at the start of the season Twitch and I talked about her goals for the season and without going into the secret details, she absolutely stuck with her plan for the season and it paid off with a conference tournament where she went 3-0 in doubles and 3-0 in singles, doing it all the way she wanted to, which is a testament to her persistence, work ethic and ability.

At 4-3 overall, word had come down from above that Kate lost the first but was super close in the second. Alyssa fought back from a 0-3 first set to be up 6-5, when fellow first team all NWC selection Rachel Burns found a way to fight into the tiebreak and battle out a hardfought 7-5 win. Needing two 3 set comebacks from two freshman, we absolutely were in it as Kate went to a second set tiebreak knowing that her fitness in a 3rd would be an advantage. I didn't see the tiebreak, but Katie told me how well Kate fought and how much of a battle it was. Unfortunately for us, another 7-5 tie break went to the Conference Champions and we halted Alyssa's second set as Whitworth took the match 5-3 and earned the Automatic qualification (AQ) to the NCAA DIII national tournament next month.

This has truly been an amazing season, not only were we talented, hard working and fun, but we showed a level of team spirit, determination and sportsmanship that continually inspired me as a coach and teacher.

In Yakima this weekend we were so lucky to have our men's team there, they are a huge force as fans and role models as they cheer and compete with intensity and integrity, congrats to Jeff and his guys for winning the tournament and advancing to the NCAA's! We also had such amazing parents; the Kaur's, Rolston's, Rosemary Otto, Mark DeBree, and the Kunkel's were amazing fans and support and kept us fed and happy the whole time. An extra special thank you goes out to Annie Kunkel who Friday night fed BOTH Whitman teams and all the parents and our amazing staff that was at the tournament. It was a feast and also a feat that I don't quite understand, but somehow Annie pulled it off and made it look easy. Being the tournament hosts, we had great fans with Alums including Alex and staff with Dave Holden (our amazing SID), Brooke Kennedy, who did the best job of any trainer I've witnessed at a big tournament like this and she did it all by herself, Dean Snider our AD, and Brett Axelrod, Whitman Alum and Soccer assistant coach who worked tirelessly all weekend to keep the facilities tip top and also got a ton of video and photos that I can't wait to see and share.

And to all those who couldn't attend, but sent your wishes, it meant a lot as we concluded our most successful season since 2002 with the promise of only moving forward in the future.

My next posts will be less frequent but I will keep you up to date with photos, end of season accolades and any other news from the courts and classrooms in Walla Walla.

Thanks for reading and following us!
John

Pacific and Linfield down, one more to go

Hello from Yakima Washington. Today was the first day of the Conference tournament to decide who goes to the NCAA tournament. I don't want the team to think I'm staying up too late as they should be getting to sleep NOW, so I'll write this and then get some rest myself.

We started the day with a first round match against Pacific. I always talk about how talented and spirited this boxer team is and they gave us a terrific match, but we followed a doubles sweep including an 8-6 win at 3 and a tiebreak at 1 (down 5-7!) to a 5-0 victory when the other matches were pulled. Singles was very tough because as Div rolled, everyone else battled and when Elise clinched it, we were just gaining real momentum with Charlotte having won the first and Kate up a set with Hadley and Emily in tight matches.

After having lunch and a quick rest, we turned around to face Linfield and the opposite of our last match happened. This time after being up at every spot, they stormed back to take 2 and 3 and a huge effort from Alyssa and Elise at 1 against a great team kept us in it. Again, Div was a star, finishing in straight sets to even the match. Alyssa got down a set and went up 4-1 before Abby from Linfield dug in and fought out a win. Now down 3-2 in matches, we needed some huge performances and Emily Rolston was the Whittie to provide the spark, while everyone battled, she took Div's court and was flipping the scorecards faster than anyone else and came off with a convincing win to tie it 3-3. With Elise up a set and a break and Kate and Hadley each down a set, we needed some third set magic. Hadley stepped up to force a third and fought like a champion, but fell 4-6. Meanwhile Elise lost her break, but broke again in a LONG 5-4 game to knot things at 4. With a wonderful crowd roaring, Kate tightened her game up and took the second set. Unfortunately, her opponent started cramping, which can be an advantage, but can also distract lots of players. Not KKP, who stuck to her plan and worked incredibly hard through the third, to stay focused was an absolute rock. As a coach I want our team to be known for our fitness and toughness and to win the deciding match with fitness was so special.

So, my first coaching win against Linfield (as a head coach, that is) and it was sweet as it sets us up for a lunch date with Whitworth for the trip to nationals tomorrow. We play at noon side by side with our men's team who valiantly held off a talented and experienced PLU team.

GO WHITMAN!
John

Finishing Strong

Hello Whitman Sportsfans,

As the close to our regular season we drew two exciting home matches for our Family/Alumni weekend and Seniors final home matches. Before I get into the tennis I would love to acknowledge the love and support of this extended family that this weekend included not only the team and our wonderful campus community but many of you who traveled to Walla Walla.

Yesterday we defeated Lewis and Clark (OR) by a count of 6-3 with the entire DeBree family watching their daughters battle it out in doubles (Hadley and Div getting the W)and only an injury to top Pio Amalia Nilsson kept them apart in singles. But the DeBree's weren't alone with many of our team being cheered on by parents, siblings and fellow Whitties (thanks SAAC for bribing so many students to the courts with Otter Pops).

