2016 Season Preview: #5 Pomona-Pitzer

Coach: Steve Bickham, 3rd year

Location: Claremont, CA

Preseason Ranking: 5

Twitter Handle: @defendthecoop, @sagehentennis?

Overview:

In the past, I’ve been effusive with my praise of the 2015 Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens, and I welcome one last opportunity to fawn. They posted 19 wins over ranked teams, 10 by a 5-4 margin to go with a couple more comfortable 6-3 wins over Amherst and Williams. They totaled five victories against top 10 teams and an astounding 13 victories over teams in the top 20. Moreover, they achieved this by shuttling a bakers dozen of players through the starting lineup against these top teams and dominating the doubles court. If not for a couple unseemly losses to Bates and Redlands and an untimely injury to Yaz, the season could have been even more special than it was.

In his second season, Coach Bickham demonstrated an impressive understanding of his roster, though he played with fire frequently. Without both senior captain Connor Hudson and Yaz in the lineup, the team was very vulnerable because they didn’t have many guys who could win at high singles. They didn’t lose many players from their roster, but the loss of Hudson is potentially devastating if nobody makes a jump and starts winning high in the lineup. With several of last season’s stalwarts missing the ITA to party abroad, and the freshman class introducing themselves to college tennis with a resounding thud, we really have no idea just how good the Hens will be this year. I don’t anticipate them repeating the heroics from last season, but they certainly have all the pieces and a nice schedule. This is definitely one of the teams I’m most excited to watch.

Lineup Overview:

#1 Singles – Jake Yasgoor (Jr.) – There have been grumbles about Yasgoor jumping to #1 singles for each of the last two seasons, as he has dominated at #2 and picked up some marquee victories over guys like Warren Wood in tournament play. This season, he’s likely to get his chance at the top of the singles lineup. Playing mostly #2 singles last season, Yasgoor lost just three matches (two to Butts and one to Yaraghi). This Fall, he stuck around to make a solid singles run at the ITA that ended in what I’m told was an epic clash against Hull from CMS. There’s not much else to say. Here’s a guy with a long history of success at the top of the singles lineup. He’s a gamer, and as long as he stays healthy, he’ll be one of the premier #1 guys in the country.

#2 Singles – Jon Kim (Sr.) – Kim is a guy who has been underappreciated for the last few years, but he has really been a rock for P-P in the middle of the singles lineup. He was a silent #3 to Yaz and Chuddy last season, doing just enough to stay out of the revolving door, and he is one of the better doubles players in the country. That being said, he was hardly winning consistently at #3 singles last season. He was far from being a weakness for the squad last year, but you have to wonder about his ability to move up a spot in the singles lineup and win consistently. He does have a lot of experience at #2 thanks to Bickham’s shuffling of the lineup, and I’m hoping he steps up his senior season to give his team a boost where they seem to be weakest (mid-singles).

#3 Singles – Graham Maassen (Jr.) – Honestly, it’s really hard to find a guy on the Pomona-Pitzer roster who I would feel really comfortable putting at #3 singles. For now, I’m going with Maassen. This junior 4-star was incredibly solid throughout his freshman year before getting off to a terrible start last season, losing 6 of his first 8 matches at 3-5 singles. After that, he found his groove and closed the revolving door on a couple of his teammates by winning 5 out of 6 at #4 and #3 including victories over Amherst, Midd, and Chicago. He didn’t finish the season especially strong, and I’m worried about him coming back from abroad and doing well with such a deep lineup full of players who would love to take his spot, especially given his history of slow starts to the season. BUT, he is the most proven player on the roster.

After those three, I’m not even going to try because we all know they’re just going to go with the Revolving Door again. I’ll briefly talk about all the players who will play in the bottom of the singles lineup at some point this season.

Anthony Bello (Jr.) – Big-match Bello is another member of what is turning out to be a massive final recruiting class from Coach Belletto. He showed his doubles prowess as a freshman and was a big part of Pomona-Pitzer’s success last year in both singles and dubs. Coach Bickham tended to put him higher in the lineup when he did play singles due to his large shots and he had a moderate amount of success with wins over GAC, Redlands, and Tyler last season. He was P-P’s #4 singles player at the end of the season. He will definitely factor in the doubles lineup coming back from abroad.

Sam Malech (So.) – Malech had a solid freshman season for the Hens last year and finished at #5 in the singles lineup. Of the Revolving Door members, he was probably the most consistent with big wins over UMW, Trinity, Case, Amherst, and Midd among others. His fall wasn’t fantastic with losses to Wildman and Brenner, but it wasn’t bad either. Expect to see him find a more permanent spot in the singles lineup.

