ISL All League Recipients

ISL All League Recipients

I should have done this post a long, long time ago but I got a little bit lazy at the very end of my senior year and I never posted it.

Carl Reid won the MVP award as expected; he has to be one of the first underclassman in a while that's won the Boys' MVP.

All-ISL List
Belmont Hill - Carl Reid '13, Jack Welch '11, Peter Yanofsky '10
Governor's Academy - Nate Collins '10
Milton Academy - Andrew Lebovitz '10, Matt Lebovitz '12
Nobles - Cam Chapman '13
Roxbury Latin - Carl Defranco '11
St. Sebastian's - Conor Haughey '12
Thayer Academy - Richie Robbie '11

Thanks to the Boston Globe for the information.  Thanks to everyone that supported the blog, check out my newest blog (it's a hip hop blog) GrindToTheTop.com.

The Coaches Meeting is Tonight

The Coaches Meeting is Tonight

The coaches meeting to decide the all-isl team is tonight and I'm not sure if I'll be able to get a copy of the list but I'll make sure to cover it when the globe prints it.

Final Power Rankings

Final Power Rankings

1. Belmont Hill School (Previously: 1) 15-0

Belmont Hill lost a tough match to Brunswick in the New England Semi-Final but they pretty much dominated the ISL this year except for an 8-7 win over Nobles.  Belmont Hill graduates its 2, 4, 5, and 6 but it will return the leading MVP candidate, Carl Reid.

2. Milton Academy (3) 14-1

Milton lost a tough match to Hotchkiss in New England Class A's which they may have won if Noah Bragg had played this season.  Milton graduates at least its 1, Andrew Lebovitz, its 3, Anthony Blake and its 4, Josh "J. Chill" Cohen.  Next year definitely looks to be a rebuilding year.

3. Nobles School (2) 13-2

I honestly think that with Anthony Laurencio-Twymer that Nobles would have beaten Milton, but we will never know.  After Nobles' loss to Milton I had to move them down by default.  This squad is graduating only its 4, Will Shames, as a far as I know and they look to be the favorites to win next year's title.

4. Roxbury Latin School (4) 12-3

I think that RL had a slightly disappointing year because it wasn't able to crack the top 3.  RL only graduates its number 2, Ryan Sullivan, so I'm picking RL to finish 2nd in the league next year.

5. St. Paul's School (5) 11-4

St. Paul's had a very respectable season and just imagine what they could've done if their number 1, Jamie Raffini, had been healthy. St. Paul's only graduates its 3, Will Schoder, and its 5, Mark Poon.  They will be very solid next year and look for John Hwang '12 to have a breakout year.

6. Rivers School  (7) 10-5

Rivers finished up one of its most successful seasons ever and it was able to win the Class C Title.  I think that Rivers will return all of its starters and T.J. Moor will hopefully be able to serve overhand again.  Rivers will likely crack the top 4 or 5 next year.

7. BB&N (14) 7-8

BB&N had a lot of ups and downs this season but it dismantled St. George's in the second to last week of the season to return to 7th in the power rankings.  BB&N only loses its number 5, Alec Terrana, its number 6, Adrian "Kamikaze" Pfhorzeimer and its injured number 1, Cam Woodsum.

8. St. George's School (7) 6-7

St. George's had a solid season, especially after graduating a few players last season.  Look for this team to be somewhere in the middle of the pack next year because I know that they're graduating their number 3.

9. St. Mark's School (8) 7-8

St. Mark's graduates its number 1, Chris Bassett, and maybe its number 2.  St. Mark's should be somewhere in the middle of the ISL next year.

10. Middlesex School  (9) 6-8

Middlesex was very tough this year, defeating BB&N, Groton and St. Seb's.  They are graduating a few players.

11. Groton School (12) 4-10

Groton started strong but ended up dying at the end of the season.  They did beat St. Seb's and Thayer though.

12. St. Sebastian's School (13) 4-11

St. Seb's returns a bunch of strong players next year and hopefully they'll continue to improve.  Conor Haugey '12 had a very strong season at 1st singles.

13. Thayer Academy (10) 4-11

Thayer had a bunch of clutch 8-7 wins and they return Richie Robbie '11 next season.

14. Governor's Academy (15) 3-12

Governor's looked solid at the beginning of the year when they beat Groton but then they kind of fizzled out and lost a bunch of close matches.

