April 25, 2008
NCAC Championships
Good Morning Wabash Tennis Fans,
Today at 4:00pm the tennis team travels to Oberlin College to play in the Conference Tournament. We are seeded #3, which is highest that a Wabash tennis team has ever been seeded since entering the NCAC. We are motivated and ready and are not going to go and be happy with 3rd place. We will see Wooster in the first round. We beat them 5-4 in February, but I feel that we are a stronger team than we were then. It will be a good first round match for us. When we win we will more than likely see Denison in the Semi's. We lost a very close 6-3 match in March to the Big Red. The guys feel extremely confident that we can upset them this time around.
This could be the end of the season for us, unless we step up and win the tournament which would put us in the National Tournament. We have a good week of practice focusing on doubles and doing drills to take the stress off. The biggest philosophy that I am giving the guys for this weekend is to go out and have fun, work hard and everything will fall into place.
We have had a long but successful season. We finished with a 10-12 record. I can only recall one match that we should have won and lost. That would have made us .500, which with such a tough schedule and very young team is quite an accomplishment. I am very excited to continue to build this program with some nice recruits coming in for next year and since I have no seniors, we will have pretty much the same team.
If you are on your computers this weekend, go to the Oberlin College men's tennis page and they will have the results and the draws. Wish us luck as we leave for Ohio to break a Wabash Record by finishing higher in the conference than ever before.
Wabash Always Fights,
Coach Hutchison
hutchisj@wabash.edu
Posted by hutchisj at 10:17 AM | Comments (0)
March 12, 2008
Spring Break and Season thus Far
Fans of Wabash Tennis,
I am apologize for the delay in the blog, but here is the latest news from the court. At this point in the season, we are currently 6-8 and 2-1 in the conference. Our conference victories are over The College of Wooster (my first as coach!) and Ohio Wesleyan. Our only loss was to the highly ranked Kenyon Lords, who recently just beat the #5 team in the nation. In my eyes, we only have one bad loss this season. The other losses were against higher ranked teams and more experienced teams. I knew that it would a tough year with the schedule that I put together, but it will pay off in the long run. The NCAC conference and its coaches have ranked us to finish 3rd in the conference this season, which is the highest Wabash has ever been projected to finish in the NCAC. I truly think we can finish 2nd and we will know this Friday as the Denison Big Red comes to campus for a very important conference match.
Let me get into Spring Break a little bit. Sunny Southern California (as the picture above shows) was a great experience. It was our first week outside playing tennis, which showed in our matches. We were used to the faster indoor surfaces and had some trouble competing against good opponents that have been training on slow outdoor surfaces. We came away from the trip with 4 losses. One of those was the bad losses that I mentioned earlier. Regardless of the outcomes, I do feel many positives came out of the trip. For one, I got to take everybody but one on the trip, so the camaraderie of the team was heightened. The guys began to understand each other more and learned to support one another both on and off the court. Another positive was that the bottom of my line-up became better tennis players playing against better competition. The whole idea of inexperience was raised to some experience having played at that level. Each player got a little better at their game.
We didn't only play tennis. Part of the Spring Trip for me is giving the team an opportunity to see things that they may never be able to see. So on Sunday I/we met up with Coach Johnson's daughter, Becca(who I went to high school with), and she showed us around Hollywood and Beverly Hills. The guys seemed to enjoy seeing that kind of lifestyle. On Thursday night after our last match, we went to an LA Kings hockey game at the Staples Center. Jay Horrey ('09) talked to his uncle who is a sales rep for Staples and got us VIP treatment for the game. We had front row parking, walked right in, and watched the game in one of the suites. While waiting to get in, we saw one of the stars from the show Heroes, we saw Matthew Perry (Friends-Chandler Bing), and then to make the guys night even better, we saw Maria Sharapova standing right next to us. I should have asked her to take a picture with us, but we were all a little starstruck. On Friday, we got up and I took the team to Laguna Beach (picture above) to enjoy their last day in the sun. We also met some alums throughout the week that have relocated to the LA area, very cool for the guys to talk to former Little Giants.
Overall a great trip, but with traffic and cost of everything out there, we will probably not go back for a few years.
Onto the rest of the season. Since returning we are 2-1 with wins over Rose and Wartburg and a loss against a tough Luther College team. The matches don't get any easier as we face Denison and Calvin this weekend. Both are ranked ahead of us. From there we have the Kerry Seward Invitational, Wittenberg, Earlham, GLCA Tournament, DePauw, and then Conference. The next two months are huge and I will keep updated on how we do.