Spencer Simonides (Jr.) – Another junior, Simonides is a guy with a big serve who earned a starting singles spot at the very end of the season. He had a very inconsistent singles season, but notched a big win over Weiss from Williams. I don’t see him in the starting lineup at the beginning of the season, as he returns from abroad, but he will almost certainly start in dubs, as he tries to work his way into the singles lineup.

Joshua Kim (Jr.) – Yet another junior, Josh Kim also did more losing than winning at the bottom of the singles lineup, but he’s another good player who most teams would be excited to have. That win over Arnaboldi from Amherst was nothing to scoff at. He too is probably returning from abroad, so, yeah… I’m starting to sound like a broken record.

Thomas Low (Sr.) – Low has a huge fan somewhere out there in the blogosphere, but his college career hasn’t quite lived up to that one person’s expectations. Despite that, he is a fine player. He’s consistent from the ground and may see some time at #6 this season if he worked hard in the off-season. He picked up a nice win over Patterson from Redlands in the fall this season before falling to a couple CMS players. I don’t expect to see him in the doubles lineup.

Marko Mandic (So.) – Marko Mandic started off his freshman season with a couple big wins, and I briefly thought that he would lock down the #4 or #5 singles spot, but he fell off midway through the year with losses to Bowdoin, Trinity (CT), and Tufts. He never managed to regain favor after that, but he earned himself a seed this Fall and did well with it before bowing out to Yeh. I expect him to start the season in the singles lineup at #5 or #6.

Kaylan Chadalavada (So.) – Chadalavada is obviously a guy known more for his doubles prowess, but he’ll have a shot at the singles lineup this year. Nevertheless, I don’t expect him to earn a starting job, but at #3 doubles, he’ll be electric.

The Freshmen

On paper, P-P had an excellent recruiting class this past season, with a 4-star and two 3-stars coming in from Minnesota and Texas. So far, they haven’t impressed. Chiu and Sam Gearou both went down in the first round of the ITA, while Josh Gearou (the 4-star) notched a couple wins before getting double bageled by Chase Lipscomb. I’ll call it nerves and look for them to improve in the true season. I actually expect Josh Gearou to start early in the year, though he’ll have a hard time holding off the returning juniors. It will be very interesting to see how these guys adjust to being part of such a deep and competitive lineup.

Doubles

As far as doubles goes, P-P has a wealth of experience. Yaz, Kim, Bello, Simonides, Maassen, and Chadalavada all started in what was one of the most fearsome doubles lineups in the country last season. That doesn’t leave a lot of room for anyone else. Kim and Yasgoor didn’t have a great fall together. Personally, I would love to see Yaz/Bello, Kim/Maassen, and Simonides/Chadalavada in the doubles lineup, but you know there will be a lot of mixing and matching involved.

Schedule Analysis

Here is the Pomona-Pitzer schedule

I just spent way more time going over the lineup than I ever intended, so I’ll just do a cursory view of the schedule. To be brief, it’s another absolutely brutal schedule. Between Indoors, the Stag-Hen, and the SCIACs, the Hens will be playing at least 20 ranked teams to go with a couple matches against DII powerhouses and a few easier conference foes. Indoors represents the best chance P-P will have at any sort of national title given their unfortunately geographical predicament, and I actually think they have a chance to do quite well. They’ve got some big servers on the doubles court and might surprise some people, but California teams never tend to fare very well there. I’ll reserve further predictions for when I get draws.

As always, they will serve as one of the Pool C benchmarks with matches against Bates, Wesleyan, Amherst, Williams, Middlebury, and Redlands. Expect a couple UAA opponents to find their way on that schedule through the two tournaments. I’m pretty sure this team is good enough to make Pool C this season, but only time will tell. The Battle on 6th street (volume 1) will take place on April Fools Day, so just a heads up to watch out for some goofy predictions there. Another important west region match is April 9th against UCSC. The Hens would be wise not to underestimate the Slugs this year, as they seem to be much improved from the team that P-P beat 5-4 last season. Of course, the Redlands matches will be absolutely huge, and I say matches because the teams always meet in the semis of the SCIAC.

Conclusion

Overall, I am giddy with anticipation for this Pomona-Pitzer season. They have a penchant for the dramatic. They have a ton of depth and a lot of doubles talent. They have ample leadership, but plenty of youth, and they have a ton of starters coming back from abroad, which always opens doors for new people to leap into positions of prominence. It should be a lot of fun to watch.

No proof reading today, guy. Apologies for any inaccuracies throughout the post