ST. PETER, Minn. Up a set and leading the second set 5-4, Whitman's senior Chase Friedman held off No. 40 Coe College's Nate Greiner to secure the sweep for the Blues 5-0 in the second round of the NCAA Division III Men's Tennis Regional Friday afternoon.
Forced to play inside due to the rain in the area, No. 20 Whitman (17-7) came out "like race horses" as head coach Jeff Northam put it, and were able to really put an end to doubles competition in a hurry.
The Blues top pair of Zach Hewlin and Robert Carter had the closest contest in the doubles, even trailing 4-3 halfway through. But the duo went on to win five of the next six games, finishing not two minutes after Alex Hwang and Trevor Fennessy on court two, by a score of 8-5.
Speaking of Hwang and Fennessy, the duo led the whole way through their doubles contest, and even though Coe's Anderson and Ackert pulled close at 5-4, the Blues No. 2 doubles pair rallied to win the final three games, winning 8-4.
The first group to finish was the group of Friedman and Ben Kirsh on court two, and they had the most dominating performance of the doubles competition. They got Whitman off on the right foot as they were up 4-1 after five games, and eventually put away Coe 8-3.
In between sets, the conversation was all about momentum in the team huddle, and Whitman, coming off of their doubles sweep, picked up right where they had left off in singles play.
The Blues were undefeated in the first set across all six courts, with the only one in doubt being Robert Foster, who did not finish his first set with Coe's Evgeny Pakhomenko on court five.
Kirsh provided the most dominant performance for Whitman, playing as the No. 2 against Coe's Josh Pudlo. Ben had Pudlo all over the court on the day, winning in straight sets 6-1, 6-1.
Then the action became about Friedman, playing on court six and out of view from his teammates playing on courts one through three. After a back and forth first set against Greiner he eventually won 6-4, it looked initially as though Friedman would finish first. However, a couple of missed opportunities to close it out and some well executed shots from Greiner pulled him within one game at 5-4. But Chase managed to hold off the rally, and put away his opponent with the straight set win 6-4, 6-4.
"Chase had a chance to close it out fairly early on, but a double-fault, a couple of other miscues, it is times like that where it is really easy to lose focus" said Northam. I was really proud of Chase and his ability to keep it together, and rally to get that final game. It was great to see Chase clinch it as a senior."
While it was a great showing for the Blues, it was actually a shame to not be able to see some of the other matches finish out, especially the thriller that was happening on Court 1. After Blues senior Zach Hewlin was able to take out Coe's Brady Anderson in set 1 6-2, Anderson responded by pushing the contest into a tiebreaker after winning the second set 6-3. In the third set, Anderson actually had a lead over Hewlin 2-1 when Friedman clinched the match for Whitman.
Elsewhere, Gary Ho cruised to a 6-0 win in set one over the Kohawks No. 3 Jake Kudrick, but Kudrick responded after trailing 2-1 to come back and win set two 6-4. On court four, Robert Carter had a hard-fought battle that was tied at four before eventually winning in a tie-breaker 7-5 over Coe's Nate Ackert. Ackert had moved back in front of Carter 5-2 in the second set when play was halted.
"I was really proud of our guys today overall, but came away very impressed with the guys from Coe" added Northam. "They really showed a lot of heart, and really fought hard when the chips were down on them and it would have been really easy for them to pack it in."
Now Whitman will play the regional host and current No. 6 overall Gustavus, who advanced after sweeping Grinnel 5-0 earlier in the day.
When asked about Gustavus, Northam said "We know what we are getting into. We've seen them, they've seen us. We played them at No. 1 doubles in the fall at ITA and won there, but it's going to be a battle. They have one of the best home court advantages in the nation, but we are looking forward to playing tomorrow in front of a feisty crowd."
The match against Gustavus will take place at 12:00 p.m. local time, 10:00 a.m. Pacific Saturday, May 11th. The winner will advance to the NCAA Division III Men's Tennis Championships May 21-26 in Claremont, California at the Biszantz Family Tennis Center.
