Quickstart Tennis Workshop

Happy December Everyone!

Here at Whitman we have two weeks of class between the week off for Thanksgiving and final exams for the Fall Semester. For most students this is a stressful time full of papers, exams, projects and hopefully a little bit of sleep in there. It goes against my nature as a coach to be in the offseason during an important time like this because I like to be involved and supportive of my players so not knowing day by day how they're doing and how their on court off season training is going is super tough for me.

Fortunately, I am blessed to have a team (and campus) of AMAZING students who not only have athletic and academic ability, but also a ton of compassion and community involvement. So, during the fall, we visit schools to provide free tennis lessons (with help from the guys team and club team this year!), we offer low cost clinics after school and we will host a fundraising camp January 9-13th in partnership with the City of Walla Walla Parks and Recreation. All of these activities provide the team with ways to give back to Walla Walla as well as enjoy tennis and pass it along to the next generation of players. But, if you ask the team, most of them just love working with kids and have a great time.

So, on Saturday, I hosted a USTA Quickstart Tennis Workshop. About half the team volunteered half of their Saturday to learn and improve their coaching skills, it was great fun and thanks to the USTA and Tracie who was an outstanding teacher. You can check out some pictures of us in the Bratton Tennis Center for the workshop. The link is here.

Thanksgiving Break

As this week winds down and players leave Walla Walla for Thanksgiving break, we got together with the men's team at the Whitman Alumni House to enjoy each other's company and also a ton of food. We did a potluck with the guys and it was a lot of fun. Coach Jeff stepped up (with some help) to again provide photos, which you can view here.

Thanks Jeff!


Enjoy the holiday and hopefully time with family and friends.

Happy Thanksgiving from Walla Walla

Fall Rankings Out. Whitties In.

The ITA has released Fall Rankings. In DIII these are the most difficult to gauge nationally because many teams (including us) have only played the Fall Regional USTA/ITA, and with the Scholar/Athlete model of DIII, many players are abroad in the fall and don't play (including our own Kate Kunkel-Patterson - not abroad, but studying the Civil War in Gettysburg, PA for the fall).

What we have done, is had a great showing at both the regional and national USTA/ITA tournaments, gaining a #3 singles ranking for Alyssa in the West region. In my time at Whitman, this is the highest singles ranking anyone has achieved so far and to get it Alyssa had to beat a player who went to the NCAA National Tournament last spring.

Another first in my tenure at Whitman is to have three players ranked in the top 20 in the West region! Joining Alyssa are first year Whitties Morgan Lawless at #12 had a great Fall Regional coming in unseeded before working her way through seeded players to the semis.

Courtney Lawless had a tremendous first tournament as well, taking the #1 seed to three sets in the quarterfinals of singles to earn a #19 spot in the West.

But...she wasn't done yet as she joined with Alyssa to uphold their #1 seed, win the Regional, travel to Alabama and go 2-2 at the national tournament to finish 6th and earn the #2 ranking in the West Region to start the year, again the highest doubles ranking in my four years at Whitman (and proabably since the 1980's when Whitman Hall of Famer Lynn Greer led the team to NCAA and NAIA nationals).

Alabama Recap - Whitties finish 6th at Nationals

Hello everyone,
So, I thought I'd been diligent out in Mobile at the USTA/ITA small college National Championships, but thanks to my Mom who has never been a huge tennis fan but has ALWAYS been amazingly supportive, I realize that the last post I sent was after the play in day, so here is a synopsis of the event. Some pictures are on Jeff's flickr site here.

Winning the doubles play in was huge because it meant both players (Courtney and Alyssa) would play three matches and compete all week for the top 8 spots. This was combined with Whitman Sophomore Andrew LaCava winning a huge play in over the #4 player in the country so we had Whitman tennis morning and afternoon each day. As a coach I want this event to be both a great learning experience that will motivate the players to not only work on their own games, but so they can return home knowing what it takes to beat the best in the country and sharing it with the team.

The first round we had a pretty good draw as 4 teams are seeded and being unseeded we would have to play one of them. We got the #4 seed from Chicago. Two tremendous singles players, both seniors who had played with different partners in previous years. One was the anchor of a two time NCAA championship doubles team so we knew they would be good. However after losing some very long close games to get down in the first set then dropping it 0-6, Courtney and Alyssa stuck with their gameplan, stepped up the intensity and battled to 4-4 before losing a crucial game and then going down 6-0, 6-4. Using match tie breaks to decide the third, it was hard because we were so close to moving into the semis and the fight with our team was definitely there, but there is a reason that they were seeded as they stepped up at the right times and got some crucial points in a great second set.

After a break, we hit the courts again for a late afternoon tussle with University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. This team again had a very experienced senior who is a great doubles player but they came out flat and we ran away with the first set 6-1 playing decent tennis. Unfortunately, decent doesn't really cut it at nationals and UWW got energized and squeked out a break to start the second set, then held with by far their best service game of the day and they took the momentum from there to not let us back into the set. At 0-4, we fought and both Alyssa and Courtney made some good shots and started playing better as a team, but Whitewater was too much and took the set 6-0. So, into the match tie break, I felt good because of how we played the last two games and we got up 2-0 with terrific doubles. Then, a few mistakes had us down 2-4. Suddenly confident again, Whitewater stretched the lead to 2-7. Two solid points kept them from running away with it and it was 4-7 when they stepped up again to earn 5 match points 4-9. Usually NOT a good place to be in tennis, many players will resign themselves to the inevitable loss. I guess ShoPo and Claw have never met those people because after playing very well but being down 4-9 they stepped up even more and it was 5-9, then 6-9. Whitewater couldn't finish as we got stronger and stronger to 7-9, the momentum was clearly on our side to 8-9, then a side change at 9-9 and the feeling was all Whitman. Still, you have to earn it and a great return point followed by a strong serve and volley by Courtney and the improbable had happened, 7 straight points for and 11-9 win! I truly felt for the UWW team, but am so happy that Courtney and Alyssa never gave up and played each point as hard as they could and it paid off!

The final day of the tournament was a battle between the two West region teams, #2 seed from Claremont Mudd Scripps and our WhitWomen looking for an upset. This was a completely different match than any other, as it had the level of play of the Chicago match with both teams hitting great shots and winning points rather than making errors, but it also had a funky feel to it (which I didn't mention the UWW match was full of strange energy). The match was great at times and through spurts it kind of sputtered along but in between CMS did a terrific job doing what they do really well which is rely on great shotmaking and taking advantage of opportunities. I think if we had played more consistent 'good doubles' we could have definitely won this one, but that is easier said than done and while we'd like it back, the score was 6-2,6-2 CMS. Again, great fight from both Alyssa and Courtney as they demonstrated throughout the fall season.

As a team, they are right there with the top teams RIGHT NOW, but they also have a lot of room to grow and so coming off of this experience I look forward to them sharing with their teammates not only what the national level is like, but the confidence that Whitman tennis is on the map and can compete at a very high level. I also give them a ton of credit for how they worked together, supported each other and Andrew as he also claimed 6th in singles (though with an insanely tough draw, playing the 1,2,4 and 5 seeds going 2-2 and winning more games than anyone off the #1 player despite heat exhaustion in the second set when he was up a break).

So, what a way to start the season, we'll go into off season mode now and everyone will take to the courts, the weight room, the library and rest as needed and I'll just get more and more excited for the coming spring.

This weekend is family weekend at Whitman, so if you plan on being here let me know as I'd love to see you. Again, congrats to Alyssa and Courtney on a great nationals and the whole team on a truly outstanding fall campaign.

Best regards,
John

Play in day at the National USTA/ITA Tournament

Hello from Mobile, Al. As the rest of the field from DIII, DII, NAIA and JuCo arrives to register, warm up and get ready for the tournament tomorrow, the Northwest and Southwest regional winners play off for the final spots in the draw of 8 for singles and doubles.