15. Brooks School (11) 2-13

Brooks showed promise with a win over Groton, but other than that they didn't make too much noise.

16.  Lawrence Academy (16) 0-15

I'm not quite sure why Lawrence is in the ISL to be perfectly honest; they won 2 sets all season (against Middlesex).

Final Standings

Final Standings

I don't have a score for the Groton-St. George's match or the Middlesex-St. George's match.






School Wins Losses


Belmont Hill 15- 0







Milton 14 -1












Nobles 13- 2












Roxbury Latin 12- 3












St. Paul's 11- 4












Rivers 10- 5

St. George's

8-

7

BB&N 7- 8












St. Mark's 7- 8









Middlesex 6- 9












Groton4- 11












St. Sebastian's 4 -11












Thayer 4-11












Governor's 3 -12












Brooks 2 -13












Lawrence 0 -15

Results from Yesterday

Results from Yesterday

Final Standings, Power Rankings, MVP Race Update, etc. are coming soon.

Belmont Hill beat BB&N 14-1
Belmont Hill finished up their undefeated season with an easy win.  Carl Reid pretty much solidified his bid for MVP (more on that later).

Hotchkiss wins Founders League Title

Hotchkiss wins Founders League Title

The writeup is from the Hotchkiss Website.

"The boys varsity tennis team concluded their perfect season with a 7-0 sweep of Loomis on May 19.

The win gives the team a 17-0 record on the season and also earned the team its third consecutive Founder’s League title. The Bearcats have also won the New England championship, the KITT tournament, and the SNETL tournament this season.

Wednesday’s sweep included wins at singles by Robert Lightbourn ’10, Matt Shapiro ’10, Charlie Hough ’12, Will Campo ’10, Jeff Kontulis ’10, and Gonzalo Mocorrea ’13. The team also had doubles wins by Lightbourn & Kontulis and Shapiro & Julius Dixon ’12.

The win capped a remarkable season for the team in which the boys on the team won 85 of a possible 91 points in head-to-head play. Only twice during the season was the team pushed to a 4-3 score, a match against Cheshire on April 28 and the New England finals against Deerfield on May 16.

Hotchkiss last finished undefeated in 1999, when David Bolmer was coaching the team. The team was also undefeated in 1995 under current head coach Bill Markey."

Top 10 Boys' Tennis Players in MA: ESPN RISE vs. ISL TENNIS BLOG

Top 10 Boys' Tennis Players in MA: ESPN RISE vs. ISL TENNIS BLOG

I randomly came across the Greater Boston: May/June 2010 version of the ESPN Rise magazine, and as I was flipping through it I noticed that the magazine has a list of the Top 10 Boys' Tennis Players in Massachusetts.  Cool Right? Yeah, that's what I thought, until I read the list.  If you're going to make a list, why not make it good? I've always respected ESPN for being the leader in sports reporting but I have to say their list is not good.

ESPN RISE TOP 10:

10. Aaron Segal (Needham, So.)


9. Christian Heaney-Secord (Westwood, Sr.)


8. Andrew Lebovitz (Milton Academy, Sr.)


7. Roland Hence (Cambridge, Sr.)


6. Mesa Mei (Somerville, Sr.)


5. Aaron Revzin (Needham, So.)


4. Christian Boulanger (Winchester, Jr.)


3. William Spector (Weston, Jr.)


2. Cameron Ghorbani (Lexington, Sr.)


1. Alex Steinroeder (Concord-Carlisle, Jr.)


I have to say at first glance that I don't/ can't understand how ESPN Rise compiled this list.  Initially, I figured that they went by high school results, but I know that at least one (Roland Hence) of these players don't play high school tennis.  My next instinct was that maybe they combined tournament results and high school tennis but there's no way that's possible becaues Boulanger is ranked 47th in the 18 & Unders.  ESPN needs to keep it real and take Boulanger and Segal out of the Top 10 (no offense to them) because there's no way to justify ranking them that high.  In response to ESPN's rankings, I'm going to create my own top 10.  Without putting myself at number 1 (because it's too controversial) here is my top ten:

ISL TENNIS BLOG TOP 10:

10. Chris Barnhart, Longmeadow


9. Lavrensky Araghamia, Sharon


8. Andrew Lebovitz, Milton Academy


7. Carl Reid, Belmont Hill


6. Roland Hence, Cambridge


5. Aaron Revzin, Needham


4. Mesa Mei, Somerville


3. William Spector, Weston


2. Cameron Ghorbani, Lexington


1. Alex Steinroeder, Concord-Carlisle

Steinroeder

I made my list using high school results, TennisRecruiting.net and USTA New England Rankings.