Oh yes...the latest rankings have come out and we are #17 in the Central Region, which is the highest that Wabash has ever been since the ITA has been doing the rankings. Also, freshman #1 William Pelak is #10 in the singles rankings. If he finishes the year in the Top 8, he will qualify for the NCAA National Individual Singles Tournament.
Keep following us and if you have anything to add, I love to hear from our fans. Can we get some sunshine please in Indiana? I miss sunny LA.
Coach
Posted by hutchisj at 11:49 AM | Comments (0)
February 01, 2008
One week away
Happy Snowy Friday!
Nice to have a little time to get back on here and let everyone know how the first couple of weeks have gone at practice. The guys are ready for some outside competition. They have been beating up on each other everyday and need to see some new blood. We are just under a week away from our first match with Franklin College and a week from tomorrow we have our first conference match in Kenyon College, the 2007 NCAC Champs and a nationally ranked opponent.
I have no doubt in my mind that we will compete well against these opponents and I know that we are ready. We are in the midst of challenge matches, trying to determine a line-up. There are a lot of matches that need to be played and I am unsure of who is going to end up where at this point. It is exciting though, the guys want to push each other to get better, but at the same time, the competition level is very high.
It is going to be an exciting season and I can't believe that we are this close to our first match. The preseason has gone by fast. I hope that all of you can make it to some matches this fall to cheer on your Little Giants. I feel strongly that we can beat teams that we are not supposed to beat.
Every have safe travels today if you are in the midwest and I will talk to everyone soon!
Wabash Tennis Always Fights,
Coach
Posted by hutchisj at 07:59 AM | Comments (0)
December 19, 2007
Happy Holidays from Wabash Tennis
Good Wednesday Morning Everyone,
I must say that it was quite a shock to come back from Naples, Florida to this cold weather. I was at the ITA Coaches Convention from this past Thursday to Monday. It was a great experience and I learned some important themes as well as meeting some big name coaches. Truly a great time...helped that it was in Naples! Going to this convention really got me excited to get going with our spring season. It can't get here soon enough.
My guys are on their much needed winter break. The fall semester seemed to fly by and I can't believe that Christmas is next week and that we are only a month away from our first practice. The team did an excellent job of staying fit in the off-season, but I have a feeling that we are going to spend a good portion of preseason conditioning. I hope that they are ready for it. The convention showed me a lot of new techniques for getting fit and they do not look easy, should be fun.
I have added a very important match to this season, an alumni match. This will be taking place on January 26 and I am very eager for my young guys to meet some of the prominent alums that will be attending. Fred Emhardt has spearheaded this campaign and I want to thank him for getting this going again. We skipped the last 2 years. If any alums are ready this blog, feel free to get in contact with me if you are interested in attending.
I want to invite all possible to come to as many matches as possible this spring. As I have stated in previous posts, we have a great chance for breaking records and getting to nationals. Any support you can give this team would be great. Our schedule is online at www.wabash.edu/sports/tennis.
Finally I want to wish everyone a safe and happy Holiday Season. I hope that all of your Christmas wishes come true. Also have a wonderful start to the New Year!
Talk to everyone soon!
Wabash Always Fights,
Coach Hutchison
Posted by hutchisj at 08:19 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
October 04, 2007
Fall Season Comes to a Close
Good Morning Friends of Wabash,
In case you didn't get a chance to look at our results on the the homepage, I am going to fill you in on how our fall season went. First let me explain that my #1 singles player for the past 2 years is in Scotland studying abroad. He will, however, return for the spring season. Also, my #6 is in Italy studying abroad this fall, he will return as well. I also graduated 6 guys from last years team. Which leads me to this: I have a very young team. I have no seniors, 4 juniors, 1 sophomore, and 6 freshman.
The freshman class is outstanding. Every one of them is going to help take this program to the next level. We participated in 2 tournaments this fall. One was at DePauw host by UINDY and the other was the ITA Regional Championships in Kalamazoo. The DePauw tournament turned out pretty well, with my #1, freshman Will Pelak, losing in the finals. Luke Bielawski, another freshman, went 2-1 on the weekend, Ryan Tennyson (freshman) went 0-3 against tough opponents, Ricky Ritter (freshman) went 0-3, Luke Robbins (freshman) went 1-2, and Billy Evan (freshman) went 1-2. Are we seeing a trend here? Yes my top 6 guys this fall are all freshman.