This is certainly better than all of the Texas teams coming to the PNW every other year and the Northwest teams going to Texas for the regional, but it is a long way for both players to travel and potentially go home. Fortunately, this year it was all Whitman and Trinity so both schools sent men's and women's singles and doubles champs. The day started on the men's side with Whitman Sophomore Andrew LaCava knocking off the #4 player in the country 6-36-1. Cava was awesome and beat a very good very experienced player, what a match by both guys who had both played in this situation before. On the court next to them Alyssa battled Trinity first year McKenzie Knoop. Both players displayed some amazing tennis but honestly it wasn't the cleanest match and McKenzie was a bit tougher at the right times beating Alyssa 6-2, 6-3. I'm excited to see how she does in the main draw as she's a very good young player.

In doubles, the same pair took to the court again with their partners Courtney for us and Stephanie Williamson for TU. After a dominating first game by Trinity, we fought to go up 2-1 and carried the momentum to 5-1 before a gutsy game found us up a set. The format here in doubles is 10 pt tie break for the third so we wanted to keep it going but they stepped up their game to go up a break 4-2 in the second. We held and broke back for 4-4, then held again for a 5-4 lead. Trying to break for the match we got down 0-30 before rolling off 4 straight points for the win. The last one was the longest point of the match with both teams executing great shots before we finally got the point and the win. Tons of credit to Trinity as it was gratifying to see some really good tennis from both sides.

Tomorrow, Courtney and Alyssa play at 1pm CST against the #4 seed from University of Chicago.

More to come from Mobile....
Coach John

Bama Bound Whitties

Hello folks, I’m writing from the Denver Airport on a layover as we journey to Alabama for the USTA/ITA Small College nationals. Each day at the tournament I’ll try to provide twitter updates and recaps. It should be doable with no more than one singles match and two doubles matches per day, but with the Whitman guys competing and enjoying the atmosphere of national competition, I do sometimes get caught up in things and certainly have trouble tweeting without any help from the team.

Here are some links to follow the tournament, on Wednesday at 10am Alyssa plays McKenzie Knoop from Trinity University (TX) for a spot in the final 8. After the two rest, they will take the court again with their doubles partners –enter Courtney Lawless - for the doubles play in which is scheduled at noon but will most likely start a bit later. All times Central.

Whitman Webpage
ITA Webpage

Whitman Wins Singles and Doubles Titles at USTA/ITA Regionals

Hello all,

It was an amazing trip to Salem, OR this weekend. First, I was impressed with the teams preparation, not just on court, but off in getting ahead on schoolwork, taking and preparing for exams and writing papers. So, needless to say the drive over had some sleepy Whitties.

Fortunately, a visit with alums Divneet Kaur and Hadley DeBree and some amazing food in Portland perked us up and after soon after getting to Salem, it was off to bed for early Saturday matches. Saturday, the forecasted rain held off and we played almost two rounds of singles all outdoors with first round wins from Alyssa, Courtney, Morgan, Emily, and Olivia in the match of the round for us as she split sets and got down in the match tie break before battling back to an 11-9 win, but I guess I've already written about that....so on to day 2.

Sunday the courts were wet and we hoped to get outside but it just never happened, so we had everyone at one club in the morning with great round of 16 perfomances by Alyssa beating a talented first year player from UPS 6-0,6-0, Morgan downing Willamette's #2 player and 8th seed Sabrina Guiterrez 6-2,6-4 and Courtney handling Kaila Nip from Linfield, the first year who beat Emily in round 2 6-0,6-0. Alyssa and Morgan continued their path to a semifinal showdown with wins over Shannon Palmer from Willamette (#6 seed) and unseeded but tough Caroline Brigham from Linfield. Courtney, however ran into defending finalist and former champion Abby Olbrich from Linfield who was seeded #1. This proved to be one of the best matches of the day with Abby bringing amazing intensity from the start, jumping out to a one set lead. Courtney, stayed composed and made the adjustments she needed to to win the second set 6-3, but Abby won the big points and close games in the third to take the match. Everyone who watched knows that there will be a ton of great tennis from our tough Texan.

And....those people didn't have to wait long because the doubles began with C Law and Alyssa rolling to the finals with 8-1 and 8-3 wins over quality teams from LC and Willamette, what a showing from the first year and her junior parter! Our other main draw team of Emily and Morgan faced the #2 seeds from Linfield and the doubles was very good, but some big plays from Linfield had them down a break 0-3. From then, Morgan held and it was on serve (maybe trading a break) to 4-8 which showed that Em and Morgan can play with anyone in the conference (which I knew from practice, but is great to see in a match).

Meanwhile, on the other side of town, the consolation doubles began and ended with back to back to back to back 8 game prosets. First year Whitties Erin and Maddy fired up their intensity and aggressive doubles to roll into the semis where they played great quality but lacked the consistency to beat a good team from George Fox. All in all, not only was it a wonderful learning experience for these two, but they can absolutely play at this level and if its even possible to be more positive and fired up than they are every day, I think we'll see that in the upcoming months! Our final doubles tandem was the reunion of last years #3 team of Lizzy and Hannah. Whoa, they were good last year, but with the same communication and improved movement, shots and confidence, they absolutely stormed through the consolation bracket, fighting hard when their opponents played well and taking it to them when they didn't. I love seeing Whitman out there late in the day battling for championships and it is even more gratifying when you see that all the hard work these players put into growing their games pays off, congrats to Lizzy and Hannah!

Ok, Monday. Day 3...Semis...finals...championships. In a first for me as a coach, on the final day I did no coaching in the morning as the team watched from the balcony above and Morgan and Alyssa played a very high level of tennis against each other. Weathering a very strong start from her first year teammate, Alyssa managed to get to 3-3 in the first and then settled in from there to win the match 6-3,6-0, which was really all Alyssa because Morgan may have let up a tiny bit, but her tennis was very good to the end, I was so proud of both of them. Alyssa then moved on to a final showdown with Linfield's Abby Olbrich. In a battle of the 1 and 2 seeds, this time it was Alyssa whose fitness and consistency were absolutely fabulous. The ballstriking and court coverage by both players was unreal and it seemed as if almost every game was very close, and certainly every point was a contest of will, strategy and skill. Alyssa was tremendous at playing her game the entire time and it paid off in a 6-2,6-4 win and a trip to Mobile, Alabama to represent the Northwest at the USTA/ITA Small College Nationals! She'll also gain her first singles all-American status to go with last years doubles honor.

Speaking of doubles, the day wasn't done as Courtney was hungry for more tennis and she and Alyssa again played Abby Olbrich, this time with partner Caroline Brigham. It was a really good match, I actually can't describe it too well except to say that all 4 players executed very well and while there were some nervous shots at times, whichever of the 4 players hit it, bounced right back with great tennis. The team play of our #1 seeded team at the end of each set came through as they earned a 7-6 (2), 6-4 win. The chemistry between them was great and they communicated and moved very well. So well, that they will keep moving on to Mobile where they will compete at nationals.

I'll post more details on next weeks event, but for now, its a day of rest and then back to practice both with our new All-Americans as well as the rest of the team who did a fabulous job playing, supporting, and getting to know each other even better. This is truly a special group and seeing the new players personalities on the road for the first time is always a highlight for me and this group was unreal with how much they cared for each other, respected each other and enjoyed each others company right from the start.

Thanks to Katie Oost and Hadley DeBree for acting as assistant coaches for the weekend, you were both amazing. Also to Div, the Rolstons, Jen, Liz Bates and the Robergs for cheering, running errands and making this a fun family weekend for all!

Sorry to you alums who I missed in Walla Walla, let's all keep in touch about future events!

My very best to you all,

John "Proud of each Amazing Student Athlete" Hein

Day 1 Recap From the USTA/ITA Regional

Today's big fall tournament got off to a great start for our team with strong performances in singles and doubles. Alyssa led the way in singles winning two matches to go through to the round of 16. Joining her there are Courtney and Morgan. Tomorrow at 830, Courtney plays Linfield first year Kaila Nip who took out Emily in the the second round while Morgan goes against Sabrina Gutierrez of Willamette. Soon after will be Alyssa against the winner of Kiana Nip and UPS first year Kira Kearsley.

Other Whitties to make it through the first round were of course Emily and Olivia in thrilling fashion, winning a close first set where she stayed super composed, then after dropping a second set and going down 6-9 in the super tie break for the third came back to win 11-9 for her first win at a Fall USTA/ITA tournament! Hannah was nearly as fortunate after jumping to a one set lead over George Fox's Shaina Inn before splitting and losing an extremely tough and well played super tie break 8-10. Then, HP took care of business in the first round of consolation while Lizzy and Hadley fell in first round matches and bounced back for big wins in the consolation bracket playing 8 game pro sets.

