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| Nadeem Kassam (left) and Matt Solomon, winners of the ITA Northwest Regional doubles title, flank Whitman men's tennis coach Jeff Northam. |
WALLA WALLA, Wash. - It was a great day to be a Missionary."
So said Whitman tennis coach Jeff Northam after a trio of Missionaries captured the singles and doubles titles as the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's Northwest Regional Championship came to a close Sunday afternoon on the outdoor courts at Whitman.
Missionary senior Phalkun Mam, the No. 1 seed, wrapped up the singles title with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over senior teammate Steven Ly, the No. 2 seed.
Meanwhile, Whitman freshmen Matt Solomon and Nadeem Kassam completed their youthful trek through the doubles bracket, knocking off Pacific Lutheran's top-seeded David Miller and Justin Larimore. Solomon and Kassam fell behind 4-3 but reeled off five straight games to win 8-4.
As the tournament champions, Mam, Solomon and Kassam will travel to Florida next month with a chance to qualify for the ITA National Small College Championships, slated for Oct. 12-15 at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers. One day before that tournament begins, the Whitman trio will play their championship counterparts from the ITA's Southwest Regional in a one-match playoff. The playoff winners earn berths in the NCAA Division III portion of the national tournament, which has been hosted annually by ITA since 1986.
The Southwest Regional takes place next weekend at the University of Texas-Tyler.
Northam wasn't surprised to see Mam or his young doubles team come up victorious on Sunday. "Phalkun played in a lot of tournaments over the summer, and he's playing very, very well right now. Matt and Nadeem, even though they've only been together for a few weeks as doubles partners, are very accomplished doubles players. There are times when youthful exuberance is a good thing. They don't know their place in the world and they think it belongs to them."
Sunday's play began with the singles semifinals. Mam rolled to a 6-1, 6-1 victory over PLU's third-seeded Miller in one semifinal. In the other, Ly was a 6-3, 6-0 winner over a third Whitman senior, Robbie Munday, the No. 4 seed.
Kassam, a freshman from Vancouver, British Columbia, and Solomon, a freshman from Los Gatos, Calif., who came to Whitman by way of St. Stephens Episcopal School in Austin, Texas, began this weekend's tournament as the No. 7 seeds. In the quarterfinals, they scored an 8-2 victory over the No. 4 seeds, Pacific Lutheran's Jeff Loranger and Kevin Floyd. Last night in the semifinals, they outlasted the No. 2 seeds, Mam and Ly, for a 9-7 victory.
"Both Matt and Nadeem are very quick, and they aren't afraid to close the middle of the net," Northam said. "What really sets them apart, though, is that both are very good at stepping in and taking serves early. That's kind of a lost art in college tennis. Most players want to stand behind the line and take a big swings at the serves. If you can step and take the serve early, that puts a lot of pressure back on the serving team."
The Northwest regional tournament got underway Friday morning with 48 men and 45 women representing seven of the nine schools in the Northwest Conference.
Dave Holden, Whitman Sports Information, (509) 527-5902
Email: holden@whitman.edu