2015 Season Preview: #23 UC Santa Cruz

 

Wait….why am I (D3Central) writing about a West team? I am moonlighting as a West writer in an effort to get these previews done as soon as possible! Anyways, on to the preview. Cruz is probably one of the most established teams in division 3 men’s tennis, or it was until Hansen left. For two years after Hansen’s departure Cruz limped along on the back of Bryce Parmelly, Hansen’s “protege”, but with his departure the team that had been so good for so long graduated almost their entire lineup and turned to an entirely unproven coach in Christian De Jesus Nazario. Given that narrative, last year was not too disappointing for the slugs. While it may not have been a season the slugs were used to, it wasn’t overly disappointing, as Cruz managed to notch a close win over Whittier, lose a war to Cal Lutheran, and even produce a couple of all americans at the Fall ITA. The most notable accomplishment of Coach Nazario, however, comes from his recruiting. By recruiting a couple 3 stars and a 2 star Coach Nazario recorded one of the best recruiting years Cruz has had in roughly a decade. The real test for the slugs is this coming year to see if their new recruits have the Slug magic of yore and the program manages to take an upward turn, or if it continues its free fall to the bottom. This team has already played a match against Santa Clara, but it wasn’t a full lineup so not much stock can go into it.

Key Losses: Eli Scandalis (1 Singles, 1 Doubles), Chris Goetz (6/7 Singles, 1 Doubles)
Key Additions: Chad Stone, Alexander Flora, Adrian Sirovica, Jason Vranek

At first glance the losses for Cruz would appear to be quite heavy losing their entire 1 doubles team and their 1 singles player as well as a senior at the bottom of the lineup. Truthfully the Slugs will dearly miss the team of Scandalis/Goetz at the top of their doubles lineup. While not the most consistent team they were very capable of taking some wins at the top of the lineup and with their absence Cruz will have to find some new doubles teams to take over, although Richter/Littlejohns run at the end of the season should help with that somewhat. However, the loss of Scandalis is not as devastating as it would initially appear. While Scandalis did push the lineup down for the Slugs he had a grand total of 1 dual match win on the season, and that came in the Occidental match where the slugs won 9-0. Given that if the Freshman can perform well this year Cruz could be not too bad off, but Freshman performance is always a big if.

#1 Singles Max Littlejohn: Littlejohn is a big question mark for Cruz at the top of the lineup. He started last year against Whittier beating Schommer, the projected swing match. Littlejohn continued to perform as the Slugs went to Walla Walla and he performed well beating Skinner from Trinity and La Cava from Whitman before losing to Dorn of CMS. However, after that Littlejohn cooled off somewhat although still pulling out a win over Nichols against Cal Lu and making a run to the semi’s of Ojai in doubles with a new partner in Richter. Littlejohn was relatively lackluster in the fall ITA this year losing to Massen who is slated to play 3 for Pomona this year. If Littlejohn returns to his early form of last year he may yet produce some wins. However, even if he does I expect Littlejohn to struggle somewhat at 1 this year, and if not I don’t project many wins.

#2 Singles Garrett Deguchi: Much like Scandalis, Deguchi can pull out a big game at times, but spent the entirety of his last year, excluding matches the slugs rolled against Occidental and Chapman, losing at his spot. I believe Deguchi to be a placeholder for the Slugs at the top of the lineup. He pushed the lineup down when he was needed to, but struggled mightily to deliver the goods at such a high position in the lineup. With a dismal ITA nothing seems to be changing and if Deguchi stays at 2 he will struggle mightily, but if he’s not at the top, he could fare better. For now, I think he will be at the 2 spot, but I could very well see him falling completely out of the lineup in favor of some unproven freshmen.

#3 Singles Chad Stone: It’s hard to guess where Stone will fall in the lineup given that we know very little about him as a Freshman, but if it isn’t somewhere near the top, I’ll be surprised. Although putting a Freshman at 3, and potentially 2 with Deguchi out, is certainly risky, I think the slugs will do it for two reasons. First, Stone actually had a pretty good ITA. He notched a win over Scott of Cal Lu before losing to Yasgoor in a close second set. However, after his loss to Yasgoor, Stone went on to win the Second Round Consolation draw notching wins over Bello for Pomona, Stanko for Whittier, his teammate Soper, and Thompson for Chapman. Second, the other options for Cruz just aren’t very enticing to be above Stone. He
beat Soper in the tournament, who has always been more of a bottom of the lineup grinder anyway, and while Richter could move up, his health is a big issue. Given Stone’s performance I think initially he will be given the nod, but if he can’t keep up at that spot the lineup may have to be adjusted.

#4 Singles Kyle Richter: Richter currently is another big question mark for Cruz. He didn’t play in either the singles or doubles lineup for the ITA and while injury is the presumed reason for this, his health throughout the season may be cause for speculation. Under optimal circumstances Richter will stay at 4, a spot he had reasonable success at last year beating Wilson of Redlands, Handley of Cal Lu, and Shogo of Whittier while also having close losses to Massen of Pomona and Perverzin of CMS during Ojai. However, if Richter has to move up to 3 due to either the absence of Deguchi or some Freshman jitters it could get ugly. While a competent grinder with a sizeable forehand Richter’s serve is a huge liability and at the top of the lineup I would expect him to do considerably worse than he did last year. If worse comes to worse and Richter has to go all the way to 2 I don’t expect it to be a pretty season for him.

