The 3.0er of the Year - William Fox
(Towpath)
Singles Player of the Year - Matt Birkbeck
(Towpath)
Doubles Player of the Year - William Fox
(Towpath)
Doubles Team of the Year - Ron Novak & William Fox
(Towpath)
Captain of the Year - Kyle Webb
(Kettering Tennis Center)
Captain Kyle won the 2015 Captain of the Year award thanks to leading his club to the most victories on the season as well as a trip to Nationals, which is also where most of the Towpath roster ended up as well! Ron and William, undefeated in the playoffs, won Doubles Team of the Year recognition while William, thanks to dominating the courts of doubles and enjoying the most 3.0 wins on the season, won The 3.0er of the Year award! On the singles courts, their teammate Matt helped keep the Towpath trophy case full as he, thanks to his double-digit wins, took the Singles Player of the Year award back to Akron as well!
William and Ron, undefeated on the year together, played major roles in helping to lead their Towpath team to 3.0 greatness on the national stage ... at Nationals!
Leading Kettering Tennis Center to four team championships during the year, Kyle also led the team to a Nationals finish as well. None of this should be a surprise, for Kyle's not only a veteran player, but a veteran leader as well, and he entered D.F.O. history as only the third 3.0er to ever win the D.F.O. 3.0 Captain of the Year award twice! Congratulations Kyle!
2015 DFO 3.0 Player of the Year Finalists
* = Years at 3.0; Nomination Criteria
Tournament Qualifiers
Matt Birkbeck*8
Tournament: Akron Open Quarter-Finalist (2-1)
League: 4-1 Singles, 2-0 Doubles; Playoffs: 4-2 Singles, 5th Place Nationals
Charles Graise*3
Tournament: Akron Open Finalist (3-1), Shiloh DC Champion (2-0)
Mel Paulino*5
Tournament: Akron Open Consolation Title (3-1)
League: 2-0 Singles, 3-2 Doubles
John Ragner*2
Tournament: Akron Open Champion (4-0)
League: 1-1 Singles, 3-0 Doubles; Playoffs: 1-1 Singles, 5th Place Nationals
Kyle Webb*6 (Ketterington)
League: 6-1 Singles, 3-1 Doubles; Playoffs: 3-4 Singles, 3-0 Doubles, 11th Place Nationals
Darren Taylor*4 (Ketterington)
League: 4-0 Singles, 2-0 Doubles; Playoffs: 2-4 Singles
Matt Birkbeck*8 (Towpath)
Tournament: Akron Open Quarter-Finalist (2-1)
League: 4-1 Singles, 2-0 Doubles; Playoffs: 4-2 Singles, 5th Place Nationals
John Ragner*2 (Towpath)
Tournament: Akron Open Champion (4-0)
League: 1-1 Singles, 3-0 Doubles; Playoffs: 1-1 Singles, 5th Place Nationals
Doubles
Tournament Qualifiers
Jesus Caldera*2/Ricardo Caldera*3
Tournament: Akron Open Doubles Runners-up (1-1)
Shaun Johanne*3/Jorge Crespo*2 (Ketterington)
League: 2-0; Playoffs: 5-1
Adam Stopka*6/Stephen Wilt*5 (Towpath)
League: 1-1; Playoffs: 4-2, 5th Place Nationals
William Fox*2/Ron Novak*7 (Towpath)
League: 5-0; Playoffs: 7-0, 5th Place Nationals
Michael Kramer*4/Ronald Bassek*3 (Towpath)
League: 4-0; Playoffs: 2-2, 5th Place Nationals
Voting Notes
A truly unique season, not only was the Akron Open the only event held in 2015 at the 3.0 level, but the Akron Open Consolation event wasn't even completed. So ... yeah (however, Mel is the answer to the famous 3.0 trivia question "Who won a consolation title without ever actually winning a match on the court?" as Mel won his first two consolation matches because of "walkover's due to injury" and his consolation title match due to "default, no show" ... but a title is a title, so congrats, Mel!). But in the one event that counted, John ran the gamut, defeating four of the biggest 3.0 names in 3.0 tennis to hoist the most coveted 3.0 event on the 3.0 tour*, the Akron Open championship! Indeed, with his close 4-6, 6-4, 1-0 (5) win over fellow nominee Matt, John seemed to have the edge. But Matt, ironically John's Towpath teammate, enjoyed more wins in league and in the playoffs, meaning that despite his close five-point loss to his teammate, Matt proved to be an equally impressive player in two of the three phases of the 3.0 game! Then, when Ketterington's Kyle was added to the list, that meant that three fine, fine players were all up for the most coveted pretend award around.
In the doubles voting, the Brother's Carlson were quite the tandem, though it should be noted that the Brothers Caldera would make an impressive return to the D.F.O. in the coming years! HOLY BROTHER! But in the end, the Voting Panel was won over by the Nationals run of William and Ron, who helped play key roles in Towpath's amazing 3.0 team run all the way to Nationals!
The captain voting was almost as intense as the singles voting, for William Fox of Towpath had enjoyed one of the best 3.0 seasons in 3.0 history, taking his Towpath club to a 5th place Nationals finish. Kyle, though, won multiple team titles (Flight, Districts, State, and Midwest) and also qualified to Nationals. And though Kyle didn't enjoy the Nationals experience William did, his 19 wins, the second most in 3.0 captaincy history, were enough to sway the Voting Panel enough to earn his second D.F.O. 3.0 Captain of the Year award!
Ineligible Nominees
Scott Altman* (Towpath)
League: 4-1 Singles, 2-0 Doubles; Playoffs: 6-0 Singles
Notes: Ending your 3.0 career with double-digit wins and a trip to Nationals is the way to go!
Aaron Carlson*3/Ethan Carlson*1
Tournament: Akron Open Doubles Champions (2-0), Dick Shultz Finalists* (3-1)
*6.5 Event
Notes: One-and-done may describe their 3.0 existence together, but not their tournament finals together!
Robert Modic*1/Jeff Bannister*2 (Ketterington)
League: 4-0; Playoffs: 7-3
Notes: Leading their team on a Midwest Ohio Championships Champion run, Robert and Jeff went out in 3.0 style!
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