After the match, we adjourned across the street to Baker Faculty Center, a wonderful old house on campus used for events and receptions. There we enjoyed hanging out, refueling and celebrating the great (and extremely crazy and funny) years of Hadley and Div. One of the hardest jobs I've had this year has been trying not to think of them being gone. It is amazing how attached you get to players and these two, in Zoe's words, have been the heart and soul of this team.

The most fitting way to honor them, besides having a great time and showering them with gifts, was to come out today and earn third place in what has become a much deeper and stronger conference than even a year ago. Standing in our way were the Bearcats of Willamette. Again, anchored by our seniors, we got a 2-1 lead after doubles and again Div was focused from the start to notch her 129th win for Whitman with a 6-0.6-0 victory. Elise followed with a great 2 and 2 win to put us up 4-1. Alyssa, playing the Northwest's top singles player, showed that she belongs right at the top as well playing some beautiful tennis in a losing effort that closed the gap to 4-2. It was fitting that the match was decided by Hadley as she pulled out a straight set win.

Kate was off quickly to extend the lead and Emily gave the fans a final thrill with a 10-7 match tiebreak win. This is the time of year when you want to be playing your best and this weekend was fun and we improved our team score over both of these tough opponents.

As the 3 seed at conference, this Friday in Yakima, WA we will play #6 Pacific at 8am, with the winner to play Linfield in the semi's in the afternoon. There is a W Club event Saturday evening at the conclusion of the tournament which should be a lot of fun as they've done tailgates at basketball and soccer and now its Tennis time!

Hope to see you in Yakima,

John

Another nailbiter in McMinnville

Well folks, Happy Easter (and KKP Bday) to all who celebrate it. If you were following Zoe's twitter updates, you know the excitement and drama we went through yesterday must have rivaled that of the NCAA DI final four basketball.

We suffered a narrow 5-4 defeat (scores) at the hands of a hot Linfield team. On Friday, while we played a very solid match to beat a spirited and talented Pacific team 9-0, Linfield swept doubles and went on to beat the defending conference champion Whitworth who were previously undefeated in conference play this year.

That made our doubles play all the more satisfying, going up 2-1. At #1, we got down a break and in her final home match of an illustrious career, Linfield Senior Sallie Katter served huge and partner Abby Olbrich was solid all over the court to hang on for an 8-5 win over Elise and Alyssa who never quite found their rhythm as a team. At #2 dubs, we absolutely created our own rhythm with seniors Div and Hadley playing with unrelenting focus and fun to win 8-2. The closest match then became #3, where Emily and Kate hung tough and worked their way to an 8-6 victory to put us up 2-1.

The momentum was quickly regained by Linfield on their 3 indoor courts as their top two players played very smart and clean tennis. Abby Olbrich at 1 switched from offense to defense at all the right times and it was not a good day for Alyssa to be a little off in a 6-4,6-2 loss. As in doubles, a ton of credit goes to Sallie Katter for playing great tennis at #2 against Elise. It wasn't a great day for either of our top two, but in those spots everyone is so good that we know we have to bring our best every time and being a little off will quickly be exploited as it was yesterday.

At #3, Hadley played brilliant tennis, which is the norm for her, but she was just not consistent enough to come out on top and she lost by scores of 6-3,6-4 in a closely contested two set match.

So, from up 2-1 feeling great, we send out Div, Em and Kate needing a sweep in the final three. An even bigger hole was dug as Kate pulled out a long first set 6-4, but Emily and Div each dropped their first sets, so we needed some 3 set efforts.

As in doubles, Div was the first to do her part as she recovered from a quick 0-3 hole in the first set to come back to 4-6 and carry that momentum into the second, winning it 6-3 and showing why she is such a tough player to play against. Just as Div gained the momentum and was really feeling it for the split, Emily was now down 3-5 in the second. With the match on her racket and her back against the wall, she found an extra level of focus and fought off at least one amazing match point where she had to hit multiple overheads and finish with a drop volley. That kind of composure pulled her to 4-5 back on serve as Div went for some water before the third. As was so frustrating all day, Emily again went down, this time 0-40, and again she fought back 3 match (team and individual) points to get the game to deuce. Somehow, wildcat Sarah Watanabe found a way to lock down two points and the win for Linfield leaving us disappointed in McMinnville.

Then, with incredible fortitude, Div was able to control her match tie break 10-4 and Kate repeated her first set for a 6-4, 6-4 victory to pull us back to 4-5. It was a great match to be at and I give Linfield a lot of credit because if they play like that, we (and any other team) will need to really step up to get them at the conference tournament in Yakima in two weeks.

This weekend is our final match weekend and also our Family and Alumni weekend where we will play Lewis and Clark on 2pm on Saturday and Willamette at 9am on Sunday. The weekend will also include a dinner Saturday, so please contact me if you are coming so I know who will be here as we look to lock down 3rd place in conference and honor our seniors as well as enjoy each others company around some great tennis.

Thanks for reading,
John

Change of plans...same result

Today we drove to the Portland area to play Pacific. I was so excited to see their new tennis facility, which includes 3 covered courts which normally withstand a rainy day, but today was not a typical rainy day. There were drizzles, intense rain and wind, hail, and bright warm sunshine. The end result was we pushed the match to 7pm at Green Meadows Club in Vancouver, WA, just across the state line.