In doubles, first years Erin and Maddy had amazing energy and played really good tennis but a few very close shots and points had their Whitworth opponents out to a quick 4-0 lead. From there, each game was hard fought with both teams earning points rather than making unforced errors, but some great shotmaking by Whitworth and a couple missed opportunities found us down 0-7. Not to be deterred, Erin served big, down match point hitting a huge ace on a second serve, then holding and breaking for 2-7 before Whitworth finished it 8-2. There is a lot of game in these two and I can't wait to see them continue developing because they are both great players and do so much with their maturity and leadership already.

More first year leadership was found in Courtney and Morgan who each teamed up with upperclassmen(women?) for two rounds of dominating doubles to put both teams in the quarterfinals. Again, they do it on and off court as they know how to compete and have fun and it is wonderful for me to be on the road and see even more of their personalities and poise.

We were at two sites, so I did not watch Hannah and Lizzys doubles but Coach Hadley reported they had a great streak of high level play but early and late spells knocked them out in the first round, though I love seeing that their level is as high or higher as a team than it was at any time last year, which is so exciting.

More tomorrow if I'm not too tired; and I'm loving the families/alums and supporters who are here with us, this is starting off to be a wonderful tournament and we hope to continue it tomorrow.

John

Fall USTA/ITA Regional Starts Tomorrow for Whit Women

Well, we're off today for Salem, OR and the Fall USTA/ITA Regional Championship tournament.

This is a singles and doubles tournament with all of our conference schools competing. I love it as a way to showcase the hard work we've done over the summer and in the fall as well as seeing how we stack up with the conference both in terms of our returners improvement and our new players making their mark on college tennis.

We'll be competing with 8 singles players: Alyssa, Courtney and Morgan Lawless, Emily, Hadley, Olivia, Hannah and Lizzy. First years Maddy Webster and Erin Minuth will debut in doubles.

Alyssa is the #2 seed in singles and teams up with #5 seed Courtney as the #1 seeded doubles team in the draw. Em and Morgan go in as the #6 seed in Doubles and Lizzy and Hannah renew their successful partnership from last spring.

It should be a super fun event with some families and alums in attendance, if you're near Salem, we will play at Willamette and Salem Swim and Tennis if it is dry and the indoor backup is the Courthouse Tennis club.

I'll send as many twitter updates as I can manage (maybe with some help).

More to come as the competition begins!

John

Another Senior Voted Whittie of the Week

The first couple weeks of fall practice are amazingly exciting and hectic. New players are adjusting to college life and college tennis (and in our case, they are all doing a tremendous job on court and seem to be loving Whitman), returners are honing their games knowing that the Fall USTA/ITA regionals are coming up and that midterms are around the corner and everyone is pushing themselves and the team to be the best physically, mentally and technically that we can be.

It doesn't really matter what time of year it is because week in and week out Emily contributes in so many ways. Off court, she is always leading, having fun and doing things like driving to Friday practice or volunteering her Saturday to help shuttle players for the men's ITA. She's always great on court too, but this week she did an outstanding job staying really focused in singles and doubles, bringing hers and everyone else's level up. Great work as the Whittie of the Week Em!

Whittie of the Week - Lizzy

Check out this weeks Whittie of the Week. Our weekly award for the Whitman player who has made outstanding team contributions during the week. Nominees are put forth and the team votes on this, and our first week of fall practice we had stellar performances by so many players and and there is great camaraderie, support and leadership on this team so it was super tough to get down to even a few nominees, but Lizzy had a terrific week to nab the first award of the fall, great job Liz!

So much going on at Whitman

Sorry for the blog hiatus, but we're back in school, back at practice and so I'll move away from my usual style and give you some bullet points on all that's happening with Whitman Tennis

- School has begun! While summer weather continues and Whitties enjoy being outside, they are also back to work in the classroom. So many players on the team have exciting things to report from the classroom. It was terrific to see returners come back and welcome 5 new first years and see their families in Walla Walla.

- Fall practice has begun! It's so much fun to see everyone back on campus, but better yet, we hit the courts this week for our first practices. There is certainly a lot of work to be done, but I couldn't be more thrilled with both the level of play from everyone for the first couple days and even more for the effort and enthusiasm to be together as a team and work hard to improve our tennis.

- In what is becoming a fall tradition, we went berry picking with the men's team. This is a terrific way to get off campus, see the amazing landscape changes and beauty that are a highlight of living here and just spend time getting to know each other and reconnect after the summer. Some highlights were the hospitality of Biology Professor Delbert Hutchison, Kathleen and the whole family who welcomed us to their home/horse ranch along the Walla Walla river outside Milton-Freewater in Oregon. Another was Coach Jeff's cooking. He has become a dutch oven master and this time prepared chicken and veggie pad thai over the fire in dutch ovens for two whole tennis teams and it was delicious, thanks Jeff! While dinner was cooking, everyone walked up and down the river to find the ripest blackberries to take home, but there were plenty there to do some dutch oven cobblers to finish off the evening eating and hanging out around the fire. Jeff took a ton of pictures that you can view on this link

- I also started a facebook page for the team, and while I'm learning very slowly, I've been able to post some updates and photos for different things there, it is at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Whitman-Womens-Tennis/155654211167580

Two AMAZING Tennis Opportunities this Summer

I've had the links to these camps up on my blog for some time, but if you read these as emails only, then please click on http://www.missionarytennis.blogspot.com/ and follow the camp links to find out more about two really exciting camps we're offering this year.

The first is an ELITE JUNIOR CAMP, which is aimed at preparing junior players for their big mid summer tournaments as well as providing Whitman prospects an opportunity to train with Coach Jeff and I using our amazing tennis facilities here at Whitman.  This one is coming right up, so if you know any interested players, please have them contact me right away to get them signed up before time runs out.

The second is an inaugural fundraiser for Whitman Men's and Women's tennis, but I think it is going to be an absolute treat for everyone involved.  It is an adult tennis and wine camp.  The idea to spend a few days in Walla Walla on court with myself, Jeff Northam, and super coach Greg Patton from Boise State and US National team fame followed by daily wine events, tastings and catered meals is going to be a blast.  You can contact me if you're interested, or Jeff as instructed on the info sheet.

PLEASE, pass this onto friends and family as we very much want to make both camps huge successes so that we can continue to develop them and offer them each year as our successful and storied programs continue to grow and develop.

I hope you are having a wonderful start to your summer,

John
heinj@whitman.edu
(509) 527-5262 ofc
(509) 301-8502 cell

Elise named 2011 Mignon Borleske Winner as top Student Athlete

-photo link here-

Hi everyone,

While our season was still going I didn't want to start looking back because we were focused on the tasks at hand, but now that we are done and finals are starting, I think I should share a few things about Elise as her Whitman tennis career comes to a close.  One of our programs most successful players ever, Elise won over 110 matches on her way to 4 first team All-NWC awards, twice being named an ITA/NCAA doubles All-American, once a singles All-American, a 5 time NWC student athlete of the week, several time Whittie of the Week as voted by her teammates as well as being voted NWC Sportswoman of the year for women's tennis as a senior.

This on court success, combined with everything she has done for the team, the campus, and our community has earned her this year's Mignon Borleske award.  At Whitman, the Mignon Borleske and Borleske awards are given to the senior student athlete who exemplifies the ideal student athlete at Whitman.  This means success in competition, leadership, scholarship and contributions to their community.

Along with Elise's tennis, she has grown into a mature and well rounded leader who sets an outstanding example for her teammates, encourages them with passion and understanding and mentors them is a way that is both compassionate and holds them accountable.  It has been a wonderful process to see these attributes develop in Elise over the past few years.  She's always had a huge heart, an immense amount of passion for Whitman tennis and a love of fun that is contagious; and each year she became more comfortable using these talents to help create a team environment that I am so proud to be a part of.  This year, our team returned 4 players from last year and each one of them absolutely was instrumental in raising our level of communication, teamwork, and competitiveness and Elise was so often at the forefront of these things.

