 6th ranked team in the country. No stranger to this tournament, Coach. 15th time in it. How's it feel to be back in this one, back in St. Peter? It's awesome. It's definitely one of the highlights of the year, for sure. We look forward to this. And I think it's a special, it's more of a special event just because of Coach Wilkinson and his passing. And we, as Division III coaches and players, need to realize how important he was to Division III men's tennis. It's sad, and we honor all that he's done at this tournament. You kind of feel his presence lingering here, can't you? Absolutely. I remember when I was a freshman, my coach Bob Hansen at the time was telling me, we owe Steve so much for what he's done for Division III. Awesome. Well, like I said, you've been here a bunch of times. You've won this thing five times. For you, how does your approach change? Does it differ very year to year? Or is it kind of business as usual for your team? Yeah, I think that it depends on the team you have. Sometimes you have younger teams, and you have to make sure they understand the importance of it and how special the term of it is. But in terms of the preparation, we don't change much. Sure. And it's definitely one of the high marks of the season, and we just want to make sure we put our best foot forward. Well, you started out the year last weekend. Couple wins for your team. Bright spots from that opening weekend. What do you like about your team? You know, we have some younger players in the lineup that definitely flashed against AUM. And when you're playing a team of that quality, it's fun to watch the young guys play. It's their really first chance. Sure. So you get a little feedback from that. And what we like about the indoor national tournament, especially for the younger guys, is it simulates the NCAA championships. So you get a chance to see how they perform under pressure. You know, you look at it, you've got a couple guys in this lineup, two couple seniors here, big-time seniors, Alex Soderman, Ian Wagner. And Eric Halpern. For sure, these guys got to be pay setters for this young team of yours. Absolutely, you know, I cannot believe that they're seniors. That time goes by so fast. They were a part of the 2012 national championship team. And they just, they've been through the fire. They know how to compete under pressure. And they're wonderful role models for all the younger guys. For sure. And it's great for these young guys to get thrown into the fire like this right away, isn't it, Coach? Absolutely. And it's fun, you know? And I think that Gustavus does an amazing job putting on this event. And, you know, just doing this interview with you, you know, 20 years ago, this would never, you know, you'd never thought this would be this big of a deal. So it's just, it's amazing. Well, it's great to have you back in St. Peter. I look forward to an exciting weekend of some good Division III tennis. Coach Browning, good luck this weekend. Thanks for joining me. Appreciate it. Can you hear me, Coach? I can. All right. I am now with the head coach of the Trinity University Tigers here back in St. Peter. No stranger this tournament as well. I'm with Russell McMindus. Am I saying that? McMindus. McMindus, all right. Well, welcome back. I know you guys like to come up here. And you like to see the snow. And you like it cold. And we got some snow for you last night. No, absolutely. I mean, being from Texas, it's a whole different world for us up here. And so the guys love it. It's a different experience. Something that's very unique for them. And so yeah, it's just a lot of fun. The guys embrace it. Yeah, you like coming to this tournament. What is it about this tournament that you like so much? What does your team like so much about it? Well, I think just the fact that it just kind of breaks free a little bit from the traditional dual match format that we play all spring long. It's unique. It's a prestigious invite-only, top-in-the-country type event. And just to get to play indoors. I mean, we obviously down in the South don't play hardly ever inside. So it's just a unique setting. It's a very team-driven setting, especially the intimate with only the three courts in play. It's just been a lot of fun for us. And we'll continue to come to it as long as we're invited. Three courts is playing. There's a lot of energy in here always too, isn't there? Absolutely. It's kind of an interesting story with your squad. You were here last spring. Coach, you defeated Gustavus in the third round of the NCAA tournament and moved on from there. Kind of fun for the guys to come back up to St. Peter in a little different setting last year was hot when you were here. Now it's kind of cold and you're inside. Now that's absolutely. We've been coming up to Gustavus for different matches. It seems like for years now. But yeah, it's very different from the spring to the indoors. And we like, because Gustavus always brings a crowd. It always creates an electric atmosphere. We know with it being indoors and cold and kind of the retreat for even the fans coming inside. So we're expecting a pretty rowdy group tonight. And our guys are pumped for it. We're excited. For sure. It should be a fun match. Like I said, you've been here