So I have successfully pawned the Gustavus preview on to D3TennisGreek only because I feel like someone other than me will put in the effort they deserve. They are on a bit of an island being way up in Minnesota so I rarely get to see them play. Anyways, it’s time for me to write another article and I decided to go off of schedule and do Case Western. I don’t know what it is, but the Christmas holiday and all the cheer reminds me of Case Western. Does it not for you too?
Coach: Todd Wojtkowski (7th season)
Location: Cleveland, OH
Preseason Rank: 14
Twitter Handle: @casetennis
Overview: I started to write this preview with extreme skepticism as senior Vis Simhadri is no longer on the roster and that is a huge loss for the Spartans. Now this was information I was aware of long ago and I am not going to try to speculate why this happens. For a senior to leave a team it must have been something very important and I will just hope it has to do with his future career and academic interests. What I did just notice that intensifies my concern for Case Western is Andrew Komarov is also missing. Komarov was a key freshman that came up big in the late season matches. With no Simhadri and Komarov as well as combining the graduation of Will Drougas, this team will be missing three big starters from a year ago. Fortunately James Fojtasek returns after a year off due to injury. That lessens the blow, but not nearly enough.There is no doubt that Case and Coach Todd will put in the hard work to get better, but they are going to be up against teams with tons of talent and I am not sure if Superman Chris Krimbill can carry them all season.
Lineup Analysis:
#1 Singles – Chris Krimbill (Sr.) — What can I say about this guy that hasn’t already been said in previous articles. He is an absolute stud and a threat to win a national championship on both the singles and doubles side of things. With Warren Wood graduated, the field is wide open for singles and Krimbill is definitely on the short list of contenders. In doubles, he and partner Stuerke have a full year of experience together under their belt and made it all the way to the semis last year. They also will be a potential champion. Krimbill’s presence on this team will keep them in the national conversation, but he won’t be allowed a bad day at the office and needs to pull two points each match for the Spartans to have success.
#2 Singles — James Fojtasek (Jr.) — Fojtasek missed all of last season for Case due to injury and his return is extremely important for them moving forward. Like many of his teammates, Fojtasek is a work horse and plays a grinding style game that will only get better the more time he spends on the court. I expect him to struggle early in the year, but pick it up late. My only concern is playing so high in the lineup, he will likely go up against guys much more talented than him so they will have the weapons to beat him. But if they don’t bring their A game, Fojtasek will make them pay.
#3 Singles – Louis Stuerke (Sr.) – Known mainly for his doubles, Stuerke was an average #4 player last year. Moving up a spot is going to make it a bit life a bit more difficult for Louis. I have seen Stuerke play on multiple occasions in person and I continue to be confused as to why he doesn’t find himself in on the net more often. He can volley with the best of them, but yet sticks to baseline rallies with players that are better at it than he is. He is an intelligent player so he won’t travel in to the net unless it is on his terms which is the right move, but if he can develop a penetrating ground stroke that he can follow in he might be able to find a way to beat guys at the 3 singles spot.
#4 Singles – David Zakhodin (Fr.) – Freshman are extremely difficult to write about and I can’t say I got the chance to see Zakhodin play at ITAs this year so I can’t comment on his style of play. What I do know is he won two rounds only to fall to Oberlin’s top play in a relatively close match. As a three star recruit, I could see him climb up the team ladder by year end, but Coach Todd rarely starts freshman high in the lineup and I could even see him starting lower than this to get the big match experience.
#5 Singles – Josh Dughi (Jr.) – Dughi might be the most boring player ever to watch, but he can bring results because he just doesn’t miss. He really is a human ball machine in that you are going to see the same ball back over and over again. The only thing is they are usually in the middle of the court with the same type of spin and same type of ball flight. Dughi gave the highly regarded David Liu from Chicago all he could handle this fall in the Dayton tourney and last season took Johnny Wu to an epic three set match. Dughi is a match-up nightmare for a big hitter that isn’t on top of their game, but you only run into those every so often. Either way, “teach me how to Dughi” continues to be an awesome nickname and should have success at the 5 spot.
#6 Singles – Freddy Daum (Jr.) — My gut tells me that the six spot is going to be a revolving door between Daum and the three guys listed below. Daum had a good first round win against a high seed at ITAs so that is why I slot him here, but I think Kevin Dong will fight him for the spot with the others also battling. On a national level I am not sure whomever ends up here will have the success needed to win as a team.
The Other Guys – Kevin Dong, Phil Gruber, Adam Collins
Doubles – It is almost time to stop thinking about Case Western as a doubles powerhouse. There is no doubt that they are a doubles central team and I am not questioning Coach Todd’s ability to transform his players into doubles players. However, what I am saying is that this team struggled to be leading after doubles and found themselves down 1-2 often even to average teams. #1 is obviously a spot they will always be favored as I already talked about Krimbill and Stuerke being contenders to win it all. After that I have no clue who will play with whom. Having an upperclassman back like Fojtasek will help and other experienced players will get their shot as well.
Schedule Analysis
http://athletics.case.edu/sports/mten/2015-16/schedule
The good news for Case is the first 6 matches are at their home indoor courts of the Cleveland Racquet Club. The bad news is that three of those are the Indoor National Tournament and against really good teams. I think starting the season against Oberlin is a great first match as it will allow the team to get a win, but against a team that has some solid players. So they won’t roll them, but I expect a relatively easy win. At Indoors, Case comes in as the #8 seed and will play Wash U in the first round. Typically that’s a terrible thing, but their questions exist and they avoid Chicago or Trinity. The flip side of that is Case will likely fall to the Bears and have to play the loser of Chicago or Trinity in the back draw. Yikes. If Case can win the 7th/8th place match, it will be a successful tourney. I see a battle with Kenyon there.
The next set of important matches doesn’t come until the spring trip to Cali and really only the Stag Hen stands out. Whittier isn’t what they used to be and playing top D2 schools doesn’t get me excited. I don’t know who all is in the Stag Hen so it’s hard to predict, but playing Emory first is not fun. I would love to see the Rafe vs. Krimbill match!
The Chicago Invite has the Spartans matched up with Chicago, Coe, and then Wash U again. Again, I only see Coe being the win. Finally heading back to Florida for UAAs is always an awesome tourney, but it just seems that Case is getting lapped by the powers of Chicago, Emory, Wash U, and Carnegie.
Conclusion
Overall I am not excited about the upcoming season for Case Western. They just don’t have the talent that others will bring to the table. The fight and grit will be there and might sneak them an upset at some point, but it won’t be enough. Competing for 7th place at the Stag Hen and Indoors is not what this team wants to be doing, Krimbill will be a bright spot as he will earn many honors this season which might include a championship, but I don’t see Case qualifying for nationals as a team and likely could finish 5th in the UAAs!