The other tournament was very important for us. The ITA's are the first factor when determining rankings in the region and in the nation. I was allowed to have 5 players, all freshmen, participate and was very happy with their success. Will Pelak made it to the round of 16 (128 draw) beating the #4 seed and #17 seed along the way. The #4 seed was also ranked #20 in the nation! Luke Bielawski made it to round of 32 beating the #8 seed along the way. Ryan Tennyson made it to the Round of 16 in the "B" draw and lost to the #8 seed in 3 sets. Ricky Ritter had the toughest draw, winning his first round in the "B" draw but facing a tough #5 seed and lost.
As for doubles, Pelak and Bielawski made it to the quarterfinals losing a match they probably should have won. Robbins and Tennyson made it to the quarters before losing a winnable match 9-7.
Overall I was very pleased with how they played, but somewhat disappointed because I know we could have done a little better.
It is now off-season and after taking this week and possibly next week off (Fall Break) the guys will come back and train on their own to get ready for our tough spring season. With the results from this fall, we have a chance to get ranked as a team in the region. Pelak should be ranked pretty high in the region and possibly nationally, Bielawski has a shot at a regional ranking and those 2 at doubles will definitely by ranked.
Hope all is well with everyone and I will talk soon.
Wabash Always Fights,
Coach Hutchison
Posted by hutchisj at 08:45 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
March 26, 2007
Kerry Seward 2007
The tennis team had an excellent weekend at the 2007 Kerry Seward Invitational. We finished second out of eight teams. The first time since 2000. We were in 4 of the 9 finals and won one of them at #3 doubles.
I am very proud of our team, especially the seniors. This was their best finish at the tournament. They really stepped up and competed.
At #1 singles, Jay Horrey (Soph.) won his first round and second rounds easily despite having some elbow issues. He lost a tough match in the final, 4-6, 6-4, 10-8. At #2 singles, Adam Van Zee (Sen.) won his first round but lost to tough opponent from Vincennes in his second round. He did not get to play his 3rd place match because his opponent got injured. But I feel he would have won and regardless, finished 3rd. Josh Paul, who is pictured to the right, had an excellent tournament beating conference opponent Earlham easily and then beating a very nice player from Augustana in the semi-finals. We once again ran into Vincennes in the final where Josh had to play the IHSAA 2005 State Champion, "Binky" Nikou. He made him play, but lost 6-2, 6-2. Adrian Starnes, another senior, lost to a very good opponent in the first round but battled back to get us some much needed points in the backdraw. Nate Mullendore lost in the first round but won the backdraw to finish fourth. Sean Clerget also finished fourth in the tournament.
The doubles is where we received a lot of points. Jay and Adam at number one finished third, Adrian and Sean lost in the final, and Josh Dan Petrie won the tournament at #3 doubles.
It was a great weekend and we next head to Dension University for a tough conference match. While we are there, we will play Hope College as well. We are currently 9-6 on the season and are still fighting to break the school record for most wins in a season.
Hope everyone out there is watching our progress and cheering the Little Giant Tennis Team on from wherever you are.
Talk to everyone soon!
Coach Hutchison
Posted by hutchisj at 11:12 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
March 02, 2007
Hilton Head, here we come!
Hello Wabash Tennis Fans,
Tomorrow we embark on our much needed Spring Break trip to Hilton Head, South Carolina. We are flying into Atlanta, GA and playing Oglethorpe University on Sunday and then driving to Hilton Head from there. We have 3 matches while on the island: Lynchburg College from Virginia, Baldwin-Wallace from Ohio and Muskingum from Ohio. We are going in expecting to win all three, but they are tough opponents.
The season to this point is going as expected. We have beaten who we were supposed to beat and lost to who we should have lost to. Our first match was a close one (5-4), but in the end we lost. We are 1-2 in the conference with a 9-0 victory over Earlham College, a 9-0 defeat from Kenyon College and an 8-1 loss to the College of Wooster. Ours goals for the season have not changed and we are hoping to finish fifth in the conference. The other coaches picked us sixth, so it will be nice to show them that they were wrong.
The team is ready to get outside after a month and a half of indoor tennis. Hopefully the weather will turn nice in the next few weeks so we can have our Kerry Seward Invitational outside this year.
I will keep everyone posted about our matches while we are down there and I hope that everyone is having a great 2007.
Wabash Always Fights,
Coach
Posted by hutchisj at 03:17 PM | Comments (0)