before. You've been in this tournament many times before. Ask you the same question as I asked Coach Browning. How does your approach change from year to year? Or does it at all? No, I mean, we just, it's a good kind of building block tournament for us. Kind of see where we are. This is our first Real Division III exposure for the year. And we just come out here and just try to provide the team energy, big doubles energy, get off to good starts. And then it is a little different because you've got a longer dual match format. Trying to get some of the guys. We played some matches back home where we had some of these staggered starts so that some of the guys that may go on second get a kind of a feel for what that lull is like between doubles and singles. So, you know, that part is different and kind of the nutrition part of it, making sure they've got plenty of food and re-warmup and stuff like that. But other than that, you know, we just try to take it. It's a lot of fun to be here. It's an honor to be here. So let's just go play hard and have a good time. Well, to finish up here, I got to ask you about we got a big doubles matchup. You just said a lot of energy starts off the weekend in doubles. Aaron Skinner going to start out the day. He's a top double tandem along with Jordan May for you. Taking out a Gustavus doubles team, that's really good too. So this would be a good start to the weekend. Yeah, doubles has been something, you know, both programs has kind of been built on for years. Sure. And, you know, fortunately, we've both been able to fill out our rosters to be more complete. But, you know, for both Tommy and myself, our team, you know, the pulse always starts with doubles. I mean, we were both rooted in that. And I know they've got some guys that know how to play it and play it right. And that's, I think, what we love playing about the Division III so much as you see a little bit more of the high intensity, true doubles play than you would if you play some of the scholarship programs where they're just a bunch of singles guys. But, you know, we're excited. Our guys are ready to go. And they're expecting a heck of a match tonight. I'm expecting one, too. It's going to be loud in here, man. Good luck, coach. Thank you very much. Appreciate it, Tom. Take those from you. Thank you. Good much. Yeah, absolutely. That's always great. Yeah. Justin and Josh back in training. All right. All right, pre-game show continuing here, the pre-tournament show I should say here at the Swanson Tenor Center. I'm now with Roger Fulmer, the head coach of the Washington University Bears, number two seed in this year's tournament, heading to the year ranked fifth in the nation. No stranger to this tournament. Either coach, I'll ask you the same question as I asked the two previous coaches. Does your approach change to when you come into the ITA indoors year to year? Is it kind of business as usual for your squad? For some of these guys, it's their first time playing in a bubble. I know Jason Hogan from Texas. He hasn't played much indoor tennis in general, but he's never played in a bubble. So I told the guys before last night again in the hotel, you're in the middle courts. I guess that's two and five. You have a higher ceiling to work with. You're on the out courts, and you're on an outside. Whether it's the Deuce Court on one side or the Ad Court on the other, be careful of the lanterns, things like that. Other than that, I grew up in a bubble myself in St. Louis, Missouri at Sunset Tennis Center. So I've seen this and just let them know sometimes it can be a little colder, but definitely better than outside. That's for sure, especially with the snow we got last night. Well, your squad won the 2014 title in this tournament last year. Any added pressure coming into the season's ITAs? Talked about it. I think last year, repeating as conference champs might help their confidence to know that they can do that. That's the first time we've ever done that. Emery's basically had the stranglehold on our conference, the UAA, and they've won this tournament, I think, more than anybody five times. So I think that was a big step last year. And probably the momentum was built by winning indoors first and then conference in April. So I think that helped, but we really haven't spoken about, hey, let's try to repeat this champs because we know all these teams here are good and half these schools are from our conference with Carnegie M&A. Absolutely. In case. So, but it's a great tournament. I try to come here almost every time that there's one year we didn't come, we just saved money and do something else in another year. Same thing, I think that's a couple years ago and Kenyon won it. We saved money for the Hawaii trip. Absolutely. Kind of a closer trip for your squad, for sure. Well, you started out this season last weekend and went over to PAW. You look pretty surgical in that one. Bright spots as you open up the season here. What do you like about your team so far? We're still figuring out how I think after this weekend playing three matches in a row, we'll be good for their endurance. Indoor tennis is quicker. It's more like serving nerves, as they say, worse to get outside. It's going to be more patience and grinding. But