Twitter: @USouthTennis
Coach: Conchie Shackelford (30th Season)
Location: Sewanee, TN
2015 National Ranking: 11
So I am the picture of inconsistency when it comes to blogging, but the fact that the season is starting made me realize I should probably finish up these season previews. One of the good things about being behind is that I’m pretty confident in my lineup prediction for Sewanee (spoiler: they’ve already played a match). Sewanee ended last year with a pretty exciting win over WashU before falling to Emory at NCAAs. The big thing that will hurt them is the loss of Bronte Goodhue. Sewanee added a few freshmen, but I don’t expect any of them to crack the singles lineup this year.
Lineup Overview
#1 Singles, Lindsey Liles—Liles will be one of the strong points for the Tigers. She played mostly court 2 last year, but her results make me believe that she won’t have too much trouble moving up a court. Her only two losses were against Satterfield and Iranpour. It’s a little troubling to see her lose to Gordon from Emory this fall (even though I called that), but I think Liles will step it up in the spring. She’s the senior leader of this team
#2 Singles, Clementina Davila—First off, Clementina is an awesome name. I hope Clementina wins a lot this year cuz I want to write about Clementina. Clementina. Just say it a few times. Apart from having a great name, Clementina seems to have improved her tennis game from last year. In the 2014-15 season she played towards the bottom of the lineup and, while she won when she was supposed to, had trouble against the stronger teams. Clementina got a tough draw in the fall this year, but the fact that she’s jumped up to the top of the Tigers’ lineup is encouraging. I would still expect Clementina to struggle against the top teams, but get better as the year goes on and she gets used to the competition.
#3 Singles, Christina Merchant—The more I look at this lineup the more I think Sewanee could really be sneaky good. I originally thought that losing Goodhue would kill them, but Merchant is another very solid player. Merchant has a year of experience at court 3 already. It seems last year that she was always on the cusp of getting a big win. Having a year of maturity could help her get over that hump.
#4 Singles, Maggie Crumbliss—Having Clementina jump to the top of the lineup is really a smart move by Coach Shackelford, because it allows Merchant and Crumbliss to stay in spots where they are more comfortable. Crumbliss played mostly 4 last year and, looking at these results, I’m starting to see a trend for Sewanee. They beat who they’re supposed to, but they really struggle to win matches where they’re the underdog. I do have to give Crumbliss a shoutout for winning the deciding match 7-6 5-7 7-6 against WashU at NCAAs last year. If Sewanee is looking for someone to step up this season, Crumbliss may be their girl.
#5 Singles, Taylor Childress—Childress is a little bit of a question mark for me. She played only a handful of matches last year, mostly against unranked opponents last year. I honestly think that Coach Shackelford is putting her here to push their 6 down. I’d love to see her prove me wrong.
#6 Singles, Annie Veron—Keeping Veron at 6 is a great decision. Other than Goodhue and Liles, she was the one spot that (outside of when they played Emory) that got some big wins. I think Sewanee’s strongest spots are 1, 4, and 6 and it’s no coincidence that two of those spots are held down by seniors (Liles and Veron). The Tigers will rely on them heavily.
The Schedule
Here’s the schedule: http://sewaneetigers.com/sports/wten/2015-16/schedule
As I mentioned, Sewanee has already played one match. They have an ENORMOUS weekend this weekend playing WashU on Friday and Emory on Saturday. A successful weekend for Sewanee would be a win against WashU and a 6-3 loss to Emory. Unfortunately I don’t think either of those things are happening. The next big slew of matches will be at Indoors. Indoors will be a very telling moment in my mind. Most of the teams participating could beat each other on any given day. A top 4 finish is very doable. Sewanee’s last real chance to make a statement is their match against Bowdoin over spring break. After that it’s their conference tournament and NCAAs. Realistically I see another round of 16 exit for the Tigers this year.