I'm very interested to see what people think of my list and of the ESPN Rise list. Please comment below.

10 Reactions to 2010 New England's

10 Reactions to 2010 New England's

1. Hopkins is unreal!
2. The NEPSAC should combine Class A and Class B because although Class A schools are bigger, they aren't as good.
3. Class C should be eliminated.  Congrats to Rivers on winning Class C but it is only 15 people smaller than BB&N.  Do classes go by size or ability??  There are about 12 schools in Class C and it's pointless to keep doing Class C Tournaments, plus I hate seeing Rivers wearing New England Champs jackets.
4. I did my homework and Nobles and St. Paul's didn't play New England's for different reasons.  I already ripped Nobles in an earlier post but they didn't play this year basically because they don't value the tournament.  I might add that Nobles has also never played in the tournament so they don't really know what they're missing.  From what I've gathered St. Paul's didn't play because the AD doesn't care about tennis.
5. Carl Reid took down the Brunswick #1 Sam King (who's also the FAA Champion) in an epic match on Saturday. 
6. Belmont Hill could've beaten Hotchkiss.
7. Did I already mention that Hopkins is unreal?
8. I don't understand how Ned Gallagher does the draws for New England's because on the PrepTennis website it says that "unseeded teams were assigned the remaining slots in the draw by random lot." I know for a fact though that teams are randomly assigned to the draw because in the past ten years (when the ISL has averaged four teams in the eight team Class B Draw) no two ISL teams have ever played each other in the first round.  With that being said, it's obvious that the guidelines which he has said he follows aren't being followed.  While I'm not accusing him of rigging draws, I wish that he was clear on how he actually makes the draws because it doesn't seem right to keep everyone in the dark.  I do want to point out that his team (Choate) got a bad draw and had to play the second seed, Deerfield, in the first round.
9. It's time for the ISL to play the 7-point format (with Super-tiebreakers) that we use for New England's
10. I picked all of the Class A and Class B matches correctly except for one, I did get the Hopkins "upset" of Brunswick though.

Nepsac Tennis Class B Final

Nepsac Tennis Class B Final

Sadly I wasn't at the match but luckily for me the Hopkins Athletic Website has a full writeup of the exciting showdown between Hopkins and Brunswick.
The writeup is taken from (http://www.hopkins.edu/athletics/detail.asp?newsid=621010&from=&teamid=9817&viewby=&monthabbr=&thisweek=&eventdate=&yearid=2009+-+2010&gamedate=5/16/10).


Also, just for the record I predicted all of the Class A and Class B Matches correctly in my Class A and Class B Previews.

"Hopkins Barely Bests Bruins 4--3 for New England Prep School Team Tennis Title

5/16/10

 With wins over Buckingham Browne & Nichols and Roxbury Latin on Saturday in the quarter final and semi final rounds of the New England Prep School "B" Team Championships, Hopkins prepared to square off Sunday afternoon against defending champion Brunswick School of Greenwich, Ct. Earlier in the season, Brunswick had defeated Hopkins to win the Fairchester Tennis League Team Championship in a tight 4--3 match.

Play began with the three doubles contests being played first. Coach Ewen played tenth graders Nolan Paige and Russell Einbinder at #1 doubles, and after an even beginning, Einbinder and Paige caught fire and began putting away volleys to win going away, 8--3. Then at #2 doubles, in what proved to be one of the most pivotal matches of the finals, Bobby Berkowitz and Brian Astrachan used quickness at the net and expert angles to overcome Brunswick's team of hard hitting John Brosens and Kyle Wolstencroft, 8--3. The #3 doubles contest was stopped with Brunswick's Sam King and Matt Shang leading Jerrod Dobkin and Michael Bartimer, 7--3. So Hopkins began by winning the one doubles point.