I think here it'll be good with this three-quart format. Your guys at 4, 5, and 6, they're going to taste a pressure tennis, I guess you could say. For sure. Looks down your roster. You got kind of a good mix of veterans and young talent on this team. What are you going to be looking for from your squad this weekend, goals for the weekend, I should say? The doubles is really key, I mean, especially in our format with the smaller colleges, division two, three, NAI, junior college, and Coach Wilkinson, now he was basically the founder of, let's give each doubles point a point, and don't pull a match off like they do in division one doubles. I just think that's silly. There's no other sport where they're starting, and then you're down by 20 points, oh, let's go to the second half. Whereas I love the fact that each one of these matches and doubles counts for a point. You're never pulling a kid off, losing that opportunity. Maybe at one doubles, because you lost in two and three doubles, and they're getting pulled, and you don't have that result, you know? So I'm so glad that we have that format, and again, Coach Wilkinson is the reason for that. Awesome, well, just gonna say good luck to you, Coach. I know you gotta get down and do your job here. Look forward to an exciting weekend, but thanks for joining me, Coach Fulmer from Washington University here and the pre-championship show at the Swanson Tennis Center, hi. Tournament preview, basically. All right, let me get my notes here. Coach Gerard, can you hear me? Yeah. All right, I am now with head coach Andrew, Andy or Andrew, and either one? Andy. Andy Gerard of Carnegie Mellon University. First of all, welcome to St. Peter, Minnesota, and we got some snow for you. How was the trip? Oh, thanks, it's great to be back here, and I'm actually from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Okay. This is great. Right up your alley then. But it's a great experience for the players to get to travel out here and see another part of the country. And yes, we've been out here for a couple indoor championships and I've had great experiences. Yeah, absolutely. Your squad comes into this tournament. The sixth seed ranked ninth overall in the country at four and two this year already, Coach. You've already got some matches under your belt. Bright spots on your team as you look forward to this weekend here. Yeah, a big bright spot is our depth. We've had some strong teams in the past, but this has definitely been our deepest team and we're going to need it. We're a little banged up this weekend. So I'm expecting you will get most of our guys that are here in the lineup at some point over the weekend. And yeah, should be fun. Well, nothing like being banged up and then getting thrown into the fire at this tournament, Tom. Well, it's a great experience and our guys have been training hard and they're ready for it. Other thoughts on this weekend. You know, what excites you the most about the opportunity to play in such a tournament? And it's kind of a different format the coach have talked. You know, you only got three courts going on at the same time. It's inside, it's tight, there's a lot of energy. What are you looking for for your team this weekend, goals for the weekend, I should say? Sure, and I think all those things are great things in terms of preparing us for our ultimate goal of the answer by championship. And yeah, it's a great, you know, early season tournament experience for, you know, we have a wide mix of upperclassmen and some younger guys. And it's a really great test for everyone to get to see what this is like and get to experience, you know, an intense competitive atmosphere. And I mean, it's a really great, you know, great training. How about your first round, Masha? Thoughts on that? Oh, with Emory, yeah, I mean, they're a tough team and, you know, they're a strong team here and you're out and they're, you know, double singles, strong throughout. So, I mean, we'll have to play really well to give ourselves a chance to win. Got some young guys in the lineup today? We do, we do, yeah, we have, yeah. Fresh, I think we have every class represented in the lineup. Really? Well, no better experience for them than for sure against Emory. That's right, yeah. Well, thanks, coach, thanks for coming to me. Joe Coach Gerard here. We're gonna keep rolling through as this tournament gets underway. We'll take a little break here, find another head coach and then we'll keep it going here. We got all six courts streamed live right behind me. We're gonna have Kenyon and Wash, you going at it and then Coach Gerard's tartans over there taken on Emory in just a little bit. Thanks, coach. Thanks. All right, we're rolling along here. Can you hear me, coach? Yeah, so this is, how does this get shown? This is Aaron live right now, actually. Excellent. So people are tuning into it as we talk right now. Scott Tilke joins me, the head coach of the Kenyon College men's tennis team, the number seven seed in this year's tournament, ranked 12th nationally. Well, how does it feel to be back in the indoors here, coach? Always feels good to be here. It's a great environment here. So being in the bubble, it's always loud, it's always very competitive, so I enjoy it. Well, the