2015 Women’s Season Preview: #2 Williams Ephs

Williams

Quick Facts:

Location: Williamstown, MA
Coach: Alison Swain, 8th year

2012 National/Regional Ranking: #1/#1
2013 National/Regional Ranking: #1/#1
2014 National/Regional Ranking: #3/#2
2015 Preseason National/Regional Ranking: #2/#1

Twitter handle: @WilliamsWTennis

Intro:
First, incredible – Williams has won the national title for 6 years in a row from 2008-2013 before coming in 3rd place this past season.  After the third place finish, I think Williams is hungrier than ever to get back to being the national champions.  To do that, they will have to rely on 4 freshmen to buy into that sense of urgency.  They definitely have the talent to be champions, if they can get by Emory, who I see as their main obstacle to the winners podium.

Lineup Analysis:
Williams lost their top two players of the lineup in Shoemaker (1S/1D) and Elkins (2S/2D) to graduation but coach Swain has completely reloaded by bringing in the #2 ranked recruiting class in D3 according to TRN. Freshmen Raventos, Cancio, McDonnell N.D.R., and Gancayco will look to make an immediate impact on the lineup this year. Also making a big step up is sophomore Linda Shin, their current #1 player. She played #3 singles for the majority of last year and stepped up to #2 at the end.

#1 Singles: Shin, (9.96), sophomore
Shin, who played #3 for most of the year last year is more than holding her own at the top spot. She will have a tough schedule ahead of her in the spring as there are so many good #1s out there (Meighan from W&L, Rosen from Emory, Pavia from CMU, Rao from Hopkins, Kohrs from MIT, Gerger from Midd (if she’s healthy), Chong from Wesleyan, Ip from Amherst, Deb from Tufts, Akgul from Babson, Likhanskaia from Bowdoin, just to name a few. Phew!!) ITA regional singles champion. Lost to Chong and Akgul Ranked #2 in the region.

#2 Singles: Raventos, (9.43), freshman
It looks like she is the top freshman on this team. Played #2 in their fall dual match against Amherst and lost in straight sets against the formidable Sue Ghosh. Got to the finals of the regional ITAs where she lost to teammate Shin. Ranked #7 in the region.

#3 Singles: Pylypiv, (9.60), senior
‘Pip’ has been a rock solid competitor in the lineup for all 4 years. She has a somewhat untraditional game but it’s highly effective and her competitiveness gets the job done. This year again, she should be pretty reliable at #3. Lost to teammate Shin in the semifinals of the ITA regional. Has dominant straight set wins over Cooke of Brandeis and Kohrs of MIT. Ranked #4 in the region.

#4 Singles: Cancio, (9.30), freshman
Had a solid straight set win against Monteagudo in their fall dual match against Amherst. Big win over Fields of Middlebury at the ITA regional. Ranked #13 in the northeast.

#5 Singles: Curran, (8.66), senior
Curran, the other senior on this team, has also been a constant in the Eph lineup. At times she is vulnerable but at #5 she should win most of her matches. Has losses to Cooke and Cohen, both of Brandeis, and Orozco of Middlebury. Has a win over Adamo of Amherst.

#6 Singles: McDonnell N.D.R., (9.03), freshman
Also had a solid straight set win in the Amherst match. Lost to teammate Shin in the quarterfinals of the ITA. Wouldn’t be surprised if she got moved up to the #5 spot. Ranked #15 in the region.

#1 Doubles: Curran/Pylypiv – SENIORS! Ranked #2 in the region.
#2 Doubles: Raventos/Shin – Ranked #4 in the region.
#3 Doubles: Gancayco/Cancio

Schedule Analysis/Pool C:
Here is Williams’ Schedule:
http://ephsports.williams.edu/sports/wten/2014-15/schedule
9/7 beat #24 Wellesley 9-0
10/11 beat #3 Amherst 5-4 (down 1-2 after doubles)
3/15 at #17 Skidmore
3/24 at #20 Washington & Lee
3/25 at James Madison
3/27 v #11 DePauw
3/28 v #1 Emory
3/29 v #7 Carnegie Mellon
4/3 v #4 Johns Hopkins
4/10 at #14 MIT
4/11 at #10 Middlebury
4/12 at #34 Wesleyan, at Conn
4/18 v #3 Amherst
4/19 v #16 Tufts, v #13 Babson
4/25 v #6 Bowdoin
4/26 v #37 Bates
5/1-5/3 NESCACs
Obviously Williams’ biggest regular season match for this spring will be against top ranked and defending national champion Emory, who they will likely face again in the NCAA championships, unless, some other team can knock either of them off before the finals. I’m really excited for their 3/28 matchup. Unlike some of their counterparts, who are headed to SoCal for their Spring Breaks, Williams is headed south for the Fab Five tournament, I would think mainly to face defending national champion Emory. Looking at the UTRs for each of the singles match ups between Emory and Williams, the biggest differential in an individual singles matchup is 0.61, and that happens at the #1 spot between Shin and Rosen, where anything can happen! FYI, a UTR differential of 1.00 or less means that the two players are close in level, and should have a competitive match.
The other matches that have a potential of being close are against #4 Hopkins, #7 CMU, and of course their NESCAC foes #3 Amherst. #6 Bowdoin and #10 Middlebury can be close too, as they are used to playing each other.
Williams should get pretty routine wins against the other ranked teams, although those teams are bound to put up a fight at spots here and there.
Williams should be able to make it to the finals of NESCACs, where they will likely face Amherst. I wouldn’t be too surprised if Amherst takes this match, as Amherst always seems to bring their best effort during the NESCAC tournament. In any case, whether they win or lose that match, Williams should have no trouble making it to the NCAA tournament.

Williams Keys to Success:

#1. Getting the freshmen to feel the sense of urgency. Yes the freshmen on this Eph team are very talented, but to a freshman the road ahead can seem long and windy. For the seniors, however, this is their last season, and they need the freshmen to hone their talents and focus RIGHT NOW in order to win that team championship. The freshmen must heed that and seize the opportunity NOW because there are no guarantees.

#2. Manage and enjoy the pressure. When you are one of the best teams in the country, all the other teams are going to bring their best games when they play against you. Williams needs to enjoy and thrive in this position. If this very young team can embrace this pressure and take and work through a couple of hits during the regular season, it should pay off in experience in the big dance.

ALSO – we have an “interview with a coach” scheduled for the middle of March (to be posted on TRN), and are currently taking volunteers. If you are interested, please email me at d3northeastwomens@gmail.com

Well, there you go, I hope you enjoyed reading!!!! I have two more National Top 30 previews coming out (Vassar and Wellesley) and look for my preview of the Women’s Indoor Nationals to be posted on TRN!!!

D3NEW