Our team responded to the change beautifully, coming out with a strong doubles sweep including 8-0 at #1 doubles. First off in singles was Elise with a very strong win at #2 followed almost simultaneously by Kate then Hadley. Emily pulled through next, but it was 1 and 4 that were most interesting as Alyssa had gone three sets in her win the first time we played Pacific, while Div fought out a 7-6, 7-6 win. Again, each prevailed, but this time Alyssa displayed her tremendous ability to focus and down 2-4 in the first broke back to go up 5-4 and then pull the set out 7-5. The second set she jumped out to a 3-0 lead and rolled through to a 6-2 win. 4 singles was another great match, but Div pulled away in each set to get a very impressive 6-3,6-3 win.

It is so nice to see measured progress as a coach.

Tomorrow we travel to McMinnville to take on Linfield who today was the first team in two years to notch a conference win over Whitworth so we'll certainly have our hands full.

Until tomorrow...
John

Tremendous match vs Whitworth

Good evening out there.

I'm going to write this post right away as the feelings from today's 7-2 loss to Whitworth are fresh.

First, we came out with very solid doubles, playing huge at 2 and 4, unfortunately, Dena and Charlotte's win didn't count on the scoreboard. 3 was a battle and 1 was a funny match with a ton of breaks and way too many crosscourt rallies. Alyssa and Elise worked well to earn opportunities but in the end dropped a close 8-6 decision.

Down 2-1 was daunting against a very deep Whitworth team, and Dena and Charlotte went indoors for the 7 and 8 matches which is hard for our team because we want to play and improve, but they all want to support the counting matches so much.

Outside, Elise stormed out to a 2 set win to even the match at 2-2 playing a really smart match against a very tough player. Hadley and Div were both in battles and each lost in straight sets, but they both displayed the composure and belief that truly made each match come down to a point here or there.

At 1, Alyssa's match was funny as she started strong up 2-1 and then got a bit off while her opponent played nearly flawless defensive tennis to go up a set and 5-0. At this point Show Pony rolled off 5 straight games before losing two absolute battles. She learned a lot from this one and her shots and health were a pleasure to see after missing time on spring break with illness.

Whenever Emily and Katie Staudinger get on court it is a war. I don't always like to describe matches as wars because it sounds negative, but these two just bring out the best in each other and play tennis that is exciting to watch and super intense but very positive. Last time Em came out on top and this time she had great momentum in the second set at 4-4 up 15-30 on Katie's serve when we had to move inside where Katie had a big hold and then played a good game to break for the match.

Kate also had to move in with momentum down a set but up 3-0. She pulled out the second, but came up short in a match tie break.

All credit goes to Whitworth for playing a brilliant match, but my team's performance today was superb and is such a wonderful reminder of how great college tennis is, so thanks team!

Also, I have to thank all the great fans who came out and made the trip. Thanks for the snacks Annie, the cheering from everyone, what a fun atmosphere to be a part of.

I can't wait to practice and play next weekend, but tomorrow we'll have a much deserved rest.

Best regards,
John

Back home and back in the swing of things

After a great trip on spring break it is so nice to be back at Whitman. Walla Walla welcomed us with a beautiful spring day and we played George Fox in a doubleheader. Fox was a bit shorthanded with only 5 players, but we were still able to get everyone matches in a 9-0 and an 8-1 win.

Both teams fought hard and it was fun tennis to be a part of. At this point in the season I am so lucky to coach such a great group of players and their team effort was not surprising to me, though I'm grateful for it every day. What was a pleasant surprise was the amount of fans we had today. Maybe it was the beautiful weather, maybe it was the tennis, but it being the last weekend of break and the dorms being closed it was a quiet day on campus, but it seemed that the people who were here found their way to the courts to cheer us on.

An extra big thanks to the Moore's for supporting us with cookies, cheering and dandelion jewelry.

Tomorrow at 1pm Whitworth comes to town for a big conference match that we're very excited to play so I hope just as many and more people can make it out to enjoy some exciting tennis at Whitman!

John

Road Trip Recap

Without going into too much detail since I wasn't able to give daily updates during the last part of our road trip, let me say that we had an outstanding spring break.

It was apparent in the fall and has carried through the season that this team is a very special group in their ability to simultaneously play wonderful tennis and have an incredible amount of fun.

We traveled from the central coast where we had two matches and enjoyed some wonderful hospitality at the Roberg's and great road support from Zoe and Kate's family, Elise's parents and everyone else who supported us (thanks Mike).

After driving south we had the opportunity to test ourselves against Bowdoin College, the number 16 team in the country. Thanks to Azusa Pacific for hosting us as our seniors Divneet and Hadley played a terrific match at 2 doubles to get us on the board. In singles, we showed that we can hang with top teams and Bowdoin showed why they are one of those teams, as they found ways up and down the lineup to get victories in a singles sweep.

After a day off by the coast, we took on the #17 team in the country in Redlands. The Bulldogs are very tough in doubles with the #1 and #9 teams in the region. Elise and Alyssa fought well to notch a win, Hadley and Div battled well against a great team and at 3 doubles, Kate and Emily were tantalizingly close to putting us up 2-1. Despite our efforts, we went into singles down and played really close at 1,2,3 and 6 with our competitors at 4 and 5 playing very clean matches.

These are such great matches in our development to learn from and we've got chances right away to see how we can apply those lessons with George Fox twice tomorrow and Whitworth on Sunday at home. Come on out if you're in town!