Attention then shifted to the six singles contests. Brunswick's Matt Mackin at #5 singles used a variety of sliced and hard shots to frustrate Hopkins' Jerrod Dobkin, and even the match at 1--1 with a 6--1, 6--3 victory. But then Hopkins' Nolan Paige at #1 singles soon got the lead back for Hopkins with a 6--3, 6--0 win over Brunswick's Sam King. The other matches began to take a longer time. Hopkins' Brian Astrachan at #4 singles was the next to finish, using penetrating ground strokes and sharp angles to defeat a mentally tough Kyle Wolstencroft, 6--3, 6--2. This put Hopkins in a 3--1 lead. But one can never count the determined Brunswick team out. Tri-captain Bobby Berkowitz at #2 overcame a shaky start to come back to win the second set, but then experienced leg cramps and came up short in a gallant effort by a 6--0, 4--6, 6--2 final outcome. Then Hopkins' Russell Einbinder, who had won the first set against a determined John Brosens, also suffered leg cramps after winning the first set and wound up, despite a valiant effort, on the short end of a 2--6, 6--4, 6--1 decision.

This left the match--and the outcome of the New England Team Championship--in the hands of the #6 singles players--Michael Bartimer of Hopkins and Matt Shang of Brunswick. Michael had won the first set by greater steadiness from the baseline, but then Matt began to become more aggressive and held on to win the second set. But this time it was the Brunswick's player's turn to suffer leg cramps as the third set began. Michael promptly forged ahead to a 4--1 lead in the final set, only to see that lead evaporate as Matt courageously used aggressive forehands to even the set at 4--4. Then, in what seemed to be two interminably long deuce games with extended rallies, Michael finally prevailed on the second match point as Shang slid a backhand approach wide into the doubles alley.

This Hopkins team made history, winning the New England Prep School Team Championship for the first time ever, and doing so in the midst of Hopkins' 350th anniversary as a school. Congratulations to the entire Hopkins boys varsity tennis team on their epic accomplishment in 2010!

With best regards,

William L. Ewen"

To see the full Class B Draw go to http://preptennis.org/netc10.htm.


Check out the Class A Finals Writeup.

Nepsac Tennis Class A Finals

Nepsac Tennis Class A Finals

 Hotchkiss School beat Deerfield Academy 4-3
Hotchkiss won in a battle of two Founders League Teams.

The writeup is taken directly from the Hotchkiss Athletic Website
(http://www.hotchkiss.org/calendars/detail.aspx?pageaction=ViewSinglePublic&LinkID=10628&ModuleID=23&StartDate=5/16/2010&TeamID=361)


"Traveling on the second day of the New England Tournament to Loomis Chaffee to play against a very strong Deerfield Academy Team. The team seems ready to do battle. Its a picture perfect day for tennis. Some of the best weather we have had all spring. 

#1 Doubles of Lightbourn and Kontulis lost to Siderides and Wheatley 4-8

#2 Doubles of Hough and Campo defeated Ward and Wieczorec 8-1

#3 Doubles of Shapiro and Dixon lost a heart breaker leading at one point 7-3 allowing the momentum to swing back to their opponents where it stayed losing 9-8. (5-7 tiebreaker)

That got everyone's attention, so bringing the team together and getting them to focus on their singles matches knowing we were behind in the match was critical. I was not sure how they would respond. 

#2 Matthew Shapiro was the first to rebound leveling the match at one apiece with a 6-2 6-4 win over George Wheatley. 

#4 Will Campo would drop his match to Kyle Wieczorec 3-6 2-6 giving the lead back to Deerfield.

#5 Jeffrey Kontulis would be the next to win in a three set match over Robert Long 6-1 4-6 6-3 to even the match and shortly after that...

#6 Gonzalo Mocorrea would give Hotchkiss its first lead with a win over Ilya Kovalenko 7-6 6-0.

#3 Charlie Hough and Alex Ward would grind out three tough sets with Alex getting the better of Charlie in a close third set 6-1 0-6 5-7 leaving it up to the #1's to decide who would be the New England Champions. 

#1 Robert Lightbourn and Andrew Siderides would split sets 6-4 4-6 with Andrew coming back to force a third set. That second set would take its toll on Andrew as Robert would cruise to victory 6-0 in the third. 

I would like to congratulate Jay Morsemen and the Deerfield team on their fine season. I would also like to wish their seniors Andrew, Kyle and Ilya continued success as they head off to college.
We have one more match this season with Loomis Chaffee this Wednesday that will decide Founder League Champions."


