Location: Saratoga Springs, NY
Head Coach: Curt Speerschneider, 10th year
Twitter Handle: none?
2013 National Ranking: #19
2014 National Ranking: #16
2015 National Ranking: #16
2016 Pre-Season National Ranking: #16
Intro:
Welcome to my season preview of the Skidmore Thoroughbreds! The Thoroughbreds lost to #1 Williams in the Sweet 16 in the 2015 NCAAs. Looking at their potential lineup, they look to have about the same personnel as last year. We’re looking at another very young team here, with no seniors and 1 junior in the starting lineup!
Skidmore plays in the Liberty League, where they have a very big (bitter?) rivalry with Vassar. Last year, Skidmore defied the conference coaches poll and won their 5th straight conference title amid a lot of excitement. However, this year looks to be a quiet year and more of a lock for Skidmore. Vassar graduated two of their top 3 players (and more importantly, their team leaders). AND, Christensen (Vassar #1), who started off her freshman campaign with a bang last year by qualifying for ITA Small College Nationals, looks to be struggling as of late. I’m not sure Skidmore will be able to do more than they did last year outside of their conference, but they should get a Pool A bid with little trouble, and if they can get to the Sweet 16 again, it will be a spectacular year. They do have one big chance to pull an upset in their schedule.
Lineup Analysis:
Let’s take a look at my projected lineups for Coach Speerschneider’s Thoroughbreds
UTR Power6 Rating (the sum of the supposed top 6 players on a team): 44
#1 Singles: Danielle Gianetti, sophomore, 7.70
Last year Gianetti played mostly at #2 and went 9-9. With a UTR of 7.70, she will struggle against most #1s on ranked teams, but will be a reliable player against her conference foes. She was able to get a straight set win against Christensen in the Morehouse Invitational this fall.
#2 Singles: Madie Benn, junior, 6.09
It looks like Madie was injured for most of last year and went 6-5 in various tournaments and a couple of dual matches at #1. She has had a lot of great doubles results, including winning the ITA regional with partner Fuca, so she should be a force on the doubles court.
#3 Singles: Brianna Greene, sophomore, 7.11
Greene played mostly at #3 last year and went 14-9. Again, this is a player who will be very reliable against her conference opponents but her matches against teams ranked above them might be a struggle.
#4 Singles: Michelle Fuca, sophomore, 7.29
Fuca played mostly at #5 last year and went an impressive 20-6. She and Benn also did some good work on the doubles court by winning their regional ITA and qualifying for the Small College Nationals this year. This might be the point in the lineup where Skidmore gets a bit stronger.
#5 Singles: Erica Meno, sophomore, 7.11
Meno played mostly at #4 last year and went 19-9, so a step down in the lineup might give her even more confidence.
#6 Singles: Zoe Chodak, freshman, 6.66;Caroline Finnegan, sophomore, 7.03
Freshman Chodak looks like she has had a good fall so far but Finnegan had a great season last year at #6 going 14-6. A little competition for the last spot in the lineup is a good thing!
Doubles:
The #1 doubles team of Benn and Fuca might be their strongest doubles point in the lineup. The other two teams may be Chodak/Finnegan and Greene/Giannetti but with the depth of the team coach Speerschneider has some room to mix and match.
Schedule Analysis:
Here’s Skidmore’s schedule: http://www.skidmoreathletics.com/schedule.aspx?path=wten&
2/28 at William Smith
3/12 v #1 Williams
3/18 @ #19 UMW
3/19 v #10 W&L
3/20 v #11 Hopkins
3/26 v SLU
4/2 at #21 Vassar
4/3 at CNJ
4/10 v NYU
4/15 v #8 Bowdoin
4/16 v #2 Emory
4/17 at #5 Middlebury
4/30 at #30 Trinity
Skidmore plays an interesting schedule, as they certainly get their chances to pull off an upset (Williams, Emory, Middlebury, Bowdoin, W&L, Hopkins), but they also play some dangerous teams that are on their way up (UMW, CNJ, NYU, Trinity). I think their best and most realistic chance to pull off an upset will be against W&L. As D3ASW said in the gloomy W&L preview, they graduated a big chunk of their lineup, so they are in a major rebuilding mode this year. Universaltennis.com has a neat feature called “Virtual Matchups” that can give you a quick look of a head to head match (singles only) between two college teams. Of course, the lineups won’t be exactly right, and it doesn’t do the doubles portion, but it gives you a general idea. I just did that for Skidmore v W&L and this match is going to be a close one! CNJ and NYU are unranked but they’ve been on my radar for the last year, as they’ve added some recruits and transfers to boost their personnel. So those matches might be close as well, although Skidmore appears to be the deeper team. The Trinity match will be critical since it is an in-region match and has implications for where Skidmore gets placed for the NCAA bracket. Trinity has very strong players at the top of the lineup, but their bottom 2 or 3 players might be a little outmatched. So this match will be a close one, in the hands of the middle of the lineup!
As far as conference play goes, I think the most exciting question is who will face Skidmore in the finals. This year, St. Lawrence, William Smith, and RPI all have a shot at challenging Vassar to a place in the finals.
D3NEW’s 3 Keys to Skidmore’s Season:
#1. Win the Liberty League. Unfortunately it does not look like any of the Liberty League opponents will be able to give Skidmore a run for their money. We’ve been able to enjoy watching a Skidmore/Vassar rivalry for the past few years, but until another team can step up, this year’s Liberty League Pool A bid will not be a nail biter.
#2. Play free against W&L. Skidmore can capitalize on W&L’s rebuilding year. Skidmore will have an extremely close match with Mary Washington the day before. It’s important that they do everything they can to recover physically and mentally to be able to play this match 100%. W&L, however, does not have a match the day before so they might be the fresher team.
#3. Beware the trap matches – #19 UMW (UTR 45), CNJ (UTR 39), NYU (UTR 40), #30 Trinity (UTR 42). I am actually pretty excited to see how the Trinity match goes down!!
Over and out,
NEW