2014 Best of the Rest: West

Well, team. I’m not going to do a pre-season individuals ranking because I think it would be absolutely silly to try without knowing who the #1 singles players are from the various schools. Common sense would say that Wood is a lock from CMS, but if he plays behind Butts, who knows? Same situation for Lipscomb, Weichert, etc. Fret not, I’ll get back to it once we get a few matches into the season. I’ll throw you a bone though; Deuel (TU) is a lock.

I digress. Traditionally, the calibre of team in the West takes a precipitous fall after about 9 teams. The same could be said for this year with UT-Dallas bridging the gap between the two tiers. Barring some injury-fueled upset or a couple DI-transfers, none of these team will be sniffing the top 30 this year, but that doesn’t mean many of them aren’t moving in the right direction. Let’s start with #11.

Someone from George Fox
Someone from George Fox

#11 George Fox Bruins

The Bruins have steadily risen from desolation ever since Coach Ninteman showed up, but they seem to be following a familiar trend in the Northwest Conference. Every couple years, a new team rises to 2nd in the conference only to hit the wall called Whitman and fall back. They were definitively the second best team in the Northwest Conference last year, but they still got throttled by Whitman both times they played them. They lost considerable depth to graduation, and probably have a much better chance of falling to 3rd in the conference than dethroning the Squirrels. Chris Lilley (their #1) gave Whitman fits in singles last year, but their schedule is not conducive to him making individual nationals, even by a fluke, in the packed West region.

#12 Occidental Tigers

Oxy has already lost to Cal Tech this season, so I think that says pretty much all you need to know about this year’s Tigers squad. Let me repeat that, Oxy lost to Caltech. I was gonna use this space to talk about how either Dancu or Dancu/Howard could use some fluky wins over SCIAC opponents and sneak into nationals, but there’s just no coming back from losing to Caltech. Because I’m talking about Oxy, I have to say it: WHY ISN’T THIS PROGRAM BETTER THAN IT IS!!! (Side note: Caltech appears to have recruited some decent players to shore up their depth. They are most definitely not a threat, but I can envision a bunch of geniuses laying waste to the SCIAC in a decade or two).

#13 Chapman Panthers

Chapman doesn’t really have a lot going on for them. They used to be that independent team that could potentially sneak in Pool B if the stars aligned, but they’re in the SCIAC now. After Thompson lost to Pereverzin in the Fall, I can’t endorse any of their players as having an outside shot at making nationals with a straight face. What they do have is depth (relative to the rest of the #11 and below crowd) and a schedule chocked full of West region opponents. I don’t see them competing with any ranked team but wins over PLU, Pacific, Lewis and Clark, and Oxy should be enough to catapult them to #11 in the rankings. Unfortunately, there’s a darkhorse lurking in that group.

#14 Pacific Lutheran Lutes

For you young pups out there, PLU actually used to be a mainstay in the national rankings. Their downfall can largely be attributed to coaching and the introduction of the Seattle U tennis team. Anyways, they came out of nowhere last year to finish 3rd in the NWC, even taking two doubles matches against Whitman in their lone regular-season match. The Lutes flamed out in the conference tournament, however, and based on their ITA results, I think they’re gonna be bumped to 4th or 5th in the conference this year. They don’t have the schedule or the players to make any noise nationally.

#15 LeTourneau Yellow Jackets/ #16 University of the Ozarks Eagles

I’m not trying to be overly negative here, but there’s just not a whole lot you can say about either of these schools. I doubt any of them even know that this blog exists, because it really seems like these midling ASC teams just go through the motions. These two and Hardin-Simmons will trade places every now and then, but even if one of their players managed to beat a UT-Tyler guy, the rest of their schedule isn’t enough to push any of their players into the post-season. I’m gonna go hide the razor blades.

#17 Pacific Boxers/ #18 Willamette Bearcats/ #19 Whitworth Pirates/ #20 Lewis and Clark Pios

I feel like the people doing the rankings got to this point and were like, “there are a lot of NWC teams, right? Just throw them in here in whatever order they finished in and we’ll call it a day.” One word to describe the bottom three teams: stagnant, stagnant, improving. The Boxers are a different story entirely. They had been steadily improving until having a poor season last year, but they brought in some JuCo transfers to shore up the middle of their lineup. They recently beat DI Portland State (it’s always good when the #17 team in your DIII region can beat a DI team), and they have a couple stalwarts at the top of the lineup that should push them to #2 in the conference. Battaglia got the semis of the ITAs this fall and played La Cava (Whitman) close. He and Zuroske have beaten Whitman teams in the past. They don’t have the schedule to get any of their players into nationals, and they are dreaming if they think CMS will play any of their starters against them.

 

3 thoughts on “2014 Best of the Rest: West

  1. John McEnroe

    There is no chance that George Fox beats Pacific this season. GFU lost three of it’s top 6 from last year, and didn’t replace them with anyone better. Pacific did bring in impact players, and already showed their strength by beating Portland State. You also have to give the nod to Pacific from a coaching and development standpoint too. I think you should switch GFU and Pacific in the rankings.

    1. D3West

      I was using the actual rankings

  2. Jimmy Connors

    Somebody from George Fox in the picture is Christopher Lilley

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