Sounds like it was a VERY competitive match which is surprising considering Hotckiss beat Deerfield 7-0 a few weeks ago.  Stay tuned for the Class B Finals Writeup and for new Power Rankings.

For the full Class A Draw and Results check out http://preptennis.org/netc10.htm.

Check out the Nepsac Class B Finals Writeup.

Hopkins beat Brunswick 4-3!!

Hopkins beat Brunswick 4-3!!

I'm on the roaad right now so I don't have time to do a full writeup but it sounds like hopkins took 1st and 2nd doubles like i predicted that they would. Hopkins then won 1st, 4th and 6th singles. I'm going to do a full writeup tomorrow.

Hotchkiss beat Deerfield 4-3 to win the Class A Title.

New England Class A Results

New England Class A Results

FIRST ROUND

Loomis Chaffee beat Cheshire Academy

(2) Deerfield Academy beat Choate

Milton Academy beat Taft

(1) Hotchkiss beat Phillips Academy

SEMI-FINALS

(2) Deerfield Academy beat Loomis Chaffee

(1) Hotchkiss beat Milton Academy

New England Class B Results

New England Class B Results

Class B First Round

You can find the Class B Preview here if you missed it.

(1) Brunswick beat Tabor
I didn't hear what the score was or any details but after watching Brunswick play I can't imagine it was too close.


Belmont Hill beat Moses Brown 4-0
As expected Bel Hill cruised to victory in this one.

Roxbury Latin beat Berkshire
Not sure what happened.

Hopkins beat BB&N 6-1
 Hopkins was very impressive in their dominant victory.  Nolan Paige and Bobby Berkowitz didn't play singles but I know that Nolan played in the second match and that he's going to play in the match Sunday. I'm not sure whether Bobby is planning on playing the match Sunday.


Class B Second Round


(1) Brunswick beat Belmont Hill 4-1

Brunswick took the doubles point to start the match and apparently they put Sam King '10 (their 1st singles player) at 3rd doubles which I didn't even know was legal because it's a stacking red flag.   Anyway, since the match was at Harvard I was able to make it back from Connecticut in time to watch the singles.  Brunswick dominated the singles early, taking 5 of the 6 first sets in convincing fashion.  The crowd had a lot more Bel Hill supporters but Brunswick stayed very pumped up throughout the singles and they were a lot more emotional and vocal than the Belmont Hill players.  The fourth singles match finished first with a 6-0, 6-0 win for Brunswick. The sole highlight of the fourth singles match up for Belmont Hill was when Nick Tierney pegged the Brunswick player in the chest late in the second set, much to the delight of the Bel Hill fan section.

Brunswick then won sixth singles to bring the overall score to 3-0.  Belmont Hill looked like it might come back when Carl Reid '13 was able to close out his match against Sam King '10 7-5. 6-2 in what was a very physical battle.  Most of the time it was Carl Reid dictating play and attacking the net while Sam King sat on the baseline pounding ground strokes and chasing down volleys.

With the match score at 3-1, Belmont Hill remained in survival mode as Peter Yanofsky '10 was able to win a second set tiebreak at second singles after dropping the first set.  A few minutes later it was Bashiru Akinfolarin '10 who pulled out a second set tiebreak at fifth singles for Belmont Hill to send his match into a third set as well.  In the third set at second singles Peter Yanofsky '10 of Belmont Hill nearly broke back receiving at 2-4 but ultimately he wasn't able to and he was broken serving at 2-5 to end the match and the postseason for Belmont Hill.  The third singles and fifth singles third sets had just started when the match finished.

It was a very competitive match but in the end Brunswick had too much depth for the Senior-heavy Belmont Hill squad.


(2) Hopkins beat Roxbury Latin 4-0

Preview of the Class B Final


(1) Brunswick at (2) Hopkins
It was hard to do the last prediction since I hadn't seen either team play but after today I think that I have a better idea of what's going to happen.  If both teams use the same doubles lineups I envison Hopkins winning easily at first doubles and Brunswick cleaning up at third doubles.  Hopkins has an edge at second doubles but it should be a tight match.

In singles, Nolan Paige '12 should win easily against Sam King '10 at the top spot and the second singles could go either way.  When these two teams played a few weeks ago the second singles point went to Brunswick when Russell Einbinder '12 defaulted at 2-2 in the third set.  I think that whether Bobby Berkowitz '10 plays singles for Hopkins or not, the singles will split 3-3 and whoever gets the doubles point will come out victorious.  I'm tempted to take Brunswick 4-3 because their competitiveness and team spirit is pretty intense but I think that Hopkins will find a way to pull the match out 4-3. Final Prediction: Hopkins will upset Brunswick 4-3 and prevent them from winning a third straight New England Title.

