2015 Women’s Season Preview: #14 MIT Engineers

MIT

Quick Facts:

Location: Cambridge, MA
Coach: Carol Matsuzaki, 17th year

2012 National/Regional Ranking: #30/#13
2013 National/Regional Ranking: #23/#8
2014 National/Regional Ranking: #13/#5
2015 Preseason National/Regional Ranking: #14/#6

Twitter handle: @MITWTennis

Intro:

The Engineers of MIT are definitely a team on the rise.  In my last preview I talked about teams staying in a range of rankings for a period of time.  MIT, on the other hand, has made big moves up in the last 4 years, from the bottom of the national rankings (#30) in 2012, all the way up to #14 currently.  How did they do this, and can they sustain this? Can they make that next move up? All riveting questions.
First, how did they do this? – Division 3 teams like MIT (good/rigorous academic/research schools) have seen a rise in the quality of recruiting in the past 4-5 years, as more recruits are choosing to go to schools and play on teams that can give them the best of both worlds – a high quality education and a fully engaging, highly competitive athletic experience. It is clear that this has played a big part in MIT’s recruiting classes, as Coach Carol has brought in the #7, #6, #5, and #8 ranked recruiting classes according to TRN these past 4 years. Secondly, can they sustain this? – with hard work, yes, as I don’t see a lot of recruits turning down the MIT opportunity. On another note, it will take a few years but Caltech is probably next on this trend! But I digress…
Thirdly, can they make the next move up and how? I’ll answer that question in my final section of the article, ‘MIT Keys to Success.’
Anyway, MIT plays in the NEWMAC Conference, which has a couple of other nationally ranked teams (#13 Babson, #24 Wellesley), but aside from those three teams the other teams in the conference are not quite at that level. The NEWMAC Conference also plays their conference matches and championship tournament in the fall, which forces teams like MIT to play a full fall and a full spring season. Here are the relevant matches they played last spring and this past fall, as well as how doubles went, as I’m always curious as to how doubles goes:
Spring 2014:
lost to #3 Amherst 0-9, 0-9, 0-5
lost to #10 Midd 2-7 (down 1-2 after doubles; close loss at #2 in a breaker)
beat #37 Bates 9-0
beat #18 Trinity 7-2 (up 3-0 after doubles)
lost to #2 Williams 0-9
beat #30 Vassar 8-1 (up 2-1 after doubles)
beat #25 Brandeis 8-1 (up 2-1 after doubles)
Fall 2014:
beat #24 Wellesley 8-1 (up 2-1 after doubles)
beat #13 Babson 5-4 (down 1-2 after doubles)
beat #16 Tufts 5-4 (up 2-1 after doubles)
lost to #13 Babson 4-5 (up 2-1 after doubles)
Looking at their Spring 2014 results, they are dominating over teams ranked in the 20s but are being dominated by the perennial NE powerhouses Amherst (3x!), Williams, and Middlebury. Against those powerhouse teams, they did show some bright spots in doubles but the singles weren’t too close. In order to get to the next step, MIT needs to keep up the work in doubles but they just need 1 or 2 people at the top of the singles lineup to step up to beef up the top 2-3 spots. This year they are deep enough at the 4-6 spots.
Looking at their Fall 2014 results, 2 things stand out to me: their 4-5 loss to Babson in the NEWMAC Championships, giving Babson the coveted AQ to the NCAA Championships. It looks like Babson is a legit team this year and the fact that these two teams played to 5-4 decisions twice(!) is incredible and shows how close these 2 teams are!!
The other important result, which may have gotten overlooked because it is an out of conference match, is the 5-4 victory over Tufts. This MAY very well wind up being a key result in determining Pool C teams. And wow look at these scores: http://www.mitathletics.com/sports/w-tennis/2014-15/files/mitw1008.htm
MIT again did good work in doubles but those singles scores at #1-#4!!!!!  Looks like it came down to the last match on court with freshman Tzeng at #4 clinching the team win.  It is looking like the Engineers and the Jumbos have a good cross town rivalry going as of late (Tufts dominated this matchup for a number of years).  And speaking of the Jumbos, I’m going to mention this as many times as possible in my articles – that Tufts v LaVerne match may wind up being a big one to determine Pool C.

Lineup Analysis:

MIT lost Quisenberry (#1 singles, #1 doubles) and Hsu (#5 singles, #1 doubles) to graduation, which are pretty big losses, as they were in the starting lineup and a big presence on the team for 4 years. But MIT brought in a big and talented (#8 on TRN) recruiting class in Das (#3 singles, #2 doubles), C. Liu (#5 singles), Tzeng (#6 singles, #3 doubles), R. Liu, and Kim.