last time you were here in this tournament, it was 2013 in St. Peter, I should say. You took the title in that year. Favorite memory from that weekend? Obviously, the favorite memory is the entire match came down to a third set tiebreaker, four matches all, and our guy won the tiebreaker 7-4 and played just a great breaker, and it was a good day. Yeah, I remember capping right there actually behind us. It was an exciting match, wasn't it? Yes, yes. And he added pressure because of that. You guys kind of, one at the last time was here, or is that just kind of business-as-usual approach for your team? I mean, I think we like playing here in the bubble. We have a few guys that were on the team that are still playing for us, so they have that memory. So I think it'll help us. I don't think it really adds any pressure, but it will certainly help us play well here. Well, you're off to a busy start in 2015 here. You defeated Case Western, and then you lost to Chicago last weekend, and also had other matches before that as well. Bright spots from your team early in the season as you head into this weekend. What do you like from your team so far? Well, I think the good thing is beating Case Western was a good win for us. They beat us in the first round of indoors last year. So it was a good win to get that going. And then I think everybody sort of found out that the University of Chicago is they had the number one recruiting class in the country, and obviously, it's going to pay off for them. For a good reason. It looked like two. Yeah, that was a good match. But into the fire once again for your team here, saying we got eight of the top 15 teams in the country here. What excites you about this squad as you head into this tournament specifically? What are you going to be looking for the most this weekend? I'm hoping that the experience that we have pays off. We have almost nothing but upperclassmen in the starting lineup in singles. And we have a new freshman that's in the starting lineup in doubles. So I think our experience should pay off for us. It's a lot of tough teams, so we will see how that pays off for us. But I think it's going to be tremendously competitive for the whole weekend. Should be competitive. It should be fun in here, man. Good luck this weekend, Coach Tilke. We're going to take a little break, and we're going to keep rolling through the coaches here. We're still live at the Swanson Tennis Center. Matches are getting away in about 30 minutes here. All right, tournament preview continuing here at Swanson. I am with head coach of the Case Western Reserve Spartans, Todd Wachowski joins me here. Fifth seed in this tournament, eighth team in the country coach. Relatively new kid on the block in terms of appearances in this tournament. You were in it last year. What do you like about this thing to start out the year so much? Well, I just think that you get three matches guaranteed in the beginning of the season. It helps you grow up fast. For us last year to be in it for the first time, it was good, even though we had an older team. We hadn't been in these experiences before. So it helped us when it came time for UAAs and for the NCAAs at the end of the year to kind of know how to pace yourself in a three-day event where you got three matches that you have no breathing room in. It's an interesting point and that you learned from that last year. Maybe your approach changes a little this year, I would imagine, too. You learn from it and move on to the next year. Right. It was a little different because we hosted last year. So again, this feels like a new experience. You're playing on three courts, whereas last year we were able to play on six courts. So you've got guys waiting. So the whole system changes this year again, so. Well, you started out the year last weekend. I think it was 6-3 loss to Kenyon, who's also in this tournament. And then you got a grind-out win. You defeated Chicago. Am I correct? Correct, yep. Tell me about that opening weekend, bright spots for your club, maybe improvements as you move forward into the opening, or I should say, the ITAs this weekend? Well, last weekend, we had off. It was two weekends ago. Two weekends ago. You know, that match, those two matches were key for us to have in the very beginning of our schedule because nine out of our 12 spots are new from last year. So you've got six singles and six doubles. Out of those positions, the only people that are the same are CJ at one doubles, CJ and Will at one and two singles. Everybody else is in a new spot. So even, you know, Louis Swerke played third doubles last year, now he's at one. So, you know, he's kind of a rookie there. And then three through six or never played in the singles lineup in an important match before. So when we played Kenyon, you know, I didn't know and no one knew what to expect because you have a brand new team, you know? But I told them from the start of this year that we need to grow up really, really fast. We're young. Even if we are a sophomore or a junior, it's our first time playing. So, you know, we're only gonna be as good as we grow up quickly. And to bounce back after, you know, losing to Kenyon and to beat Chicago the next day, you know, that was growing up fast. Yeah. You