NEPSAC Class B Tennis Tournament Breakdown

NEPSAC Class B Tennis Tournament Breakdown

Click here to see the NEPSAC Class A Tennis Tournament Breakdown.
Check out the Nepsac draws at http://www.preptennis.org/netc10.htm

Before I get into the tournament match ups and predictions I want to dedicate a quick paragraph to the selection process.  Somehow I managed to only predict 5 of the 8 tournament teams when I did my Class B Bracketology and I'm pretty sure it's because St. Paul's and Nobles declined bids to go to New England's.  While I'm happy that BB&N made it into the field I can't understand why Nobles keeps refusing to play New England's.  With all due respect, why would you even bother to play the regular season if you have no interest in playing in the playoffs? Why does Nobles even bother to field a team if they don't want to compete when it matters most?  Is it that they're afraid of losing?

I'm not positive but these past two years may have been Nobles' only good tennis teams ever and for some reason they're afraid to play with the big boys.  Last year I remember that Nobles would have gotten the 2nd seed but they didn't play because they had "things to do" and they "wanted to rest for the Milton match."  That's a bunch of shenanigans.  Why play at all?  I'm sure I'm going to get an email explanation after this post but like they said in Wedding Crashers, Rule #76 "No Excuses Play Like A Champion."

I have no idea why St. Paul's is playing but this is the first time since I started playing high school tennis that they've declined a bid.  Baffling stuff. Berkshire wasn't on my radar at all and they've only dropped 2 matches all season: to Hotchkiss and Taft (both 7-0).  BB&N and Tabor made the tournament for the second straight year because of the withdrawals of St. Paul's and Nobles.

First Round Matchups

TOP HALF

(1st Seed, 1) Brunswick School vs. (9) Tabor Academy

In a rematch of last year's semi-final, Tabor should be no match for this undefeated Brunswick squad.  Brunswick takes this match 4-0.

(3) Belmont Hill School vs. (8) Moses Brown School

This might be Moses Brown's first appearance in ten years or so but Belmont Hill will prove to be far too strong.  Belmont Hill cruises to a 4-0 win.

BOTTOM HALF

(5) Roxbury Latin vs. (Unranked) Berkshire School

Roxbury Latin beat Andover 4-3, Andover beat Taft 4-3, Taft beat Berkshire 7-0.  This should be an easy win for RL 4-0.

(2nd Seed, 2) Hopkins School vs. (Unranked) Buckingham Browne & Nichols School

Hopkins only loss this season came against Brunswick and they aren't going to be tested until the finals; Hopkins wins 4-0.

Semi-Finals

(1st Seed) Brunswick School vs. (3) Belmont Hill School

The most interesting matchup should be the 1st singles battle between Carl Reid '13 (Belmont Hill) and Sam King '10 (Brunswick) but other than that I think that the FAA's best team will dominate the ISL Champion.  I'm predicting a 4-0 victory for Brunswick.

(2nd Seed) Hopkins School vs. (5) Roxbury Latin School

Hopkins has way too much fire power for Roxbury Latin and they should roll to a 4-0 victory, setting up a rematch of last year's final with Brunswick.

Finals

(1st Seed) Brunswick School vs. (2nd Seed) Hopkins School

Brunswick has won the last two Class B Championships so they have a chance to three-peat on Sunday against a Hopkins team that they've beaten 4-3 three times in the past two years (if I'm not mistaken).  Considering how ridiculously close their last match up was I expect nothing less than a 4-3 result in the final.  The New England's match should prove to be very different from the regular season match though because New England's is a 6 singles, 3 doubles format instead of the standard FAA League 4 singles, 3 doubles format where ten players have to play.  It's kind of a battle between USTA Connecticut versus USTA New York players because from what I can tell most of Brunswick's players are ranked in the Eastern Section.  I like Hopkins to reverse the fortunes and win this one 4-3, too bad it's in CT (at Hoplkins) because I'd love to watch this showdown.  If you haven't read the writeup about the Hopkins-Brunswick regular season match, it's worth reading.