Coach

Split in Santa Cruz

We've started the match portion of Spring Break 2010 with a doubleheader at UCSC. This morning we continued our winning ways with a very solid 9-0 shutout of Whittier College. This was a good match in which I think the experience of playing in such a deep conference proved to be valuable for us. As well as getting the sweep 1-6 and 1-3 doubles, Charlotte got an exhibition win at #7 while Dena stepped up to earn her first top 6 singles point in a Whitman uniform with a smart and efficient 6-2,6-1 win.

In doubles, we had to mix it up a bit as our Show Pony Alyssa who was so excited to play in her hometown came down with a terrible respiratory infection that fortunately is clearing up but sidelined her for the day. So Div and Had stepped up to #1 and Charlotte joined Elise for a big win at #2 with Em and Kate continuing their solid partnership at #3.

Any team misses losing one of their top players, and Alyssa is currently ranked #19 in the West region and she and Elise team up as the #13 doubles team. On top of that she has a special energy and attitude that is so positive and infectious that facing a very tough UCSC team in the afternoon was a daunting task indeed.

This leads to the reason I am absolutely thrilled with our performance today. We lost 7-2 to UCSC, but we played some wonderful doubles on every court and in a situation where we were not at full strength, I didn't hear or feel any kind of pessimism or regret from our performance. It was an outstanding display of teamwork, heart and courage which is why I can say that the Slugs won this match today rather than us losing it.

On the bright side of the scoresheet, it is a treat to be stocked with such talent at the top, Elise who is no stranger to court #1 and top regional and national opponents played her best match of the season defeating a hard hitting freshman who is ranked #9 in the West in a match tiebreak. Today was also a great day for Hadley, who demonstrated the type of tennis that has earned her 3 all-conference awards in her great Whitman career.

We are off tomorrow, hitting and enjoying being together on the road and supporting our men's team as they battle top D3 teams Cal Lutheran and UCSC before driving south for Tuesday matches with Bowdoin and LaVerne followed by Redlands on Thursday.

I loved seeing so many Whitman fans and friends at an away match, I hope you all enjoyed what I thought was a great display of tennis today.

John

Spring Break Matches Begin Tomorrow

Hi everyone,

After several days of time off, wonderful travel and a terrific experience at the BNP Paribas tournament in Indian Wells, we are up in Northern California to play Whittier College and UC Santa Cruz. UCSC is where I played and did my assistant coaching, so the homecoming is so much fun for me and the team is enjoying being on the road together, practicing and enjoying wonderful hospitality from the Chalker's and the Roberg's.

The Whittier match is at 9am on the West courts.

Santa Cruz is at 3:30 on the East courts.

If you're not in Santa Cruz, check for twitter updates and another posting after tomorrow!

John

Spring Break 2010!

California here we come. On the coattails of back to back NWC victories vs. PLU and UPS, we are ready for some non conference matches in California.

While we've had wonderful semester of sunny skies and warm outdoor matches in Walla Walla, my family in Ca keeps telling me how much it is raining. Well, our fingers are crossed for good weather because we know we can bring great tennis!

Toady was a tremendous opportunity to play meaningful matches where I was able to make some lineup substitutions in order to rest our horses (or ponies, kangerotto's and lemurs) while getting a chance to see people step up in the lineup and face the pressure of counting matches. This was terrific for Dena and Charlotte who each got to play both singles and doubles. They had a good day of doubles but it was marked by lulls of inconsistent play. It is a testament to their big point execution and wonderful heart that they made it to two tiebreaks, but as aggressive as they were, we still could now notch a win.

Against both PLU and UPS we played a combination of consistent and aggressive doubles which was gratifying to see but even better to watch their smiles as the hard work in practice showed through.

There are so many singles matches to describe, so I'll just say that Elise and Alyssa took care of business at #1 with Elise playing very smart and Alyssa just catching fire as she was first off. Hadley's #2 match vs. PLU was very interesting, her opponent played extremely well, but even when she found the rignt gameplan, it was difficult to consistently execute it. Div put on a clinic today with wonderful ball striking and great recognition of what it would take to win points. Emily played a solid match vs PLU but form the middle of the first set to 5-0 in the second I was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO impressed and even though she let it slip a bit we were treated to shades of Emily playing how Emily should play. Kate was also a stalwart today, not only increasing he aggressive net play in doubles, but also being very tough from the backcourt with some very successful forays into the net.

All in all, it was a great day. Wonderful to have Mr. Div, Evan and Dena's brother Joe, and especially the Scotts there to watch and cheer us on, and the snacks in Yakima on the way over were Perfect, thanks Annie!

Talk to you all soon,

John

Double Header Friday in Tacoma

This week is the last week of school before Spring Break. We're starting our break off with 2 conference matches back to back this Friday in Tacoma, WA vs PLU and UPS, then the team has a few days off before traveling to California for training and several exciting matches.

Friday, we play at 2pm vs PLU, which could be outdoors at PLU, but the current forecast would put us indoors at UPS (I'll send a twitter update when we know which for sure). Then at 7pm we are at UPS playing UPS.

If you are in the Seattle/Tacoma area I hope you'll be able to come and cheer us on.

-John

Another Great Team Effort

Hello everyone.