know, they had a really quick turnaround that match against Kenyon ended at like 11 p.m. And it went a while. And Chicago, I mean, it's, you know, number one recruiting class in the country. I mean, these guys are really good. Chicago is gonna be a top 10 team in the country. Just wait another month and then it'll happen. So for us to get that win, I think it gave us a lot of confidence going into playing Hopkins because it's almost the same exact team. Really, really talented, very, very good players. You know, we just need to, you know, believe that, you know, we belong winning that match. Well, wow. I mean, you look at your schedule coach, and especially with a young lineup like this, you said it. I mean, you're getting thrown into the fire here. Yeah. Taking on three more ranked teams this weekend as well. Yeah. Technically, we have fifth, I think, you know, we rank 40 teams nationally. Yeah. And we have 15 matches guaranteed against the top 40 team. And we've played two. So, you know, there's a long way to go. It's a long way to go. Well, it's such a long young lineup this weekend here in the bubble. What are the goals for you? What are you looking for from your team this weekend? You know, nothing really is quantitative. I mean, we just wanna keep progressing and getting better. The quantitative things are just the things that we chart that we do within the matches. The wins and losses, they'll come if we do the right things. And we just stay the course. But I just wanna see us get better and always keep getting better and finishing stronger than we start. So, I mean, that's our number one focus. Sure. Well, good luck. It's gonna be an exciting weekend here, coach. Welcome to Minnesota. And good luck with the rest of the way. Yeah. I just wanna say appreciate you guys putting their lives together. Absolutely. You yourself, I know, and your event management did a really, really good job in the last two weeks to get it going. I think you guys deserve a lot of credit. And this is huge for our recruiting in Division III tennis, you know, that recruits can be out there watching this. Absolutely. Seeing the exposure. I think it's, you know, what you've done here is single-handedly gonna start changing the game. For sure. So I'll say thank you. Yeah, well, Case Western, tune in at 5 p.m. everywhere. 6 p.m. center on the East Coast. Good luck again this weekend, coach. All right, thank you. Pre-tournament show here from Swanson, the Swanson Tennis Center, continuing here in St. Peter, Minnesota. Ethan Armstrong, bringing you live the pre-game show talking to the respective head coaches from each squad. Let's go ahead. Little information just for your information here. Right now, Kenyon and WashU are warming up behind me. That is at courts one through three over there. We got courts four through six. Hey, coach. Go ahead and pop those on. Chuck, Ethan Armstrong. Go ahead and pop those on, then you... All right, there we go. All right, can you hear me? Yep. Chuck Willenberg, or Willenberg's board, excuse me, of John Hopkins University out of Baltimore Mail and joining me. Well, coach, you've been in this tournament before. Yeah. Does the approach change this year? Is it pretty much standard, let's go? Let's throw it into the fire and let's get some matches under our belts. Well, first it's a great honor to get the team into the tournament. It's been coaching this my 11th year at Hopkins and we were kind of the outside looking in and trying to get our program to the point where we can get into this tournament and compete with the best teams. And fortunately, the last few years we've been there. And last year we kind of broke through and beat Emory in the first round and Kace in the second round in the semis and then unfortunately lost the finals. But I told the team that the last, all the four teams that got to the semifinals made the final eight. So the importance, if you can do well here, it spells well for the rest of the season. That's been touched on a little bit earlier with the other coaches, how similar this tournament is to the NCAA tournament and you literally learn pacing throughout the weekend and nutrition and all that and all those factor and it'll be the same thing this weekend. Sure. I mean, you want to prepare yourself to play the very best and this is a good way to start the season and see where you stand and if you have to make changes and see where your players stand against the other top teams. Well, you've had a dual match in the fall against Amherst but really truly, this is kind of the season opener here for you, isn't it? You got Kace Western to start it out. How's practice gone over the first month of the year? How do you like where your team's at right now? You know, the fall season, we had a really good fall season. Our number one player, Mike Bucksbaum, won the ITAs and singles and doubles and went on into the small college nationals and did well and when he played the Amherst match, like you said in the fall, he won his singles and doubles and so we really feel like we got a special player playing number one and I feel like actually Mike has been, some of the guys have been pushing him pretty hard and beating some challenge matches so I feel like the depth is there and