Check back on Saturday and Sunday for Live Coverage and Match Write ups.

NEPSAC Class A Tennis Tournament Breakdown

NEPSAC Class A Tennis Tournament Breakdown

Click here to see the NEPSAC Class B Tournament Breakdown.

Check out the Nepsac Draws at http://www.preptennis.org/netc10.htm

Before I get started I wanted to point out that I went 8 for 8 predicting the Class A field, too bad I wasn't as successful with Class B.  The number next to each team is its Class A Rank (in my opinion).

First Round Matchups
TOP HALF
(1st Seed, 1) Hotchkiss School vs. (5) Phillips Academy
Phillips should be no match for this Hotchkiss team.  Hotchkiss beat Deerfield 7-0, Deerfield beat Phillips 5-2, enough said.  Hotchkiss rolls to an easy 4-0 victory.

(2) Milton Academy vs. (6) Taft School
I thought that Milton would pick up the second seed and they kind of got screwed over because they got placed on the same side of the draw as Hotchkiss.  I'm not sure whether the unseeded teams are placed randomly or manually but either way Milton has a right to be upset.  I should've gotten a vote on the committee.  Anyway, Milton should edge out Taft in this match but it could be close.  Prediction: Milton 5, Taft 2.

BOTTOM HALF
(4) Loomis Chaffee School vs. (8) Cheshire Academy
Loomis beat Choate 5-2, Choate beat Cheshire 5-2, Loomis will beat Cheshire 5-2.  Cheshire has a very strong 1, 2 punch in Beck Bond '11 and Michael Rosengren '11 but Loomis has too much depth for this squad. Loomis 5, Cheshire 2.

(2nd Seed, 3) Deerfield Academy vs. (7) Choate Rosemary Hall
Deerfield beat Choate 5-2 two weeks ago; they do it again on Saturday.  Prediction: Deerfield 5, Choate 2.

Semi-Finals
(1st Seed) Hotchkiss School vs. (2) Milton Academy
These are the two best Class A teams and it will probably be a battle.  I think that Milton will be able to take the doubles point but I'm not sure that they can pull out 3 singles matches.  The depth of Hotchkiss will probably overwhelm the Stags on Saturday.  Sorry Milton, I like Hotchkiss to win it 4-2 (one match unfinished)

(2nd Seed) Deerfield Academy vs. (4) Loomis Chaffee School
Last time these "two bitter rivals" played Deerfield eked out a 4-3 victory but it was very tight.  Deerfield took the doubles point when third doubles won 9-7 and they got two singles points in third-setters (one in a tiebreaker).  I like Loomis to upset Deerfield 4-3 although it could really go either way.

Finals
(1st Seed) Hotchkiss School vs. (4) Loomis Chaffee School
It's no secret that Hotchkiss beat Deerfield 7-0 and Loomis lost to Deerfield 4-3.  Hotchkiss cruises in this final to a 4-0 victory, preventing Loomis from repeating.

Check back on Saturday and Sunday for Live Coverage and Match Write ups.

Go Celtics! 

The New England Tournament Draws are Out!

The New England Tournament Draws are Out!

I don't have time to do a full commentary but it's a very interesting draw and it looks as if Nobles and St. Paul's opted not to play New England's this year. All the draw info is taken directly from the Prep Tennis Website (http://preptennis.org/netc10.htm

Class A Draw

Quarterfinals (Saturday morning)			Semifinals (Saturday afternoon)			Final (Sunday, 1pm, Loomis Chaffee)
Hotchkiss School (#1)
Phillips Academy
Top half of the draw played at Andover at 9:30am
Taft School
Milton Academy
Loomis Chaffee School
Cheshire Academy
Bottom half of the draw played at Choate at 9:00am
Choate Rosemary Hall
Deerfield Academy (#2) Class B Draw Quarterfinals (Saturday morning) Semifinals (Saturday afternoon) Final (Sunday, 1pm, Hopkins) Brunswick School (#1) Tabor Academy Top half of the draw played at Harvard University (Belmont Hill to host) at 9:30am Moses Brown School Belmont Hill School Roxbury Latin School Berkshire School Bottom half of the draw played at Hopkins School at 9:30am Buckingham Browne & Nichols School Hopkins School (#2) Class C Draw Quarterfinals (Saturday morning) Semifinals (Saturday afternoon) Final (Sunday, 1pm, Rivers) Rivers School (#1) [BYE] Top half of the draw played at Rivers School at 9:30am Beaver Country Day School Dexter School Watkinson School Hamden Hall Country Day School Bottom half of the draw played at Choate at 11:15am Wooster School Pingree School (#2)

ISL Graduates Playing College Tennis

ISL Graduates Playing College Tennis

This post is pretty straightforward and the links in each player's writeup go to either tennisrecruiting.net or their college profile.