Away from the team she has been involved in more things at Whitman than I can usually remember.  I use her as an example with recruits of what is possible in DIII tennis, though I am always careful to tell them that very few people can pull off so much activity while maintaining and improving their academics and tennis.  Elise has been involved in the student newspaper, radio, club ultimate frisbee, outdoor program leadership, volunteering and working as a coach, taking extra courses almost every semester, doing summer academic research and professional presentations and when she took a fall off to travel, instead of studying abroad she took a leave of absence to volunteer at an orphanage in Mexico.

The competition was tough, as so many Whitties are just flat out amazing people and this year was no exception with her fellow nominees all being incredibly deserving with their athletic scholastic and leadership qualities, but having won this award gives me a chance to share just how special Elise is to our program, how much we will miss her as we wish her the best upon graduation and how her legacy will no doubt carry our team forward for years to come.

Thanks Twitch.
John

Walla Walla Youth Tennis Connections

Hello all, so we're done with our season and it has been a blast.  One of the great things I enjoy during the summer is coaching local kids in our City of Walla Walla Parks and Rec programs and two of my tennis students, Alyssa & Alexis Stremcha, entered a national video contest by Dairy Queen to win one of 6 Mini Coopers. Of the thousands of videos that were entered, they made the TOP 24!!!!!!! Between now & the next week and a half, the final 6 winners will be determined by America’s vote. All voting is done via FaceBook. I am asking that everyone who has a FaceBook account to please go & vote for my students to win a car! Please post it to your FaceBook account & tell all your friends. The more people who know, the more votes they get! The more votes they get, the higher chance of winning a car! PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE vote today, these are great kids and this is a super cute video! Thanks! 
Coach John

 

How To Vote:

1.   Log in to www.dairyqueen.com.

2.   Scroll to “Vote For The Best Mini Treatment Video”.

3.   Click “Go”.

4.   Scroll down page to “Mini Blizzard Celebration” by Ross Stremcha.

5.   Click “Vote”.

6.   Login to Facebook. (You must have a FaceBook account to vote)

7.   Click “Allow” on ‘Request For Permission’.

 

How To Post To Your Wall:

1.   Check box to ‘Share On Your Wall’ & then type the following directions on ‘Post To Your Wall’. This is important because it clearly tells your friends what to do so they can vote successfully.

*Directions: To vote, click on the video title. It will take you to the video page. Click the red box “Vote For This Video”. Write “please vote” in the comment box. Click ‘add comment’. Copy & paste the * directions in the ‘Post To             Your Wall’ box.

2.   Click “Publish”.

3. Thanks for voting!!!!!!

THE OJAI

This past week we finished the team portion of our season, but we weren't finished yet as we entered our two sophomores Alyssa and Kate into the historic Ojai Tournament in Southern California.  It is a HUGE tourney with great history in its 111th year!  Ojai was also named USTA tennis town USA as the finals of all draws are played at Libbey Park, a public facility that each year hosts this amazing event.  Draws include the Pac-10 championships, Independent Colleges, DIII men, Junior colleges, juniors, and the CIF high school championships.  There used to be a DIII women's draw but for several years we've competed in the Independent singles with DII and NAIA schools.  You can read about the Ojai and find links to all the draws on their site at http://ojaitourney.org/

Alyssa's mom and cousin came down and so we had a small cheering section as ShoPo breezed through her first round against Cal Lu's Jordan Leckness.  Kate started strong on serve with UCSC's #2 player, senior Taylor Mannix, but at 2-3 was broken and never really recovered with Taylor taking 9 straight games to win 6-0,6-2.  The tennis was close and Kate showed she has all the tools to compete at a very high level and this match and this weekend should really help her in getting her match play to the next level.

Soon after her match, Alyssa went on for her second round against Natalie McNall, the 16 seed and one of the top players at Azusa Pacific University, currently the #6 team in the nation in NAIA.  Natalie is also #31 nationally in her division.  Alyssa came out well but couldn't quite hold serve, then Natalie took it to her for a couple games to go up 2 breaks 4-0.  The 4th game was much better on Natalie's serve, then Alyssa held and was up I believe 15-30, maybe 15-40 when she hit a forehand and then turned her ankle.  In her two years, I have seen her tough out minor injuries, but this was a bad sprain so she retired from singles and we pulled them out of doubles.

Luckily, nothing was broken and despite hobbling around on crutches, not playing doubles and having a fair bit of pain and swelling (sausage toes on the plane home), Alyssa and Kate had a great couple of days taking in the great tennis from the Men's DIII draw where Andrew and Conor competed as well as watching some Pac 10 singles at Libbey Park.  The atmosphere of this tournament is special, the level of play is high and I know that these two will bring back a wealth of excitement and experience as they lead our team as upperclassmen.

For now, its really nice to be back home in Walla Walla, I hope you're all enjoying your Spring out there.

John

What a way to spend a day!

Happy belated Easter to all who celebrate it.  We had a special treat for the team this year, and while many of the players spent time with family, friends or just enjoyed a day to be outside or do schoolwork; we were invited a few days ago by the men's team to join them for a rafting trip.

This was rare indeed as Grant and Lottie from Minam Raft Rentals provided us with all the gear and joined us on a day long, 39 mile float of the Wallowa and Grande Ronde Rivers.  4 guys from the men's team, 3 of our team, myself, men's assistant Jake Cappel and head coach Jeff Northam got up early and drove up into the Blue Mountains for a day on the water. 

We had 3 rafts and Grant took an inflatable Kayak, there were lots of fun (but not too intense - class 2 I think) rapids and the scenery was amazing.  We saw more bald eagles than people and Lizzy spotted a brown bear that she, Olivia and Hannah all saw on the shore.   With tons of amazing scenery and great company it was such a fun day.

Again, thanks so much to Jeff and especially Grant and Lottie, you can check out their webpage at http://www.minamraftrentals.com/ to get an idea of where we were and better yet, to plan a trip for yourself.  I can't wait to go back.

Jeff took some great photos that you can view on his flickr page at http://www.flickr.com/photos/77626588@N00/sets/72157626572098508/, while I took a few shots as well http://www.flickr.com/photos/tennislove/sets/72157626447681619/

~John

NWC Tournament wrapup

Well, its been a day now, and I've reflected a lot upon our tournament semifinal vs. Linfield which ended in a 5-2 loss to end our dual match season.  Overall, I'm really happy with how we played, the effort, support and intensity were all there and we certainly didn't give the match away so I give a ton of credit to a very tough Linfield team for taking it. 

The match began on Whitworth's 3 outdoor courts with doubles and mid way through we got rained on and moved indoors into the bubble that covers the other 3 courts they have.  After several years of the tournament being in Yakima, the transition to having it on campus was very smooth thanks to great efforts by our hosts in Spokane and even though we were not at one of our own campuses, the match had a great atmosphere to it.  In the doubles, Elise and Alyssa came out on fire, efficiently going up 5-0 or 6-0, then holding on as Linfield made a run to win 8-4.  This was key because after close games to start, a combination of solid play from very experienced 2 and 3 Wildcat teams and some nerves from us led to two losses so #1 really kept us in it.

This year, we have had tremendous contributions from everyone in singles so we knew it would be a tight match and it lived up to that expectation with Kate and Elise winning their first sets while Alyssa fought a seesaw match at #1 where she went up 5-4, down 6-5 and played brilliantly to get into a tie break only to go down 0-5.  True to form, she reeled off several big points to knot it at 6-6 before it slipped away 8-6.  Kate's opponent found her game at #3 and as they split, Elise won her match to tie the score at 2-2.  From their the tennis was close and hardfought with Kate going up a break 3-2 in the third before losing 6-3.  Alyssa was again super close in her set before going down 7-6, 6-4, so now we were facing our last chances with Emily, Lizzy and Hannah on court all needing to win.  HP got us going with another solid showing at 6, winning the first set 6-2.  Emily lost her first by the same score, but after the first couple of games had worked out what she needed to do and the second set promised to be a matter of how consistently she would execute her shots (and she was looking good).  Unfortunately, it never got that far as Lizzy faced senior Sarah Click who was incredibly fired up and came out serving huge and really attacking very well.  By the time Lizzy got her bearings on Sarah's serve, the match was very far along and a quick Linfield win sealed things and halted Emily and Hannah's matches.