We finished up our weekend on the road in Oregon today with a 6-3 win over Willamette. We've been playing really good doubles but the quality of the conference has kept almost every proset close. Today we didn't have the best day at 2, and 3 again fought through a tiebreak, but the real story was at 1, where Elise and Alyssa were down 3-6 to the team that took out Div and Alyssa in the semi's of the fall tournament. To be fair, it was close each game to 3-6, but they made the subtle adjustments to gain steam and roll to an 8-6 win. Going up 2-1 was huge after having to fight back yesterday.

At Willamette, the courts are on 2 levels, 3 up a few feet from the other 3. We got on top using straight set wins on the top courts by Div at 4, Kate at 6 and then Elise at 2 to clinch the match. Alyssa showed she can play with the best in the conference by taking the first set and battling right to the end of the third with Natalia Agarycheva who has a HUGE game for D3. It just wasn't Emily's day at 5, but she almost pulled out the second and would have carried a lot of energy into the third. Speaking of energy in the third, after splitting and with the match decided shortly after starting the third, Hadley kicked her movement and her game into another gear, taking out Katie Huber 6-1 to finish the Whitman victory.

We also got a very strong, yet slightly inconsistent performance at 4 doubles from Dena and Charlotte, an exciting team that is putting the pieces together but lost in a tiebreak today. Dena came back strong to pull out an 8-5 exhibition win at #7 and her confidence seems to grow daily.

Regardless of results, the team played with great effort and enjoyment of the game both days and the trip would not have been so wonderful without the support of the Ly's and Kaur's, with the latter helping us achieve our goal of eating Indian food in Portland (actually Elise's goal, but a good one). A big thanks goes out to them.

I must also acknowledge Zoe for her multitasking during the match. With an ailing back keeping her off the court, she was charting doubles, cheering for everyone AND using my phone to provide match updates for you via twitter on the blogsite. Thanks ZZ.

One more week til spring break! Our Whitties will hit the books and get ready for one more NWC day and our trip down to California to play Santa Cruz, Whittier, Bowdoin, LaVerne and Redlands!

Best wishes to all,

John

Every class chips in for 5-4 road win

Good evening. Wow, many predicted that the Northwest Conference would be tight this year with so many teams getting better and deeper. Today, we had our 3rd 5-4 match of the season and this time we came out on top!

After another day of really well played doubles, our new lineup yielded a result that was not indicative of how well we played. As with Linfield, all 3 were close to the end, with the quickest match being an 8-6 LC win over Emily and Div at 2. The others went to tie breaks and at 1, Elise and Alyssa played outstanding tennis and came back from 2-6 to 6 all in the breaker before falling. Meanwhile at 3, Hadley and Kate found their game in the tiebreak to salvage a point going into singles.

The top matche showcased amazing tennis with Alyssa fighting hard but losing to NWC 2 time player of the year Amalia Nilsson. Hadley was bested by her younger sister at 3, with Whitney playing very solid tennis. With Junior Elise Otto winning in straight sets at 2, we were down 4-2 and needed all 3 matches on court. Sophomore Emily Rolston had a great day playing with incredible focus and energy to win in 3 sets. She was followed by Senior Divneet Kaur who was down 2-5 and calmed herself to come back and win the first in a breaker. The second set she jumped out to a 4-1 lead and then found herself down 5-6 and had a huge hold to force another breaker. Down 2 set points again she stepped up and pulled out a 9-7 tiebreak. Almost in unison, 1st year missionary Kate Kunkel-Patterson rounded out our 4 wins by 4 classes with a straight set win at 6 for the dramatic 5-4 comeback.

Tomorrow we are at Willamette at 11am.

-Coach Hein

Whitman Women Battle Bravely

But, we did come out on the short end of a 5-4 decision today, which having a team of scholars I'm sure we will learn from.

The match began with played pretty solid doubles, but we just could not grab the momentum and lost 6-8 at 1 and 3. Then, in danger of going down 3-0 in the match, Hadley and Alyssa prevailed in a close tiebreak at 2.

With this momentum, Alyssa got us our only straight set win of the day over All-American Abby Olbrich at #1. Her maturity in this match against an extremely tough competitor was outstanding. Speaking of maturity, after dropping the second set, Div came out strong to win 6-3 in the 3rd to put us up 3-2. Elise and Hadley dropped their first sets but Hadley came back strong before losing a 3rd set 6-1 that was much closer than the score. Elise and Sallie Katter had an absolute battle, Sallie taking the first set tiebreak 7-5 and then she got up 2 breaks in the second before Elise earned one back, eventually losing in a very high quality match from both players.

So, we needed the final two matches and at #5 Linfield's Kiana Nip played very well to beat Em in straight sets. At 6, with the match decided, Kate's rythym went up and down but she ultimately focused and played great tennis at the end to win a match tie break 10-8.

It was wonderful to be outside on our home courts with friends and family watching and cheering and while we didn't manage the result, we played with passion and are excited to head to Portland next weekend for two more great matchups.

Our Woman of the Match was Alyssa, not just for winning both, but also for her outstanding attitude and ability to withstand hot streaks from her opponents in both singles and doubles.

Best regards,
John

Great win over Pacific

This weekend started with a gorgeous day of tennis on the Whitman campus.

We came out strong at 1 and 4 doubles winning 8-3 and 8-1 with Dena and Kate leading the way at 4. The crowd was great and it was so enjoyable seeing us pull out some close matches and retain wonderful composure up and down the lineup.