BB&N
Ruslan Goussiatnikov '07 - Colgate University
Ruslan earned All-ISL status his senior year for being the strongest 2nd singles player in the league.  He led the Knights to the New England Class B Finals in 2007.  He played 6th singles freshman year and 5th singles his sophomore year.


Sam Clark '09 - Swarthmore College
Sam played second singles his senior year at BB&N earning All-League Honorable Mention.  He played in a few matches for Swarthmore in his freshman year.


Brooks
Alex Skinner '08 - Boston College
Alex was the ISL MVP in 2008 and he also won the 2008 NEPSITT Tournament.  He now plays 4th singles for a BC team that recently was ranked top 75 in the country.


Milton Academy
Charlie Posner '07 - Brown University
Posner went 19-0 in singles and doubles his junior year, winning the ISL MVP award, and leading his team to ISL and New England Class A Championships.  His senior year he went 19-0 and once again Milton won New England and ISL Championships.  He was a top 5 ranked player in USTA New England and he never lost a match while playing at Milton. At Brown this year he played anywhere from 4th to 6th singles and he saw most of his doubles action at 2nd doubles.


Trevor Prophet '07 - Connecticut College
Trevor earned All-ISL honors playing 3rd singles for Milton his senior year.  He now plays first singles at Conn College where he also plays on the soccer team (earned All-Nescac honors in the fall).

Anton Kovic '07 - Bucknell University
Earned All-ISL playing 2nd singles for Milton.  He plays first singles at Bucknell where he posted a 7-9 record this year.


Roxbury Latin
Dan Gonzalez '06 - Amherst College
Dan earned All-ISL playing first singles his senior year and he has played in a few matches over his career at Amherst.


Alex Jacobs '08 - Bowdoin College
Alex played 2nd singles for RL his senior year and has seen a lot of action in the doubles lineup at Bowdoin.


St. Mark's
Sam Sherrill '06 - Roanoke College
Sam was an All-ISL selection in 2006 and this year he earned First Team All-ODAC honors playing 2nd singles.


St. Paul's 
Will Rives '09 - Amherst College
Will earned All-ISL in 2008 and 2009 playing for St. Paul's.  He played in a few matches at Amherst this year.


Thayer Academy
Josh Cameron '08 - Florida A&M
Josh earned All-League honors in 2007 and 2008 and he currently plays at Florida A&M.

Tom Darling '09 - Elon University
Tom didn't drop a singles set in his last two years at Thayer and he went undefeated in conference play at sixth singles for Elon in his freshman year.


Jamie Neely '06 - Bowdoin College
Jamie earned All-ISL status in 2006 playing 1st singles for Thayer.  He has had a very successful career at Bowdoin; he was an NCAA Doubles Finalist and Doubles All-American in 2009.



I probably missed a few people, feel free to comment below with any additions.

Today's Match Results

Today's Match Results

(14) BB&N beat (7) St. George's 13-2
BB&N returned to full strength and Jess Karol, Will Kauppila, Aje Julian and Willie Peoples picked up 3 points apiece.  It was a good showing for a team that lost to Groton and Middlesex last week.

(4) Roxbury Latin beat (10) Thayer Academy 12-3

(2) Nobles beat (15) Governor's 13-2

(8) St. Mark's beat (13) St. Sebastian's 10-5

Comment with scores.

Updated ISL Tennis Standings

Updated ISL Tennis Standings

School	Wins	Losses	Power Rank
Belmont Hill	12	0	1
Nobles	10	1	2
Milton	10	1	3
Roxbury Latin	8	3	4
St. Paul's	8	3	5
Rivers	8	3	6
St. Mark’s	5	5	8
St. George's	4	5	7
BB&N	5	6	14
Middlesex	4	7	9
Groton	4	7	12
Brooks	2	8	11
Thayer	2	9	10
St. Sebastian's	2	9	13
Governor's	2	10	15
Lawrence	0	11	16