Today, Linfield went on to upset (slightly, their earlier match was 5-4) the #1 seeded Pirates from Whitworth, so as well as we played, we ran into the hot team early.  I am so proud, however, of our efforts.  Throughout the season we faced many challenges and I can say with complete conviction that the ability of this group of young women to respond, stay positive and enjoy each moment was as incredible as I've experienced since my playing days on an amazing National Championship team at UC Santa Cruz.

It was inspiring to have a great atmosphere and the cheering and support of all the families, friends and fans who supported us was unbelievable, so thanks to everyone who cheered, emailed and called to wish us well.

I also want to give a very special thanks to Coach Jeff Northam and the Whitman Men's tennis team as they prepare for a trip to NCAA regionals after winning their tourney at home today; not every team is fortunate enough to share courts with such a special team.  From the day I set foot on campus at Whitman, Jeff and  these young men have been gracious, polite and open to us and there is a feeling that the two teams are not only supporting each other but also pushing one another to be our best.  The Squirrels give us a great example of how to do things and we certainly appreciate their presence in making Whitman a wonderful place to play tennis.

Good luck to Whitman and Linfield in representing the NWC at the NCAA's!

Coach John

Whit Women head to Spokane for Conference Tournament

Hello all,

We're headed up to Spokane where Whitworth hosts the four team NWC championship for the automatic qualifying bid to the NCAA tournament.  We play in the second semifinal of the day on Saturday vs. Linfield.

Here is the schedule:

Sat 10am : #1 Whitworth vs. #4 Willamette
Sat 2pm: #3Whitman vs. #2 Linfield

I won't be blogging as the conference will have live stats thanks to our hosts up at Whitworth, so check out the webpage at http://www.whitworth.edu/Athletics/Teams/TennisWomen/Releases/2011/NWCTourn.htm

The team is really looking forward to the opportunity to compete with the only two teams who defeated us this year as well as another who we had an exciting 5-4 match with.  If you are in Spokane and planning to come, please let me know as we always appreciate your support!

ALSO: I can't forget to mention last week's Whittie of the week, Kate!  Wolvie was ferocious in locking down two three set singles wins last weekend, but more than that, she set the tone with her work on the court and in the classroom last week and the team rewarded her for it.

MORE REWARDS: Elise was AGAIN named NWC student athlete of the week!  Congrats to Twitch who just couldn't let fellow Whitman senior Etienne Moshevich (an amazing player and huge leader on our men's team) get all the glory as he scored back to back honors a few weeks ago.  Both student athletes are representing Whitman so well as they lead their teams to the post season.

Amazing Finish to the Regular Season

Wow, what a terrific final weekend to our conference schedule.  We needed one win to clinch the third seed and a spot in the conference tournament, so results were important, but we always talk about focusing on the process and I am so happy with how well this team has bought in, committed, and gotten stronger all year long.  It definitely paid off this weekend, with three great matches in two days to send us into conference knowing we're playing great tennis, but also that we've already accomplished so much this season.

After being sent off with awesome road care packages from our buddy swim team (thanks WC Swimming!) we drove to the Seattle/Tacoma area on Thursday afternoon, stopping for a wonderful meal in Yakima at Kate's house.  Thanks so much for fueling us up and sharing the warmth of your home Annie! 

Friday morning, we hit the courts at Robinswood Tennis Center where coach Jason Chapman has worked to build a very good community college team at Bellevue CC.  We wanted to get matches for everyone so we weren't at our strongest in terms of lineup, but we sent out a great team and Bellevue was super solid as they took it to us in some spots, but in most matches there were battles.  Some notable ones were two and three doubles as well as Olivia at 6 singles who was down 1-5, lost the first 5-7 then had to stop the match so we could be on time for our PLU match.  Hadley split sets at #5 losing a marathon 10-7 match tie break and I can't tell you how much her game is coming together.  No doubt the match of the day was at #1 singles where a very athletic and complete player in Anissa Bryant Swift went toe to toe with our three time all-American Elise.  Twitch dug deep to win the first set in a tiebreak, played amazing but lost in the second set as Anissa blended big offense with amazing defense before Elise took the match in a match tie break, it was really fun tennis all around with Maggie and Leah playing outside and the rest spread out inside.

Twitch had a great weekend in singles and doubles to lead us

So, we were definitely warmed up when we hit the outdoor courts at PLU for the first time in my tenure at Whitman.  With the same 1/2 doubles of Elise/Emily and Lizzy/Hannah and then Kate and Oliva at 3, we got the sweep 8-4, 8-2, and 8-4.  Up 3-0, Emily cruised 6-1,6-1 to extend the lead.  Maggie was down a set at #5 and composed herself to really fight out a good second set, losing it 5-7, but it was important for her to be able to rally and reset herself after the first set got away which was great to see.  After a strong first set, Lizzy had a strange stomach pain which limited her movement and she lost in three.  Kate was down a set at #2 and Elise at #1 and Hadley at #6 were both up a set so we were in a good position to clinch but PLU looked like they were gaining some momentum.  As the points and games at #1 got longer, Hadley rallied for a second set tiebreak to win at #6 6-3, 7-6 (4) to clinch the match; then Elise followed and finally Kate battled out the second set and the match tie break for a well fought and well deserved 7-2 win.  Leah and Olivia also played prosets and both players showed great confidence in their shots, working the points well and using their weapons smartly to both win.  We had a great day in tennis and the team deserves all the credit, but we were definitely aided by the support and healthy tasty snacks provided by Liz Bates, thanks!

With the #3 seed clinched and Alyssa still sitting out all weekend to make up individual match dates from the Fall National ITA tournament and the upcoming Ojai tournament, we knew that we could cruise into the conference tournament, or we could stick to our habits and really focus on the final match against a dangerous young PLU team who knocked off a shorthanded Willamette recently.

I can't say how happy I am with this final performance.  As a program grows you need to see the benefits of your hard work and belief in the team process.  Yesterday, that happened as we got out to a strong start in doubles winning at #1 with Elise and Em and #2 with Lizzy and Hannah.  #3 was a winnable match, but an experienced UPS team played the more solid and aggressive tennis to salvage an important point and keep the match close going into singles where they are much deeper than they were last year. 

Kate was a two time three set hero this weekend

As Elise efficiently got us up 3-1, they showed their depth winning at 3, 4 and 6 over Emily, Lizzy and Maggie in straight sets.  Em and Liz both struggled a bit after big doubles wins, but Maggie in a rematch of one of her first matches at #6 definitely played better tennis, but so did her opponent.  What was key to me was that all three players fought all the way through, keeping the match intensity and belief high.  This would have been an absolute easy time for us to fold, down 4-3 with the two matches on being Kate who lost the first 1-6 at #2 to Jenna Gerdsen and Hannah who lost a close first set 5-7 to Ada Yu at #5.  Both players kept their heads, played their tennis and enjoyed terrific support from their teammates.  You could feel the momentum as first HP hit a screaming backhand return winner to take the second set 6-4 and was up early in the third when Kate won her second 6-4.  Kate was on serve 0-1, 1-2 etc all the way to 3-4 when Hannah closed out her match 6-4 in the third in a game with probably a dozen deuces full of match points and points for 5-5.  Kate had just held for 4-4 so without time to celebrate Hannah's great win, all eyes moved to court 2 where the match would be decided.  Kate was just looking stronger and stronger as the match went on and she secured the break to go up 5-4 serving for the match where she won with one of the most convincing holds of the day from any court.   Sandwiched between KKP and HP, Had and Leah were able to get in valuable exhibition matches.

What a day, what a weekend, what a regular season.  I honestly can't imagine being more proud of what this group has done.  We certainly have room to improve, but both the quality of tennis and amazing team effort shows how much we've learned from the very challenging season we've had.

When I have a schedule for the NWC tournament this weekend at Whitworth, I'll send it out, but for now I'm going to enjoy the success of a wonderful season so far.

All our best,
Coach John and Whitman Women's Tennis

Couldn't help myself, a must share.

I don't want to flood your inbox, but as I'm constantly reminded by coaching mentors, this job is about people and the relationships built on the team, so I cant' help sharing two things:

1. This weeks Whittie of the Week voted on by the team is a tie between first year's Olivia and Hadley, congrats!  Read about them here.