As a huge fan of ice hockey where they have 3 stars and soccer that has a man of the match, Katie and I have been awarding the Woman of the match each time and today Elise led the way both with her play and her support of her teammates, especially during Alyssa's match tie break. Today, we had to break our new tradition and award two Woman of the match awards because Dena was the best player during doubles with solid shotmaking, aggressive play and most of all incredible teamwork and focus from start to finish. She then kept herself glued courtside supporting everyone, especially Divneet during her hardfought two setter.

Tomorrow, we go right back to work with another big conference match at home, this time at 10am vs Linfield. If you are nearby, I hope to see you there as today's crowd was so wonderful.

-Coach Hein

Weekend Match Preview

This weekend at Whitman, we take on two great NWC rivals. On Saturday at noon we play Pacific, the team we beat for 3rd place last season. And then on Sunday, Linfield, who edged us for 2nd comes to town at 10am. I'll update the blog through the weekend as these exciting matches take place.
-Coach

A long recap for a long and well fought match

Hi everyone,

Where to start? Today we were in Spokane for an absolutely huge test both for the progression of our program and for this years team that includes two wonderful seniors who are working super hard to make the future of Whitman tennis now.

If you're unfamiliar with the history, after Linfield clawed their way to 7 straight NWC titles, last season the entire conference got deeper, and Whitworth has a tremendous group of young players that gave them the depth to go undefeated in conference play last year. We lost to them 1-8 in Spokane and in a tight 3-6 match in Walla Walla.

Fast forward to today at 10am, we come out enthusiastic but very composed in doubles, going down a break early at 1 and 2 and playing solid at 3. Then, as happens so often in college matches, momentum came into play. While Hadley and Alyssa picked up more and more energy with spirited aggresive play at 2, Elise and Div stayed true to their gameplan and gained the upper hand through consistent execution and great teamwork. In the end, a super close #3 match slipped away 6-8 and we held our composure big time to win #1 8-4 and #2 8-5.

With energy and momentum on our side it did not take long to notch our third point of the day. Alyssa is capable of playing some amazing tennis and while I've been incredibly impressed with her improved strength and decision making, it was lights out power tennis in the first set as she blitzed a very good Alli Marshall 6-0. To Marshall's credit, the second set was much better, but very quickly we had a 3-1 lead as Alyssa won 6-0,6-2.

The #1 singles was a much different story, with the first two points ending in perfectly built points ended in clean winners, one by Elise, one by Rachel Burns of Whitworth. The two traded holds to 4-4 when Rachel finally broke and held to take the first. From there, Elise played tough and had moments of brilliance, but I'm sure she would not allow me to say that she played her best tennis. On the other hand, all credit to Rachel for completely stepping up and not letting Elise back in the match.

So, up 3-2 with Hadley winning a close first 7-5 and Div and Emily starting, we felt good, but knew that Whitworth's depth was lurking. Down 4-1 in the second, Hadley broke back and played such wonderful tennis but could not close the door at 5-4 and lost a tough tie break to send it to a third. Meanwhile, Div fought very hard, but had trouble establishing the right rhythm and went down bravely in straight sets. Kate followed with a straight set loss in a match she could have won but will teach her where her game needs to improve.

During all of this, Emily pulled off a huge first set tiebreak against Whitworth's Katie Stauginger, a super tough player who had never lost a NWC singles match. Staudinger lived up to her record by taking the second set. Before I describe the third, let me say that this #5 battle was so well played with hard hitting, lots of winners and tons of emotion, it could have been mistaken for a 1 or 2 match.

So, Emily and Hadley enter the third sets and Whitworth has taken a 4-3 lead so we need both of these. Hadley goes up 2-0, Em goes down 0-2. A few tough games later Em is down 2-3 and Had is up 3-2. Then, while Hadley battles point after point to 5-5, the cheers from yellow clad teammates turn to roars as Emily hits huge shot after huge shot, building points and finishing with incredible confidence to take the third set 6-3 and knot the match at 4-4 as Hadley's third set is at 5-5. The 5-5 game is super close with both players having chances and Whitworth's Mya Towne stepping up to go ahead 6-5. Finally, after an almost 4 hour singles match, Hadley sends a ball long and Whitworth wins 5-4.

Since you've made it this far, I have to say that while it was too cold to play outside to start the match, we did get in 2 doubles and 3 singles exhibitions outside, with Dena winning both singles and doubles with Charlotte and Lauren and Zoe also getting great matches in against this deep Whitworth team.

While upset to not pull off the upset today, our team can be proud of how our doubles is developing and also that we know up and down the lineup we have a shot to win at every spot. Our energy, compassion, support and sportsmanship were all tested today and all I can say is both how happy I am to be a part of this team and how much I look forward to learning from this match and moving on to next weeks home matches vs. Pacific and Linfield.

It was absolutely crucial to have the support of the Rolston's and Otto's there and we had no worries about being physically ready after a wonderful night's sleep and breakfast with the Otto's. Thanks so much!

Whew! This had to be a long post for such a long match, but if you see a Whittie, give her a hug because she deserves it.

-Coach Hein

Showdown in Spokane

Hello Whitman tennis fans.

If you're looking for the best tennis that the Northwest Conference has to offer, you should be in Spokane on Sunday at 10am as we do battle with defending conference champion Whitworth. Last year after they handled us 8-1 in Spokane we battled to a 3-6 defeat in Walla Walla including 4 three set matches.

