After ripping through the conference regular season undefeated, the Whitman Men’s Tennis team has only one thing left to do: repeat as Northwest Conference champions. They’ll get the chance this coming weekend as the No. 1 seed entering the conference tournament.
Whitman opens the tournament Friday afternoon against the winner of the day’s earlier match between Willamette and Whitworth. Whitman swept the season series against both teams, winning 9-0 each time the teams faced each other. However, despite the regular season dominance, Head Coach Jeff Northam is weary of facing either team a third time this season.
“The first time you play somebody, even if you beat them, the second time you play them it gets a little closer, the third time they kind of figure out your nuances and how you play and what you do, so it’s difficult to beat teams three times in a row,” said Northam.
If Whitman wins on Friday, they’ll advance to the championship game on Saturday where they’ve faced Pacific Lutheran University each of the past five years. Over that time, Whitman has won two titles versus three for the Lutes. Whitman won both regular season matches between the two teams by scores of 8-1 and 7-2, but the team’s regular season success has not dulled their awareness to their vulnerability in the conference tournament.
“It’s just one match so anything can happen,” said No. 1 single and doubles player Etienne Moshevich. “We just have to make sure we come out strong, excited and ready to battle, and if we do those things, then it will be very tough to beat us. I expect whoever we play to come out firing so we gotta be ready with our A-game and play aggresively.”
An undefeated record heading into the tournament is not unfamiliar territory for the Fighting Squirrels. Whitman was undefeated entering the tournament the previous two seasons in addition to this one. It has not always meant an easy time in the tournament though, as Pacific Lutheran upset them in the final two years ago.
Two years later, the team is used to being the team everyone else aims to knock off.
“All year we’ve been preparing, everyone’s always pumped to play us since it’s a chance to upset the number one team in the conference so we’ve seen a lot of teams get up for us, and so we kind of know what to expect,” said junior Dan Wilson.
Coach Northam even leads discussion on the team’s status as favorites in practice.
“You’ve got to relish that position of knowing that everyone is going after you,” said Northam. “For the last three years we’ve been in that position and I think it kind of grows on you after a while and it’s kind of a since of pride after time.”
Aiding them at the tournament as it has throughout the season will be the team’s depth. With 16 players on the roster, Whitman has had the luxury to rest players battling illness or injury. At Whitman’s final home weekend against Whitworth, the Missionaries rested three normal starters and still won both matches 9-0.
“[Our depth] helps a lot, it gives us a lot of possibilities going in, teams don’t know what to prepare for,” said senior Christoph Fuchs. “If we’re missing one or two people, we still have a very strong line up to field.”
Asked what he thought was the key factor to another Whitman victory, Coach Northam gave a one-word answer.
“Doubles,” he said. “[Doubles] starts the match out and if we get a lead after doubles, it’d be hard to beat this team.”