#1 Singles: Kohrs (8.63), sophomore
Kohrs had an outstanding freshman year, making it to the NCAA singles tournament and earning All American status by getting wins over Madrigal (LaVerne) and Goodhue (Sewanee) before bowing out to Clark (Emory) in the quarterfinals. Currently ranked #11 in the region, behind all the freshmen.

From #2 to #6, below is the lineup they went with for the fall but looking at the Tufts match singles lineup (in which Tam and Liu are missing) it looks like Coach Carol can go with any order of these players.

#2 Singles: Tam, (7.70), junior
Tam or whoever plays #2 needs to step up and play big. MIT starts to get the advantage over most teams starting at #4 singles, so the #2 and #3 spots will be key in getting wins over top teams. #1 should always be competitive.

#3 Singles: Das (8.04), freshman
See #2

#4 Singles: W. Kong (7.30), sophomore
As I mentioned above, this is the spot where MIT starts to gain the upper hand against most teams. They are deep this year and this should help them in the matches against top teams.

#5 Singles: C. Liu (7.79), freshman
Looks like she missed a few matches in the fall (injury?) but the dual matches she did play in were no contest.

#6 Singles: Tzeng (8.11), freshman
Biggest match of the fall was the win at #4 vs. Tufts. Otherwise dominated in dual matches.

It’s hard to tell from the results since MIT plays a lot of weak teams in their conference but they seem to do well in doubles. In their fall dual matches they were down 1-2 in doubles once (v Babson) and were up 3-0 six times and up 2-1 three times.
#1 Doubles: Kohrs/Tam – ranked #8 in the region
#2 Doubles: Das/Dutt – ranked #14 in the region
#3 Doubles: Tzeng/Lai

Schedule Analysis/Pool C:

Here is MIT’s schedule, including relevant matches played in the fall:
Schedule: http://www.mitathletics.com/sports/w-tennis/2014-15/schedule
9/13 #24 Wellesley 8-1
9/23 #14 Babson 5-4
10/8 at #16 Tufts 5-4
10/26 at #13 Babson 4-5
3/7 #3 Amherst
3/13 #25 Brandeis
3/22 vs. RPI @ Claremont, CA
3/23 vs. #12 Chicago @ Claremont, CA
3/24 at #5 CMS
3/26 at #9 Pomona
4/4 at #6 Bowdoin
4/10 #2 Williams
4/18 #30 Vassar

MIT’s spring starts with 2 ranked teams in the northeast, Amherst and Brandeis. Amherst, although they are a totally different team from last year, having graduated their #1-#4, has reloaded, and should take care of MIT. Brandeis got stronger at the top with a strong freshman (Cohen) playing #2, but they really fall off from #3 on, which plays into one of MIT’s strengths.
Then MIT plays 4 matches for their spring break trip to California, starting with a match against fellow northeast and Engineer team, RPI. MIT should take that match handily but the next 3 matches (Chicago, CMS, Pomona) are a strong stretch of matches for them. Coming back to Cambridge with a win in any one of those three matches would be a great spring break trip for MIT.
Then they finish off the season against 3 more nationally ranked teams. Williams looks to have the upper hand in that match but Bowdoin can get interesting if MIT can put together a good day. Vassar is going to finish much higher than their current #30 ranking so that match will be close as well.
A lot of good matches lined up, and players will need to let their racquets do the talking.
As far as Pool C goes, MIT’s fate is unclear right now. They have a solid spring schedule with a lot of opportunities but no guarantees. If indeed Pool C goes down to 8 teams for the women, currently MIT has the last Pool C spot. Getting a win over Chicago (who currently have the 7th Pool C spot) would give them insurance. If Pool C stays at 9 spots then I think Tufts will overtake LaVerne for that spot! btw, anyone know whether we are at 8 teams or 9 teams for Pool C this year??

MIT Keys to Success:

#1. Depth – MIT’s depth will be an important factor in keeping this team competitive in matches where they weren’t last year. Against teams they should win against, their depth will keep the match from getting messy, so to speak.
#2. Doubles – MIT needs to keep up the good work and confidence in doubles.
#3. How do they take that next step up – MIT has been taking a lot of steps in the right direction in order to consistently beat teams ranked in the 20s these past couple of years. In order to take that next big step, more than anything, they need to win that ONE MATCH against a team ranked above them. One season defining match that can give them the confidence to catapult them to the next level. This year that one match can happen against Chicago, Pomona, CMS, or Bowdoin.

Well, there you go, I hope you enjoyed reading!!!!

D3NEW