Both teams have similar personnel returning, with each team graduating our #3 singles player and both getting some dynamic freshman. Even with Alyssa, Kate, Lauren and Dena bolstering our lineup, the steady improvement and workrate of the upperclassmen gives me great confidence up and down the lineup. People constantly ask how the team is doing and how our season looks and I must say that we have done the work and are prepared physically, mentally and emotionally. In that frame of mind, there is incredible excitement on the team to get up for this match and play our best.

If you don't want to take my word for it, look to the improved score against LCSC last weekend or the fact that as a team we do periodic fitness testing and the teams averages for both our speed and agility tests were cut by .24 and .28 seconds respectively and almost everyone improved their endurance on the beep test.

Whitworth is a scary team to play because they can win at every spot, but the preparation is there, we are incredibly excited to compete and look forward to this early measurement of where we are as a team against the top ranked team in our conference.

Go Whitman!
-Coach Hein

Happy Valentine's Day from WC Tennis

It turns out that Mother Nature was everyone's valentine in Walla Walla this year. Yesterday we were treated to a sunny,warm February day and played back to back matches on our outdoor courts in the middle of campus.

In the first match, the team displayed our depth and poise in knocking off PLU 9-0. What was most impressive to me was the focus and composure throughout the match from everyone wearing a Whitman uniform.

In the afternoon match, we played LCSC, a very talented team from Lewiston, ID. LCSC brought plenty of players and everyone was able to get a match in. The level of play on each doubles court was high, and at #1 and #2, we fell 8-4 and 8-2 as LCSC stepped up at all the right moments, but we felt like the scores could have easily been flipped. In the #3 and #4 doubles both Kate/Charlotte and Dena/Lauren jumped ahead and held on to win 8-5 and 8-6 with great teamwork and communication.

In singles, we had a rough time at 4-8 on the scoresheet, but battled all the way enjoying the high level of tennis. The #3 match was close throughout two sets and went to a match break, which Div won with tremendous point building and strong finishing. The match of the day was a baseline slugfest at #1 with Alyssa hitting her stride in the first set against a very smart and talented player to win 6-4. The second was also tight and down 2-3 with her opponent serving, Alyssa battled through the longest game of the match with incredible long points and more deuces than I could count before earning the break through some inspired shotmaking. That game took its toll as she was broken right back. At 3-4, with both teams cheering under the lights, Alyssa re-focused and steadily fought through the final 3 games to win 6-4.

The overall score of 3-6 was an improvement from last year and a great learning experience and to be this proud of not only how well we played but also of our team unity this early on in the season is amazing.

It was an emotional day for all Whitties, and everyone supported each other tremendously well.

Enjoy your valentines day and the three day weekend if you have it.

-Coach Hein

Great start to the Season

We had a wonderful start to our season tonight. After a long wait in which the team did a terrific job working hard and coming together as a group, we came off the court with a 9-0 win over University of Puget Sound. Often in tennis you hear that the match was closer than the score indicates. In this case that was both true and untrue. The teams were closer as UPS played very good tennis up and down the lineup with better depth than last season, but our players all stepped up to earn each match.

Upperclassmen Elise and Div led the way at #1 doubles beating a seasoned team of Sam Taylor and Maddie Holtz 8-2. Emily and Kate at #3 followed by the same score and Hadley and Alyssa at #2 finished very strong with an 8-3 win.

In singles, Elise was again the first off, followed closely by Div. This was great tennis and very good match management from both Whitties as they fought through many close games and each stepped up at the right times. Hadley followed suit and built more and more momentum as the match went on. Kate K-P stepped up in her first college singles match and fought well to earn her first victory, as did Lauren in the exhibition match.

The real treat was from our sophomores, with Charlotte demonstrating the poise and improvement she's shown in practice with a straight set win. And finally, there was Emily. After playing an outstanding doubles match, she ran into a very tough UPS player in Ada Yu. Em bounced back after dropping serve to end the first set 5-7 to storm through the second 6-2 and go up 5-2 in the third. At this point everyone was watching and you wouldn't have known that the match was already decided or that this was #4 because both players saved their best tennis for last and after two very hard fought games to 5-4, the match was on Emily's racket. She did not disappoint and hit huge serves and big groundstrokes to hold and take the match 6-4 in the third.

It was so much fun to have Annie Kunkel, the Rolstons, Alum Alex Robinson and the rest of the Whitman fans supporting us and we're fired up for tomorrows double header with PLU at 11am followed by LCSC.

Here are today's match scores
Doubles:
#1 Elise Otto and Divneet Kaur (WC) def. Sam Taylor and Madison Holtz (UPS) 8-2
#2 Hadley DeBree and Alyssa Roberg (WC) def. Ada Yu and Maddie Thiesse (UPS) 8-3
#3 Emily Rolston and Kate Kunkel-Patterson (WC) def. Katie Hurley and Ashley Dombrow (UPS) 8-2

Singles
#1 Otto def Taylor 6-0,6-1
#2 DeBree def Holtz 6-1,6-0
#3 Kaur def Thiesse 6-0,6-1
#4 Rolston def Yu 5-7, 6-2,6-4
#5 Kunkel-Patterson def Devin Fields 6-2,6-0
#6 Charlotte Scott def Dombrow 6-0,6-2
#7 (exhibition) Lauren Olson def Hurley 8-4

Ready Set GO!

