Toivonen Creates A Huge Splash At ITA Regionals
ST. PETER, Minn. (9/27/14)—Welcome to college tennis Isaac Toivonen. Toivonen, playing in his first collegiate tournament, breathed a huge gasp of fresh air into Concordia tennis program as he advanced all the way to the quarterfinals of the prestigious ITA Regional Tournament held at Gustavus. It is the farthest any Cobber player has advanced at the regional tournament in the fall.
Toivonen, a freshman from Red Wing who advanced to the quarterfinals of the Class AA Minnesota State High School Tournament in the spring, did a cannon ball into the college tennis pool to start his career. He made the college tennis world do a double take all weekend long as he pushed the state of Concordia tennis forward with every match he won. In the end, Toivonen won four matches before falling in three sets to the eventual tournament champion. Along the way Toivonen dispatched one All-MIAC player, one seeded opponent and won three matches in straight sets.
It looked like Toivonen would fizzle out quickly in his collegiate first match on Friday. Unranked, and unknown, he was matched against Matt Baker from Gustavus. Baker went undefeated in singles play against conference opponents for the Gusties in 2013-14. Baker looked like he would continue that streak to start the fall season when he rolled to a 6-1 win against Toivonen in the opening set of the tourney. That's when Toivonen's collegiate nerves settled down and his raw ability started to take over. He started to track down all of Baker's volleys and hit winners from both sides of the court. He outlasted Baker 7-6 in the second set and then gutted out a 10-8 decision in the super-set tiebreaker.
Armed with new-found college confidence, Toivonen dispatched his next three opponents in straight sets. He started the trio of convincing wins by cruising past Kolin Kiekhoefer of Bethel. Kiekhoefer earned MIAC All-Conference honors as a freshman for the Royals last year. Unfortunately for Kiekhoefer he ran into the "new look" Cobber tennis team and Toivonen scored the 6-3, 6-1 win.
Toivonen then squared off against Andrew Hwang from Carleton in the round of 32. He sent Hwang packing in straight sets as well, securing a 6-3, 6-4 win.
Toivonen then faced his first ranked opponent in the Sweet 16. Unfazed by the rare air of being one of the top 16 players in the region, Toivonen continued to hit winner after winner and thumped No.11-seeded Josh Doyle from Macalester 6-3, 6-1.
That's when the region tennis tournament started to take notice of the freshman in maroon and gold.
"It was great to have other coaches from the different schools in the tournament ask about Isaac,' commented head coach Steve Futchko. "They wanted to know if Isaac was really from Concordia. They thought it was great to see one of our players advance that far."
Toivonen's opponent in the quarterfinals was No.6-seeded Motasem Al-Houni from Gustavus. Al-Houni earned MIAC All-Conference honors in 2013-14 after going 18-5 for the Gusties. Toivonen almost pulled off the complete shocker in the history of the tournament as he won the first set 6-4. Unfortunately Toivonen's fuel gauge was on "E" by the time he stepped on the court for the second set and Al-Houni showed his college experience by pulling away with a pair of 6-0, 6-1 wins to earn the match victory.
Al-Houni went on to win the tournament singles title. He won the championship match in straight sets over his brother Mohanad Al-Houni. Motasem Al-Houni lost only two sets in the whole tournament and one was to Toivonen in the quarterfinals.
Toivonen will now have to wait until February before stepping back into the spotlight in college tennis. He will look to lead the new breed of Cobber tennis players into season play. Toivonen will be looking to help Concordia improve on their 2-14 mark from last season.