2. This link to a recent school newspaper article on a day in the life of a student athlete may not be representative of everyone on the team, but between Twitch's perspective on life and her senior choice of crazy spandex for her last home match, it fully represents the individuality and fun that we strive to cultivate on this team. 

http://whitmanpioneer.com/sports/2011/04/07/day-in-the-life-women%E2%80%99s-tennis-senior/

Ok, off to the Westside for matches this weekend at Bellevue, PLU and UPS!
~John

Not just fun for the kids

Just a quick note to plug a few great fundraisers that Whitman is doing to support our athletic programs:

First Annual Tennis and Wine Camp, with Coach Jeff, Greg Patton from Boise State, and myself.  This should be a terrific combination of food, wine, fun and of course great tennis, with proceeds benefiting Whitman Women's and Men's Tennis.  Click here for info. 

Second Annual W Club Golf Tournament at the Wine Valley Golf Club in Walla Walla.  If you're a W Club member you know about this already.  I was out of town for last years event, but look forward to hitting the links to support WC athletics this year.  Click here to download the brochure or here for registration and tournamnet info.

If you can't make the Golf tournament, but love visiting Walla Walla and golfing while you enjoy time with Whitman students, the beautiful country, food and wine that we offer, you can email me to buy a raffle ticket through Women's tennis.  They are $10 and the top prize is a Walla Walla weekend at a great house and free rounds at all the local courses including the Wine Valley Course (YES, graduation weekend is ok!).  Any tickets I sell benefit Women's tennis directly so send me an email (heinj@whitman.edu) and I'll get you in the raffle!

What better ways to support such dedicated student-athletes than by enjoying all the W2 has to offer.

Best wishes always,
-Coach John

Close loss at Whitworth

Sorry it took a while to get this out, but after a busy weekend it was nice to have a day off back in Walla Walla.

After a great finish to the home season vs Pacific we trekked up to Spokane for a match with conference leader Whitworth.  The final score ended the same as in Walla Walla with a 6-3 Whitworth win, but we had definite progress in several areas.  In doubles, Elise and Alyssa got down early and fought well to get back on serve before dropping a close 8-6 proset.  At 2, Em and Kate came out a bit tight going down 0-5 before making a good match out of it but losing 8-2.  Three doubles kept us in it with Hannah and Lizzy stepping up for an 8-5 win.  We also got in an exhibition proset with Hadley and Olivia playing. 

Elise started us off strong with a straight set win at #2 and Kate ran into a tough opponent at #3 losing in straight sets.  Down 3-2, Emily came on and fired up the Whitman supporters with a huge effort to win 7-6, 6-4 with the first set tiebreak being a tightly contested 8-6.  Speaking of close tiebreaks, Alyssa won the first set with an 8-6 tiebreak win for herself.  At this point Lizzy had started completely on fire up 3-0 in the first set and we were looking great.  The #1 match was terrific tennis and each point and game was long and well played and both players showed that their tennis keeps getting better and better.  I feel great about where Alyssa is at even though she lost in 3.  The same goes for Lizzy who after her hot start cooled off going down in two sets, still she is making definite improvements in her game and her hard work in practice will keep paying off. 

Speaking of improvements, I was so happy to get in exhibition singles for Maggie and Leah.  Both played tough experienced college players and improved from previous exhibitions on the scoreboard as well as with some of the things they've worked on.

The last match of the day was Hannah at 6 and it was a very good match as she lost 6-4, 7-5.  I'm really proud of the way HP stayed focused after the match was decided and its great to see her playing really solid singles to go with her intense doubles.

It's tough to lose a close match when we've worked hard to prepare, but I'm super proud of the effort and love where we're at as a team.  This is not only a super fun and hard working team, but I've found them to be incredibly resilient and always ready for the next challenge.

It's a short week as we have a doubleheader in Bellevue and Tacoma on Friday and then our final NWC match with UPS on Saturday.  If you're in the Sea/Tac area and plan on coming, let me know as we'd love to see you at the matches.

Take care all!
John

Whitman Women Complete Season Sweep of Pacific

Hello Whitman Supporters,

Today was senior day in Walla Walla with Elise (our lone senior/woman in charge) Otto's final home match.  Elise has been tremendous for us and I can't say enough great things about her as a player, leader and a person.

Pacific's record in conference is not great, but both times we've seen them it hasn't shown.  They are a tough team led by two juniors who play wonderful tennis and compete really well as evidenced a few weeks ago when we escaped Forest Grove with a 5-4 win.   Today we were at home and definitely ready as we got out to a 2-1 lead after doubles.  Em and Kate led the way at #2 with an 8-4 win and at #3 Lizzy and Hannah went back and forth losing 5-8 while at #1, Elise and Alyssa avenged a 6-8 loss by coming back from 0-3 to win 8 straight games to put us ahead.  At the same time as doubles, Maggie got an efficient 8-0 exhibition singles win as she continues to steadily improve.

Singles started strong at 1 and 2, Elise getting the first set 6-4 and Alyssa 6-3.  Kate and Em each lost their first set 6-1 and then both quickly split putting us in great spots on all 4 courts.  Emily was off with a great 1-6, 6-2, 6-2 win and Alyssa extended the lead to 4-1 with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Cat Goya (again avenging an early season loss).  After a strong second set, Kate looked good to start the third before her opponent got on a roll to win 6-1, 3-6, 6-2, so as Lizzy and Hannah came on at 5 and 6, we needed one more point.  Elise was still battling in a long second set which went to a tiebreak that Megan Yoshimoto won 8-6 minutes before Hannah iced the match with a solid 6-2, 6-1 win.  The final two matches were so different.  As Elise and Megan traded long baseline rallies using spin and angles, Lizzy and Stephanie Velligas just pounded away at each other with aggressive shots.  Momentum played a larger part in the #6 match with Lizzy winning 0-6, 7-6 (4), 10-5! 

Nearly 4 hours after the close of doubles, having squeezed every last minute of home court time she could from the match, Elise stepped up her hitting and tactics in the third to claim her final home win 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-3.  What a performance.

Tonight we're in Spokane enjoying the Otto family hospitality and getting ready for a showdown with conference leader Whitworth tomorrow at noon.

All our best,
John

Huge Congrats to Elise, NWC Player of the Week!

While the team trip to California was awesome, it was so wonderful to have Elise step up for some big singles and doubles wins and to get recognized for it by the Northwest Conference.  You can read about her award and the upcoming weekend with her last career home match this Saturday on the official team site here.

Final Spring Break Wrap Up

Big apologies for the delay, but the trip has me so excited about the team that we jumped straight back into our work and I neglected to update the blog.

Many have asked me upon returning to Walla Walla, "How was Spring Break?" and I haven't had one answer.  It was one of the most fun trips I've had and personally I enjoyed so much spending time with the team and also some of our great families and friends who came to watch (and sometimes just hang out when it was raining).  On court, I was really very proud of the team, but I also felt we could have done better at certain things in each match.  It's hard to ask more of these student athletes who already work so hard, but in the end I came to realize that we have such a special team which has been incredibly resilient so my take home message is:

SPRING BREAK WAS AWESOME! WE HAD FUN WHILE COMPETING HARD AND LEARNING A TON ABOUT OUR TENNIS AND OURSELVES.

I won't go into too much detail on the matches, but after a great response to rainy weather and a tough Salisbury team, we played pretty well with #15 Chapman and then went out to Redlands where we really had poor days at #2 and #3 doubles and lost a heartbreaker at #1 to go down 3-0.  Not to be dissuaded, our singles effort was incredible with Alyssa battling at #1 against a player who has been to nationals before losing a tight 10-8 match tie break. Elise stepped up again to beat a talented first year player at #2.  Emily, Kate and Lizzy all fought hard but lost in straight sets and at #6 Hannah competed incredibly well and took her match in a 10-7 match breaker.

After a wonderful dinner with the Otto family (thanks guys!), we hit the courts at Claremont for our final match on Saturday.  Honestly, I felt our effort was great in singles and doubles.  We had chances at 1 and 3 dubs and Emily and Kate at 2 played really well but were out served and returned.  What was really cool was playing a #4 doubles with Leah and Hadley dropping an 8-6 decision where both of them moved as a team and played off each others shots better than I've seen all year.  Even cooler was #5 where Olivia and Maggie lost 8-4 but I would love to have a count of how many times Olivia made huge poaches and Maggie covered great shots both at the net and baseline. 