Hello all,

After a very productive training period, the Whitman Women are ready to start the season this weekend. The team has worked very hard to be match ready and we start right away with Northwest Conference foes University or Puget Sound and Pacific Lutheran University this Friday and Saturday. It is a big weekend for Whitman athletics as Winter and Spring sports overlap and we'll do our part to bring excitement to campus in the form of great tennis. Following Saturday's conference match vs. PLU we take on Lewis-Clark State College (ID). LCSC ended last season ranked #20 nationally in NAIA.

If you are in Walla Walla, please join us for some great tennis to kick off the season. Here is the weekend's schedule.

Fri 5pm Whitman vs. UPS
Sat 11am Whitman vs. PLU
Sat 3:30pm Whitman vs. LCSC

Whitman Women Support Men in Huge Match

This past weekend was a treat for me to have my former coach and team on campus to play our men's team. Whitman gave the defending national champion Slugs a great match. Watching you wouldn't have known it was an 8-1 Santa Cruz win with the level of play, how close the matches were and the intensity of the players. I was so proud of how intensely both teams played this early season match.

We did our part by cheering our men to the final ball as the Bratton Tennis Center was rocking with positive support for the men's team. As if we weren't eager enough to start the season, the competitive juices are now flowing and we're ready for our turn on court in two weeks when we start the season with UPS at home on 2/12 at 5pm and a double header on 2/13 against PLU and Lewis Clark State College (ID).

GO WHITMAN!

Campus Showdown Results

Yesterday, we hosted our first 1 day campus showdown, an event sponsored by the USTA and ITA meant to provide competition for our college players, exposure to college for high school/junior players and strengthen ties between the college and community.

Having participants from both the Whitman varsity and club tennis teams along with players from Lewis and Clark State College (ID), local women's open level players, and junior players from Washington, Oregon and Idaho it was a great event.

The one set format with compass draws (everyone plays an equal number of matches) was outstanding and there was some wonderful tennis with Abby Farrell besting Whitman alum and current assistant coach Katie Oost in a tiebreak for the singles final.

In doubles, Whitman duo Elise Otto and Divneet Kaur got a scare in the semi's going down 3-0 to the local women's duo of Laura Cummings and Susan Anfinson before recovering to win 6-4. In the final, Elise and Div broke at 2-2 and never looked back to win 6-2, taking the title against a great high school doubles team from Kennewick, WA. Ali Welch and Demie Warner are the two time Washington 3A doubles state champions and they played some great tennis all day long.

Full singles results can be seen at http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AnHvUcRNTH_FdG44RUQ2d1hubW9wZlhnWTFtVTFwRGc&hl=en

Doubles results are at http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AnHvUcRNTH_FdFN1bFlYMndiWWYtaGdZQmJnOXJCWVE&hl=en

Thanks to everyone for coming out to play and for those who watched. We are now even more geared up to start our season at home Feb 12th vs UPS and Feb 13th vs PLU and then LCSC.

Best wishes,
John, Katie and the Whitman Tennis Team

Sunshine, Tennis, Fitness and Fun

Welcome to 2010!

We have been treated to two days of brilliant outdoor tennis, I was going to take photos, but we were enjoying practice so much I couldn't even let myself grab a camera.

Our start to the year began before school with 5 players volunteering a week of their break to teach tennis to 42 local youth players in our annual Winter Tennis Camp. It was so much fun for all and such a joy to see great players be great teachers of the game.

Practicing in the sun has me as excited as ever and many of the women will compete this Saturday in a one day USTA/ITA campus showdown, a tournament at Whitman to bring together both Whitman campus members and outside players to play on campus.

Today was also a big assessment day, with fitness testing right out of the gate. I know we'll continue to get faster, but our fall strength has paid off with the team averages for sit ups and push ups going up from last year at this time.

We are speedy as well with Whitman records being recorded by Elise Otto in the beep test (a crazy soccer endurance test, Elise got a 14.5), Kate K-P in the overhead medicine ball throw at 267 inches, and Alyssa Roberg in our agility test at 26.87 seconds. Still, no one dethroned recent graduate and assistant coach Katie Oost in the 20 meter sprint with her average time of 3.50 seconds last Spring.

Keep in touch and now that we've started I'll be updating the blog much more frequently.

Best,
John

Campus Showdown Jan 23rd!

Happy new year!

We are kicking off the new year at Whitman with the following event on Jan 23rd. If you are unfamiliar with the showdown concept, the usta website is great

http://www.usta.com/USTA/Global/PlayerDevelopment/CollegeTennis/Information/538403_Campus_Match_Play.aspx

and it is a wonderful chance to get some matches in a draw with junior and college players. Please pass this on to anyone who might be interested and you can contact me if you have questions or want to enter.

USTA/ITA One Day Campus Showdown at Whitman College

Date: Jan 23rd 2010

Women’s Open Singles and Doubles Tournament

Start time: Singles at 9am, doubles to follow

Tournament Director: John Hein

Entry Fees: $10 for singles; $5 for each doubles partner ($15 per player for both)

Entry fees payable to: “Whitman Women’s Tennis”

Contact John Hein at 509 527-5262 or heinj@whitman.edu to enter

Match format: 1 set to 5 games with tie-break at 5-5.

Compass draws for singles and doubles.