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
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
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
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
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
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
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
Saturday, April 2, 2011
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
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
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