we have a lot of seniors, we have six seniors on the team and that's traditionally in D3, the seniors laden teams have done very well in the post season so I feel like we've gone, we've been battletest the last few years and guys know what to expect and the practice has been intense and we've been getting better so I think we're coming in with good, great expectations. Great expectations, especially from a veteran crew. I mean, I look at a lot of these rosters, it's a good mix of veterans and young talent and it'll be exciting to see Hopkins and see what they can do this year. Yeah, well we're looking forward to it and we're happy to be here. Absolutely, well welcome back coach and good luck the rest of the weekend. Coach Willenborg joins me here of John Hopkins University, we'll take a little break and then we're gonna get underway here. All right, thanks a lot. All right, we are going to be joined by coach Tommy Valentini here in one second as he pops on the headphones. Can you hear me coach? I gotcha. Put that microphone right there and then welcome. Thank you. It's really happening here. We're really doing it. We're really doing it. We're really doing it. Well your club plays at five p.m. so you get a little break here as the other matches get underway. First of all, let's touch on a little of the prep work that went into this weekend. It just seems like this whole thing came together at just the right time and putting together a special product here I think. Well, it's always been a dream. I referenced it to someone earlier in the week that it's always been sort of a Wilkes size dream to try to pull this off and you guys have just been wonderful. I mean, everybody at Gustavus has just pulled together to make this thing happen and make it a reality and I think what it's gonna mean for College Tennis and Division III College Tennis is just huge and so my thanks and all of our thanks to you and to Dobo and everybody, physical, planning, athletic, department, Gustavus, technology, media services. Everybody was a huge team effort to get this thing done and I think we're starting to see the level of appreciation that our guests here are showing. Yeah and we just had all the coaches come on and they kind of said the same thing that this is so huge for recruiting and just exposure of NCAA Division III men's tennis as well and it's just gonna be such a huge thing. We do live stats here every year when we host a coach and we get thousands of people tuned into that. I can't wait to see the numbers when we've got live video going on. It's very exciting, very exciting. But other than that, a great field again. Maybe one of the best fields maybe that we've had here we got eight to the top 15 teams in the country. Your first round matchup is with Trinity University. It's kind of funny that they were here last spring and they're always in this tournament. They're kind of like coming up here seeing the snow and then battling inside. Little about your match here. A little maybe a redemption complex on your sir side but it's a new year. If anything, there's gonna be a lot of energy in the bubble tonight. It should be a fun night. The five o'clock Friday match when you get a chance to host the indoor tournament here is just usually pretty electric. Yeah. I think there'll be a lot of people tuning in which is amazing. In the matches it's just a blast. I mean, last year's match with them was quite a thrill and being real close down the wire and really just sharing an exceptional experience with those guys last year. I think both of us, both of our groups of young men came away with a real appreciation for how special that match was. Yeah, absolutely. And our hats off to them for the run they put together after they left St. Peter last spring. And they're fantastic. I mean, they're deep, they're talented. They've added Krull at the top who's I think gonna emerge as a real force here in division three. And they're well coached. Russ does a great job and always has them really well prepared. So they're gonna be a real big challenge. Fortunately, we're gonna see them at home. And for us, it's really almost unrealistic to look at it as redemption from last year with the amount of changes in our group this year. So more than that, we celebrated what our group did last year and what they accomplished over their time. But this is a new group for us and we're excited to see them for the first time at the top national level here. A new group, you kind of kicked off the season. You had NAIA matches against NAIA in opponents division two opponents in Florida to start early at the end of January. Got a couple of regional wins last weekend. What do you like about this team so far early in the year? What's the character of this club right now? Well, I think we've got some guys back that have been in the mix a little bit. There's gonna be more asked of them in terms of where they're playing in the lineup and their leadership roles here coming up this weekend and this year, but they've done a really nice job so far of setting the type of tone and living out our values on and off the court and they're bringing the young guys along. And then we have a pretty unique mix of some guys that have worked hard for a couple of years and are