2015 Season Preview: #24 Depauw Tigers

Overview: I am really starting to get tired of saying the same thing over and over again about the teams in the Central region, but Depauw fits the bill of many of the others. Heading into the spring, Depauw faces some tough questions as to who will answer the bell at the top of the lineup after losing two key seniors to graduation. I am going to steal the phrase D3Northeast just tabbed Trinity CT as in that this is a team “full of #4’s.” Sam Miles graduated last year after playing all four of his college tennis years at the top spot and classmate Ben Kopecky was always at 2 or 3 singles. They also paired at the top doubles spot. Depauw has been on the decline for quite awhile now, but still continue to overachieve in my opinion. Last season they were able to still compete well enough against the better teams (see Kenyon x 2) and have a great spring break taking out Whitewater, Carleton, and Colby as well as beating Denison twice to stay in the top 25. Doubles and depth have been the key and this season they still should be a doubles threat, but depth is going to be an issue. They were fortunate enough to pick up a D1 transfer, but he won’t feature at the top of the lineup although should be a great addition to doubles.

Key Losses: Sam Miles (1 singles/1 dubs) and Ben Kopecky (2 singles/1 dubs)

Key Additions: Dan Rodefeld (transfer from Bradley), Sean Carroll (freshman)

Lineup Analysis:

#1 Singles:Chris Bertolini, Sr. Anyone’s best guess can put together this lineup to be honest as they are all about the same talent level. Bertolini played behind two of his teammates on this year’s team last season, but since he was the highest seeded player at ITA’s and also featured at the top spot in their lone dual match in the fall, I would expect him to see the most time at the top spot. Bertolini was a good, but not great #5 last season. He will struggle mightily this season as would anyone else from the Tiger squad who plays #1.

#2 Singles: Eric Bruynseels, Sr. Like Bertolini, Bruynseels played behind some of the other guys on this list last season, but was placed above them in the fall so I have him slotted at 2 for now, but I don’t expect that to last. He lost both of his matches this fall at the ITA so my only guess is he was put at #2 in the fall to strengthen the rest of the squad. Can we say sacrificial lamb? Again, whomever ends up this high in the lineup will be well above their heads.

#3 Singles: Patrick Farrell, So. Farrell probably has the most upside out of anyone of the team and I honestly think he is the best player of the bunch. He had a decent ITA with two wins (one over Denison’s 1 Cempre) losing to Bhargava in the third round. Farrell was a good player last season as well so you would have to think he should be at the top spot, but Coach Riggle had him below both Bruynseels and Bertolini along with the next two guys I am about to mention which kind of blows my mind as to why.

#4 Singles: Dan Rodefeld, So. Rodefeld is the D1 transfer from Bradley. Bradley dropped their tennis program so he went looking for a school and landed at Depauw. Depauw has a big Carmel (north side of Indianapolis) pull as Berto and Farrell are from there as well. Rodefeld will definitely help this team, but I have a feeling it will be more on the doubles court and not singles. Four singles is where Depauw starts to pick up some ground in terms of competing with the more known schools.

#5 Singles: Matt Santen, So. Have I mentioned that I have no clue what this lineup will be yet? Santen was #7 on the depth chart last season, but yet was at 3 singles in the fall above both Rodefeld and Farrell. Now the good news is, he had a decent ITA with two wins including a big one over 4 star freshman Leung from Chicago and lost to Drougas from Case. Why do I have him at 5 then? Well I figured the average of last season (#7) and the fall (#3) seemed to make the most sense. Maybe I should just start picking names out of a hat.

#6 Singles: Alec Kaczkowski, Jr. Finally we have the biggest question mark of them all. I am going to assume that Kaczkowski was injured this fall early and that is why he didn’t play in either the dual match or the Depauw Invite. He did play at ITAs winning his first round, but lost to Putterman rather easily in round 2. Kaczkowski played 3 singles last season and wasn’t at all effective there so he would be better suited at 6 if Depauw wants to have any success. As I mentioned, Depauw has decent depth so 5 and 6 singles should be a strength for them whomever ends up there.

Doubles: Doubles should be a solid showing as it typically is for Depauw. As I mentioned, adding Rodefeld helps that significantly. I am unsure who will play 1 and who will be 2, but tandems of Berto/Rodefeld and Farrell/Harold Martin will be good teams. At the third spot, Eric Vanatta and Kaczkowski will likely find a lot of success. To me, these three teams are all very solid #2 doubles teams which means they should be favored in two of of the three doubles spots each match. They will need it for success as a team this season.

Schedule

http://depauwtigers.com/sports/mten/2014-15/schedule

The Tigers have a tough schedule and always do. In years past, they have had the horses to make it work. This year may be different. There are a couple matches that will be huge for Depauw to hang on to their ranking and not many opportunities for them to solidify their spot. They start off with a cupcake but then play Wash U and Whitewater on the same day. Riggle should play the B squad against Wash U to rest up the boys for the Whitewater match because they should battle it out on what should be both team’s second match of the day. Whitewater should have a lock win at 1 singles, but other than that it should be interesting at all spots. I would favor Depauw, but not by a lot.

Chicago will dispatch Depauw based off pure talent. They swept singles last year and are better this year with Depauw a bit worse. A big match against Swarthmore that will be at Kenyon should give the Tigers a chance to get a good win. I can’t say I follow Swarthmore too much so a prediction would be useless, but this is a must win match for Depauw. While Depauw had Kenyon on the brink last year twice, I don’t see it happening this season.

A spring trip to the southeast coast will give matches against NC Wes, Washington and Lee, and Mary Washington. The one region I have little knowledge on is the ASouth so again it is difficult to predict, but Depauw needs one win out of the three to even be considered on the national level.

They play at Denison in April in a battle between two teams that “used to be.” This match-up will happen once again at the conference tournament in the semis for whomever wants to lose in the finals to Kenyon. Both teams graduated their top two players and didn’t bring in much to replace them so it should be a close match that goes either way. I favor Depauw, but only by a little. Finally, the Tigers finish with Gustavus which should be a chance for them to rectify any bad losses they take over the season. It could be close, but I think Gustavus wins it keeping them in the top 25 (maybe top 20) and Depauw will fall out of the top 30 come season end.