In singles, our effort again was great, but it is tough at the end of a trip down 3-0 in the match to 'get up' for the final round of  singles.  Well, we brought great intensity, but CMS stayed composed and they have a solid lineup with one of the best players in the country at #1.  Elise and Lizzy played really competitive matches and the points up and down were very inspiring, but in the end it was CMS winning the match 9-0 but I was proud to see the team feel good about our effort on this match and through the week.

Competing with three nationally ranked teams in three days taught us a lot and as I said, back on campus, I'm looking at the sun coming out, getting fired up for today's practice and our upcoming matches and just thinking how lucky I am to do this 'job' with such an amazing group of players.

I can't end this post without thanking those of you who came out to support us in California, it was so much fun to share our tennis and off court time with you and you being there for us is huge.

Off to the courts!
John

Spring Break continues with 7-2 loss to #15 Chapman

Today we were in Orange, CA to play the Panthers from Chapman.  As usual, you can check out the results as written up by our SID Dave Holden at http://www.whitman.edu/content/womens-tennis

The match really started with a strange turn as what seemed like a sore wrist for Kate looked to possibly be more serious than we thought yesterday so to play it safe she sat the match out, hopefully, she's in there tomorrow, but not only was it a terrific opportunity to take on the #2 team in the West but this was prime time experience for Leah in doubles and Maggie in singles.

We were able to get 4 doubles in with Elise and Alyssa scoring a really good win at #1 8-5.  More than just the win, their ability to adjust to teams styles and stay with their gameplan is getting more consistent so I was really proud of them, and the fact that they got the result against a great team made it even better.  Leah joined Emily at #2 and they had nice chemistry together but were a bit overwhelmed as we were at #3 with Hannah and Lizzy and #4 with Maggie and Hadley.   Still, while we have a lot of room to grow in doubles, I really like what I'm seeing from everyone and am excited to get back out on the courts tomorrow.

Down 2-1 going into singles, Alyssa fought well in the first set at 1 but then against a very experienced senior who has done quite well nationally the second set went by quickly and we were down 3-1.  At #3, Emily's score was one of those that is very misleading because she lost 6-0,6-2, but almost every game went to deuce, which I think shows how in it she was, but also shows that her opponent really deserved the win because she came up with big points time and time again.  Lizzy at #4 and Hannah at #5 both dropped their matches in straight sets where, again, many points and games looked great, but the consistency of that level just wasn't what their opponents brought.  For Maggie at #6, it was similar, but I really saw a breakthrough in that some of the things that Maggie has been working on were so good in this match, but against a really good shotmaker with excellent spins and placement she'll learn both what she's done well and can continue to improve.

The singles match of the day again involved Elise (#25 in the West singles) vs Kelly Fox (#11 in the West) and Elise carried her doubles into singles with a strong first set 6-0 where she forced her fellow senior into many errors and came up with some beautiful attacking plays and strong defense.  I don't think Twitch dropped off much in the second, but Kelly definitely stepped up and the score took a complete turn 6-0 the other way.  Elise wasn't worried as she knew she played well and she dug in with several strong holds of serve and a couple big breaks, one that was especially hard fought to get up 4-3.  After a Chapman hold Elise broke again to serve for the match and played a beautiful game full of big first serves to win the third 6-4 and score us our second point.

Hadley and Leah played exhibition sets and Had came out knowing exactly what to work on and Leah really demonstrated a much more complete baseline game so even though they both lost, this will be great experience as we move forward.

Spring Break continues tomorrow at Redlands against the #28 national and #6 west Bulldogs at 2pm.

Getting things going in SoCal vs Salisbury

Hello all, you can read about the match at http://www.whitman.edu/content/womens-tennis, but a big part of this trip so far has been just getting on court.  We travel on spring break for many reasons; fun, bonding, go somewhere sunny and warm while Walla Walla transitions into Spring, and mostly for great non conference matches.  Lots of teams come to California so the tennis is great, but with some crazy weather we've had trouble getting court time.  Our first day's practice was cancelled because of rain, and then our 10am Salisbury match was moved to 6pm (but we did get a warm up in the morning), so when we finally hit the first ball, everyone was really ready to play.

This was important as we came out solid in doubles with Emily and Kate bolting to a 6-1 lead at 2 and Lizzy and Hannah at 3 going back and forth but staying up a game to 8-7 before going into a tie break at 8-8.  Salisbury started to bring their level up, but this whole match was streaky for us and the breaker was not the kind of streak we hoped for and it went quickly to the SeaGulls 7-1.  Meanwhile at 1, we started playing well but down a break 1-3 when composure, strategy and great shotmaking all came together for ShoPo and Twitch in winning 7 straight games to put us up 2-1 after doubles with an 8-3 win over a solid team.

Again, in singles, composure was key as Hannah, Lizzy, Elise and Alyssa all got out to first set wins while Emily dropped a close set 6-4 and Kate got down early and battled but lost her first set.  Alyssa and Lizzy built on their first sets and both played really well with great focus to win in straight sets and put the team score to 4-1 for Whitman.  Kate was having long points and games, but couldn't solve the only senior on the SU lineup and lost in straight sets to make it 4-2.  Kate's game has grown so much but this match was a great lesson on doing the little things consistently well and I know she'll learn a lot from it.

Now, the real intensity of the match was taking place because even with a 4-1 lead, up a set in 2 matches and with Emily getting on top in her second set 6-2 to go to a third set, the Salisbury men were playing next to us against NWC Willamette and SU won all 3 dubs but Willamette stormed back in singles to tie it at 4-4 with the deciding match in a third set (credit to Willamette's guys and coach Toby Krauel, but they did end up losing in a third set 7-6(5)). So, we felt the urgency to close it out.

Elise after playing beautifully in the first and taking advantage of many forced and some unforced errors was down a break 3-5 in the second when she reasserted herself, dug in to break twice and hold to serve 6-5.  It was a really intense match with great sportsmanship from both players as SU broke to get it to a second set tiebreak.  Meanwhile, Emily is up early in the third and on the end court Hannah has been absolutely fighting a mental battle against a very fired up SU player who was playing with a crazy amount of emotion on every point.  After having chances to get us the doubles sweep and then I think having a match point or two at 6-5, this one also went to a breaker at the same time as Elise.  Our SquirrelMissionaryOnion team spread out to support these two and Hannah being a bit flustered went down 0-3.  To her absolute credit and for me, what made her the Whittie of the match (among many tremendous performances) was that she got back to playing her tennis and was the more composed player from here on out and it paid off in a 7-4 tiebreak win to take the second set, the match and seal the team match for Whitman.  Go HP!

Almost at the same time, Elise won a 9-7 tiebreak that I didn't get to watch being down on HP's court and minutes later, Em rolled to a 6-0 third set to seal the 7-2 win.  SU only had 7 players traveling from Maryland so Leah was able to play an exhibition set and the support she, Olivia, Maggie and Hadley gave throughout the match was key to our success.

We're off for two days now, its a bit chilly here but the sun is out today and this team just has so much fun that we're really excited to spend more time together and to get some practice in.  We'll hit the match courts again at 2pm Thursday at Chapman in Orange, CA then it's 2pm Friday at Redlands and 11am Saturday at CMS.

It was wonderful to see Johanna Palkowitz and the Webster's, thanks for braving the rain to come out and see us and also thanks to Pomona Pitzer and Claremont Mudd Scripps for graciously letting us use their courts.

Coach

Spring Break in California

Hi all,
I wanted to send a quick update/test as I think these posts have not been getting out to the email list.
We also have our next match scheduled for 10am Monday vs. Salisbury University from Maryland.  We're set to play at Pomona-Pitzer Colleges on the Rogers Courts on 1st street between College and Mills Avenues.
The weather is not looking great for us though, so we're hoping for clearing so we can get the match on without too much delay, I'll use twitter to update throughout the day on Monday.
John

Here is a link to download a pdf of the Pomona Campus map

A great Start to Spring Break in Portland

Hello out there,

First, I'd like to quickly say that I was just informed that those of you who receive these blog posts as emails have not been getting them the past month.  I'm sorry for that and am working to figure out what is going on as it looks like the settings are right.