gonna get some looks in that top group here to start off. And then we've got three freshmen that are gonna play in the starting lineup tonight. So to have them on this stage this early in their career is, there's gonna be a learning curve. There's no doubt about it. And we're just trying to keep them relaxed. I don't know if they'll ever have played in a match where they're gonna feel a type of excitement that they're gonna feel in the night. So we're just trying to keep them focused on the things that are within their control and have them enjoy the moment. And we're pleased with how they're coming along, but this is gonna be a big part of that process. I look at the field of eight teams in this tournament. It's kind of interesting. We get a really good mix. Some teams are built with young talent and veteran leadership. You look at a team like Johns Hopkins. It's got all veterans on that team. Look at a team like Case Western. It's all newcomers. So it's really, it's kind of cool to look across the eight teams and see what makes up these top 15 caliber teams in this tournament. Right, yeah. I mean, there's always a wide mixture. And you just kind of hope if you have young guys, they're ready to embrace the moment. I mean, I think division three is in a place now where the talent level is as high as it's ever been. And I think the depth, the overall depth of division three men's tennis is as deep as it's ever been. And so all of these teams are great teams. And, you know, I think their makeup will change a little bit throughout the course of the year, but the level is just fantastic. No matter what age guys are coming in, they're coming in at as high a level as we've ever had. And it's really, it's really a pleasure to have it all unfolding here in this weekend. Well, your team gets thrown in the fire this weekend. You know, what are you gonna be looking for? So, you know, wins and losses take care of itself. But you know, what, from a coaching perspective, what are you watching for this weekend? Yeah, I mean, I think this is the first time where you get the top level national dual match exposure and really the feel of those matches. Sure. And it's such a, the duels can go on for so long that there's so many ebbs and flows on a three court setup that you're really looking for the guys to stay composed. You're looking for them to sort of maintain a level of focus that maybe they haven't been used to needing to maintain before until this event. And really, I just wanna see them come together, play with good energy and experience these moments for the first time and really embrace them. I mean, I think more than anything else, just embrace the moment, enjoy the moment, be great hosts and ambassadors. It's such a privilege to have the event here at Gustavus to welcome all these guests into our home. And then as far as on court, you know, we'll look for their great effort. We try to be as positive as we can and hope for the highest level of sportsmanship. And if we take care of those things, like you said, hopefully the rest will take care of themselves. But to see our new group, everybody in a new spot this year is gonna be really exciting. And to finish off your coach, you know, a lot of the other coaches touched on it a little bit and how appreciative they were of coach Wilkinson of really establishing this tournament and driving it forward and driving division three. His presence still kind of lingers here. You can feel it, can't you? But it should be a special weekend. I'm for sure with his passing a couple weeks ago, it's a sad deal, but all these coaches here have so much respect for him. That's very apparent. And they just kind of wanna honor his memory this weekend. That's kind of the sense that I've been getting here. People have just been wonderful. I think one of the reasons why coach stayed in division three for so long was because he had such a deep appreciation for the community and for the friendships. And I think he'd be thrilled with the way people have come together. The coaches that are coming in for the weekend sort of spearheaded a commemorative patch to honor him that will all wear throughout the weekend, which is incredible. The ITA has created the Steve Wilkinson Team Sportsmanship Award, which will be a part of this event this year and every year moving forward, which is another just tremendous honor. And I think coach would be really thrilled with not only the level of play that we're gonna see, but he would be thrilled with the way people are treating each other around here and that we keep moving forward and keep improving and keep building on what he really pioneered and helped create. And it's the outpouring of support that we got from our colleagues in division three when he passed away, it was overwhelming. And people's appreciation and what they were expressing has just meant the world to us. Not only that they're honoring him and understanding that division three tennis really, he's one of the sets of shoulders on which the whole sport stands. Absolutely. But also, being there for us in a difficult time I think really speaks to the type of community that we have in division three and I think those two things combined really, really mean the world to us. So I still keep