#5 Singles James Soper: Soper was easily Cruz’s most consistent spot last year. He played six for almost the entire year and won every match excluding Pomona, CMS and Amherst. He did lose a close match to Slater of Cal Lu at the end of the year when moved up to 5, so there is some concern with how he will perform outside of six spot. However, given his ITA performance, where he beat both Chang of Pomona and Suchodolski of Redlands, I think there is a good chance Soper is finding some offense to go with his grind and is ready to move up in the lineup. One thing is for sure Soper will be in the lineup.

#6 Singles Sean Hollister: Hollister saw the lineup for a brief moment last year for the slugs where he lost in a third set to Trinity and a third set to Whitman. While not coming away with wins there was enough to get Hollister bumped from the lineup I’m giving him the edge over Alexander Flora because he’s had some match experience with some good teams where he seemed to compete well. Hollister also had a decent ITA, beating Burchett of Redlands. If Hollister performs well for the slugs I believe he could move up to the middle of the lineup, but if he doesn’t Flora is waiting in the wings as he is a 3-star recruit.

Doubles: For the sake of the doubles lineup I’m going to assume Richter is healthy. If he is, he and Littlejohn are an easy call at one with an impressive run in Ojai last year where they beat the 3 team for Redlands, the 2/3 team for CMS, and the 1 team for Pomona, before falling to eventual champions Butts/Kotrappa. Richter/Littlejohn also avenged themselves against Butts/Kotrappa in regionals a couple weeks later as the Slugs only point in a 5-1 loss to CMS. After that Hollister/Munagala seems to be a clear choice for the slugs. Both briefly saw the lineup in doubles last year. Hollister/Munagala performed decently at the ITA beating Whittier’s team of Farmer/Stanko before getting beat by Suchodolski/Jones. The win over Whittier is certainly a good sign, but losing so badly to a lower team for Redlands is certainly cause for concern for Cruz’s doubles lineup. At 3 doubles who knows. Stone/Sirovica performed decently at the ITA, but with Cruz only having a week of practice for the Fall ITA I would expect teams to shake out very differently for the Slugs than they were at the ITA.

Schedule:

http://www.goslugs.com/sports/mten/2014-15/schedule

The slugs definitely have an ambitious schedule for this year. The Slugs start off against some non-D3 competition, always a good idea, but after only a couple matches they’ll head off to Walla Walla Washington, everybody’s favorite destination location. They open the weekend against Whitman which should be an interesting match. So little is known about Whitman as their ITA is so weak the results are hardly worth reporting, but if beating Malesovas in the finals is any indication of talent, and that’s pretty debatable as his season at 1 last year was certainly not exciting, their Freshman are for real. I think Whitman is stronger with more depth so it may be difficult for the slugs to challenge and find five points to beat them.  Next up, Texas-Tyler is the slugs best chance for a win on the weekend. Texas-Tyler has had problems with their early results so I expect this one to be a battle and believe it will go down to the wire one way or the other. Cruz finishes their trip with Redlands, a team full of seniors and some seriously good players. I expect Redlands to win on their top of the lineup with Lipscomb, Wilson, and Cummins being pretty solid against whoever the slugs put up and on seniority if absolutely nothing else. Especially given Redlands electric doubles teams and high level of intensity I predict a smooth roll for them at the top, but a fight at the bottom of the lineup to make it another 7-2 loss for the Slugs.

Cruz then has three D3 matches before spring break against Cal Lutheran, Whittier, and Kenyon. The Cal Lu match comes first, and with the loss of Nichols and exactly zero additions, ouch, I expect the slugs to take that one this year. At Whittier I expect an easy victory for the Slugs as Whittier lost their best player to the pro tour, and their second best player to graduation. The Kenyon match should be interesting because it pits two falling programs against each other. The only question is if Cruz can be on an upswing as they hit Kenyon on a downswing. If Cruz takes two of doubles matches I think they could shock the Lords at the bottom of the lineup, but if Heerboth comes out big and Kenyon keeps it close for long, the top of their lineup should get it done. Kenyon has the edge no doubt, but Cruz could surprise them. .

Spring Break for the slugs is not going to be good times in Southern California. They start with Middlebury which is certainly an interesting schedule on the part of Middlebury. I guess if Hansen needs a warm up match for his new school, how better to do it than put a beat down on his old school. The Slugs then play CMS and Pomona. The CMS rivalry is long dead so don’t hold your breath for that one. The Pomona match could be near the bottom, but I expect Pomona to come out big in doubles on their home courts and then light the Slugs up in singles. All in all the Slugs should have a respectable season. As long as their Freshman are as good as their stars indicate they should be able to comfortably take out the other ailing teams of their region, Cal Lu and Whittier, and if they could sneak away with a win from Walla Walla or an upset against Kenyon they could put together a fine season indeed. However, I still think the Slugs are a ways off competing with the upper teams of the West that they used to be a part of.

I could get used to this West gig. It is much warmer and who doesn’t love the beach!