Ok, now to tennis.  In a bit of a whirlwind, the team finished up classes for our two week spring break and immediately hit our home courts for a NWC match with PLU.  Led by first year Leah Newell, the Lutes had a lot of fight in this 6-3 Whitman victory.  This year with so much youth, I'm looking to get as many matches for everyone as I can and in this one Leah teamed with Lizzy to notch a win a 3rd doubles where they really started to move and play as a team.  In singles, Maggie stepped up to #5 and scored a solid straight set win and at #6 Hadley played tough while still working on her shots and footwork that she logged some extra hours on in practice this week, it was great to see.

After the match, Katie was off like a shot to pick up burritos and we hit the road for Portland.  By the way, good Mexican food was a MUST on my list when first came to Walla Walla on my job interview.  The drive to Portland was good and with a 3pm Saturday match against Pacific we had plenty of time to sleep in and enjoy the wonderful hospitality of Leah's family for brunch, thanks Kris, Mike and Nathan!

The Pacific match was definitely the most epic part of our weekend.  With spirits high being on break and traveling together, we arrived early to hit as we'd never played on their new courts (3 are outside and 3 are outside and covered, but the sides are open so lighting is different depending on how sunny it is).  We got adjusted and were ready to go when the weather cleared so we started outdoors with doubles, though the first ball wasn't hit until after 3:30 so we'd already been there a while.  Up in 2 and 3 and down a break but gaining momentum at 1, the rain started falling.  With Pacific serving a couple of solid first serves as the rain picked up we were down 0-30 moving to the covered courts.  Elise and Alyssa really stepped up and fought to get the break back before being broken again against a team playing really well at the net as well as defending from the baseline.  Fortunately, 2 and 3 won with Hannah back in the lineup at 3 so we were up 2-1.  Still, it was an eerie feeling going into singles.  Emily and Elise jumped out to easy first set wins while Alyssa was in a battle at #1.  With many distractions both players elevated their tennis, but it was Cat Goya from Pacific who found a way in each set to pull out a win while Elise rolled to a 6-0, 6-0 win at #2.  So, the match was 3-2 Whitman and Em had been up a set and two breaks serving for it, when the Pacific player who can be very dangerous found her A game.  Emily didn't play poorly but now close games were going the other way and she lost the set in a breaker.  The third set was super close as both players looked for an edge with it finally going to Pacific 6-4 to tie the match at 3-3. Now, with Kate up a set at #4 and Lizzy up a set at #5 with Olivia warming up at 6, things looked good.  Kate managed a straight set win in the cold of the evening and Olivia played close but was down a set and 5-1, or 5-0 maybe.  Meanwhile, Lizzy had dropped the second and was quickly down 3-0 in the third so we needed a hero to step up.  For a while it looked like we might get two as Olivia found her shots and started to scratch out some momentum to get it to 2-5 and Lizzy re-focused and rolled back to 3-3.  After dropping a game where her opponent played well, Lizzy got right back to it to win three straight and clinch the match.  Olivia smiled and relaxed, hit some more winners to get to 5-5, but then lost a couple of close games to lost 6-3,7-5.  I'd like to say it was a great performance, but really it was more a testament to the resiliency and fight that this team has up and down the lineup.  Some people played well, others struggled but we still found a way against a dangerous team, it was tough to witness, but coming out the other side, I couldn't be more proud of each one of these young women as they handled adversity beautifully with effort and sportsmanship.

This is the kind of match you want to learn from and build on, and luckily we had the chance to do just that the next day against George Fox. With Hannah resting and Leah back at 3 dubs, we scored one of our more fun and consistent doubles sweeps and it felt like Whitman tennis again.  This carried over into singles where again I had a chance to get some more match experience for our young players and because Leah and Lizzy finished quickly at 3 doubles with solid play together, we started with Maggie at #5 and Hadley at #6.  While Maggie lost her match, she learned a lot that I know she'll carry into the rest of the season.  Hadley's match was one of the highlights of the weekend for me.  Not only did she get her first college win, but the things she did well against PLU were super consistent and she dominated the first set 6-1.  A great effort by her GF counterpart had her working hard to close out the second and she did it with more quality play and movement shot after shot, I'm so excited for Hadley!  At #1-4, we also had great performances from all and I was really proud of how everyone played tactically, using their strengths and finding plays that worked.  Overall the score was 8-1 and the way we played was focused and fun like we strive for each day.

The culmination of our trip was a neutral site match indoors in Vancouver, WA (just north of Portland) against the Cowgirls from Hardin-Simmons who came out from Abiliene, TX for a spring break trip in the Northwest.  This is a good team (#11 in the West, while we are #8) and I was happy to play them during our break when we are focused on tennis and had been playing matches every day.  This preparation proved valuable as we got out to a strong start in all three doubles with Elise and Alyssa getting a break to go up 6-3 against the #8 team in the West before closing it out with a break and hold to win 8-6 in a strong comeback after dropping the Pacific match.  At 2 Em and Kate played with great confidence and won 8-3, while Hannah and Lizzy stepped up to win 8-5 at #3.

In singles, #1 pitted the West's #4 ranked player Lisa Mertz, a very solid and experienced player against #12 Alyssa.  After some ups and downs in the first set, ShoPo tightened things up and came away with a big straight set win 4,2.  Twitch continued her steady blend of offense and defense at #2 and really stepped up her serving to win 2,2.  Emily waited for a court while Kate won 2,3 even though throughout the match, her opponent seemed to get more and more comfortable and was playing better and better.  Hannah was at #6 and seeing her in singles and doubles was a great sight as she competed her way to a 2,1 win.  Lizzy had the closest match with a 7-5 seesaw affair in the first set followed by dropping the second 6-2 where she got a bit frustrated before calming down for the match tie break which was probably the best tennis by both players with Lizzy edging it out 10-8 by hitting big shots and staying really focused.  Em being last on had the tough task of staying focused and intense as the end of a long weekend was upon us, but she handled that well and played some great tennis, but just ran into a really good player at 3 who played a very nice match to win 3,1.  Still, Emily was in nearly every game and I'm really pleased with how much her shots have grown as well as her ability to compete at a much higher level than she's been asked to in the past two seasons.  Olivia got an exhibition singles with her Mom watching and there were signs of what she can do, but still she is getting great experience that I know will help her continue to grow as a player.  She brings such enthusiasm to the team and we'll continue to see great things from her I know.

That's a lot of tennis to recap, and we're just getting set for more, but first the team has some time off before heading to California for our Spring Break matches against Salisbury, Chapman, Redlands and Claremont.

In the thick of things

Hi everyone,

It's a busy time for tennis teams and we're no different, as the ladies finish their classes for our two week Spring Break, we immediately hit the courts out by Ankeny today at 2pm, followed by a series of matches the next three days in Portland.  Dave Holden has written up a preview: http://www.whitman.edu/whitman/index.cfm?objectid=9CEB63E1-DAAD-542B-B4990D6474B648D9

Then, after some well deserved time off, we reconvene our break in Southern California in a week for some non-conference DIII matches with Salisbury, Chapman (#13 in nation), Redlands (#29 in nation) and Claremont (#28 in nation).

This week Alyssa was honored as the NWC student athlete of the week for women's tennis, which you can read about at http://www.whitman.edu/whitman/index.cfm?objectid=985B7D3C-B8C3-57FE-0D0459B59C70458E  Congrats Show Pony!

Hope to see you at some matches!

Whittie of the Week

Hi folks,

For the past couple of seasons we have done a weekly team vote on which Whittie has contributed the most to the team that week. We come up with nominees and the team votes and the winner is our WoW for that week.  Our men's team does a kind of similar thing called the yellow jersey, and Coach Northam puts it out on his blog and I like to steal..excuse me, borrow ideas from Jeff (who is a great friend and wonderful colleague and mentor) so I'll be posting future WoW awards on the blog.  The first one you can see is last week and it was Lizzy so check out the link on the blog.

If you're just getting these posts as emails, the web address is:
http://www.missionarytennis.blogspot.com/

Lizzy and Leah playing #3 dubs vs. UPS

~Coach