looking for him to come through the bubble or come on to the curtain on a practice every day and certainly for these matches. So this will be the first one of these I've ever gone through without him and you just keep trying to handle those moments as best you can. But he's definitely, if there's one building where he's at, he's in this one this weekend. Yeah, you can feel it for sure, coach. Well, if anything, this weekend we've got full weekend of matches on the docket. We got a couple of tonight with your squad going on. As a whole, I think this is just a great opportunity to fan for fans around the country this year to get exposure to division three tennis. A lot of the other coaches have talked about it a little bit, but this really emulates the NCAA tournament in a way, the format of it and how you approach the weekend. But if anything, we're gonna see some good tennis this weekend. You know, I think one of the things that's special is, you know, you have a lot of focus and I think most coaches will tell you we're all sort of in the mode of focusing on what's in front of you right now, who you're playing tonight, you know, what your matchups look like, how you want your team to be prepared and what you're trying to live out there in the evening or the morning here today. But from one step back, it's an opportunity to play three nationally ranked teams, you know, in a short period of time and learn a lot about yourself and see, you know, kind of where you stand as the season unfolds and how you need to improve and how you need to get better. And so I think, you know, once we get, like I said, one step away from, you know, what's going on in front of us right now, I think everybody really appreciates the opportunity and it's a long weekend and it's a fun weekend. It's a grind for every team, but I don't think there's any place any of us in division three would rather be than right here this weekend. So we'll all embrace it. It's a grind, it's action-packed, it's going to be long, but it's going to be fun the whole time. Thanks, coach, for joining me. We're going to wrap things up here from the Swanson Tennis Center. We're looking forward to get this thing going. Thanks again. Everybody out there, once again, tune in to Gustavus.edu slash athletics. There you're going to find a portal with every court, whether it's right behind us, the Dahlstrom court, the Jackson court, the Scansi court in front of us, the Colder court, Gibbs court, court six, which we dubbed the Wilkinson court commemoratively this weekend. But they're all going to be available for you. So tune in to the Gustavus Athletics website. That's where you can find those streams. Tune in also there. We are going to be tracking live stats so you can see how things are going, how the matches are progressing as well as the team score. Thank you, coach Valentini, for this opportunity. This is really doing it here. I think you hit it right on the head with that one. It's going to be a fun weekend. We'll take a little break right here and then we'll get things rolling at Swanson. Thanks for doing it. And again, just a huge, huge thanks to you, Ethan, and sports information and Tim Kennedy with Marketing and Communications, our vice president at Gustavus and Tom Brown with Gustavus Athletics and Matt Dobosinski, our own dobo with media services and making it all happen. I mean, it's just such a huge team effort and everybody's embraced the challenge and I think it's going to be a fantastic result. So thanks for all your work. It really means the world to us. Absolutely. Keep tuning in, ladies and gentlemen. We'll be back in a little bit. All right, ladies and gentlemen, we're going to wrap things up here from Swanson Tennis Center in our tournament preview, 15th annual ITA national indoor division three men's championship. Right now, we got going on right behind me is Kenyon College taking on Washington University. And also right in front of me, we got Carnegie Mellon going on or going against Emery. Those matches began at 1130. Later today, we're going to have Gustavus taking on Trinity. Johns Hopkins taking on Case Western at 5 p.m. Tomorrow morning matches began at 830 a.m. Then they go at 2 p.m. And then finally tomorrow night at 730 p.m. That's why it is such a long weekend here in the Swanson Tennis Center. Like I said, tune into Gustavus.edu slash athletics to find the portal with all the live streams going on. You can also find the live stats link there as well. There's also a live chat on the side of the YouTube page that you can tune into. If you have a question about what's going on here this week and go ahead and pop that on there, we'll try to get to it as fast as we can. Ethan Armstrong. I'm Ethan Armstrong, the SID here at Gustavus. I will be here along with Nick Homer all weekend. We'll be tracking the progress of how this whole thing unfolds. That's pretty much it for us today. To kick things off on Friday, we'll be back with another pregame show before the championship matches on Sunday, set to begin at 9 a.m. Thanks for listening and watching to the ITA National Championship here at the Swanson Tennis Center. I'm going to stay so long and tune into the rest of the courts the rest of the weekend. Thanks, ladies and gentlemen.