2017 Season Preview: #23 UT-Tyler Patriots

Coach: Joe Vann, 1st year

Location: Tyler, Texas

ITA Ranking: #23

Blog Power Ranking: #15

Overview: The story of last season for the Patriots was 5-4 losses. They lost 5-4 to Kenyon, GAC (twice), Redlands, Trinity, Whitman (5-3), and Claremont. They finally pulled out a 5-3 victory over Whitman in the NCAA tournament and were somehow rewarded with the #23 ranking for that one win. (Pour one out for the very last Bizot Bump). The story of this season, however, is the shocking and sudden departure of Coach Chris Bizot. Bizot, as much as any other coach in the West region, had personified the Pats for the last decade and a half. His absence feels to me more like the Hansen he-did-so-many-things-to-keep-that-program-successful-they-might-slowly-fold-over-several-years-without-him type of departure than the Belletto he-is-a-great-coach-but-lets-be-honest-it-should-not-be-too-hard-to-recruit-to-Pomona-they-are-going-to-be-just-fine type of departure. Over the last couple years, he had turned Tyler into DIII’s international recruiting juggernaut, and it will be very interesting to see if Coach Vann picked up some tricks of the trade from Bizot on the way out.

Key Departures:

Daniel Budd (1S, 2D), Frankie Fischer (1D), Jack Puckey, Jacob Van Der Schans,

Key Additions:

Joshua Vanwinkle (#325, UTR: 10.38), Ford Cunningham (#474, UTR: 9.58), Cade Navarro (#549, UTR: 9.92), Vinicio Hadlich (INT So. TR, UTR: 11.19), Marvin Greiner (INT, UTR: 9.56), Gabriel Hidalgo (INT, UTR: 10.50), Vitor Laport (INT, UTR: 10.02), Marco Miranda (INT, UTR: 11.53 33% reliability), Andres Perez (INT, UTR: 10.07), Daniel Rodriguez (INT, UTR: 10.51 57% reliability),

Lineup Analysis:

Obviously, that’s a large recruiting class, but only time will tell if it’s any good. Bizot brought in players from Germany, Brazil (x2), Mexico, El Salvador, Venezuela, Colombia, and even Texas this year, and there’s really no saying where they’ll all fall in the lineup given the lack of results we have to go off of.

#1 Singles: Arthur Fagundes (So., UTR: 12.21) – Fagundes qualified for nationals in both singles and doubles last year as a freshman, and started this season with a bang by mowing through the SW ITA without dropping a set. The Brazilian cooled off in Arizona, finishing 8th at the Small College nationals, but he still figures to be a force at the top singles spot this year. Look for him to improve his placement on his serve and dictate points with his forehand. His great defensive backhand slice makes him a nightmare to try to beat off the ground.

#2 Singles: Vinicio Hadlich (So. Tr., UTR: 11.19) – Also from Brazil, Hadlich played his freshman year at the bottom of the singles lineup for DI Jacksonville State. Entering the SW ITA as the #2 seed, he learned that DIII players are not to be trifled with, as he beat Clayton Niess (TU) in 3 sets before falling 2 and 2 to Chas Mayer. Nevertheless, based on seeding and fall results, he appears the guy who will be backing up Fagundes at the #2 spot this spring.

#3 Singles: Joey Fischer (Sr. Tr., UTR: 11.14) – As a transfer last season, the younger Fischer suffered some pretty devastating losses playing mostly #3 singles. He lost in three sets to CMS, GAC, Kenyon, and Trinity, often when a win would’ve given Tyler a victory. He finished the season, however, with back-to-back impressive victories over Gary Ho (Whitman) and Max Macey (CMS), showing what he’s capable of when he’s on. He didn’t impress this fall, but he figures to be a solid option for the Pats in the middle of the singles lineup and a force on the doubles court.

#4 Singles: Pablo Gomez (So., UTR: 10.79) – As a freshman, Gomez impressed at #4 singles. He nearly beat Paxton Deuel in the Fall and backed it up with multiple wins Gustavus and Redlands in the Spring. He struggled, however, after being moved up to #3 singles, which makes me think that his grinding game is more suited to the bottom half of the lineup. If they can keep him there, and he can continue to develop his groundstrokes, he’ll be a hard out.

#5 Singles: Daniel Rodriquez (Fr., UTR: 10.51) – The only thing I’m basing this on is the fact that he played well enough in the fall to garner a #9 seed in the SW ITA. His UTR is unreliable, and the only thing he’s done so far in college tennis is get smoked by Wilson Lambeth. Nevertheless, Tyler’s success has always been predicated on their ability to develop precocious talent, so hopefully he developed in the offseason.

#6 Singles: Jose McIntyre (So., UTR: 10.68) – Playing at #5 singles, McIntyre had a great freshman season, which featured wins over Trinity, Redlands, Gustavus, and Kenyon, but finished the season with a whimper. He started off this year by losing to Jordan Pitts (no shame in that), so there’s no word on what his form is like going into the season. One thing is certain, there will be a war for the bottom couple singles spots in Tyler’s lineup, as a bevy of more experienced players will be trying to earn their way into the starting lineup in the twilight of their careers.

Also In The Mix: Ryan Elwood (Sr. UTR: 10.88), Cameron McCarthy (Jr. UTR: 10.40), Gabriel Hidalgo, Vitor Laport

Doubles: Predicting doubles lineups is an exercise in futility, but it looks like Bizot was planning on putting the Brazilians (Hadlich/Fagundes) together at the top spot. Joey Fischer and Pablo Gomez were a successful #3 team last season, and they started off the Fall well by making the finals of the SW ITA and losing in a 10-point tiebreaker. Jose McIntyre was also an established doubles starter last year, so he will probably team with either one of the freshman (he and Hidalgo played together in the ITA) to make the third doubles team.

Schedule Analysis:

Here is the schedule

Coach Bizot put together a nice schedule as always, which I know you are perfectly capable of reading yourself, but I’ll point out the highlights:

• After starting the season with the usual mix of ASC foes and solid non-divisional competition, the Pats decided to forgo the usual California sojourn in favor of an Orlando slate featuring Stevens, Amherst, and Kenyon. My only gripe with the scheduling is that they scheduled Stevens (the team they’re more likely to beat) first, while they’ll presumably still be getting used to the conditions. A 2-1 trip would be considered a huge victory, but with Bizot gone, it suddenly seems as though we’ve massively overrated the Pats, and I see them pulling out a 5-4 victory over Stevens to salvage the trip and dropping the other two.
• A week later, they head to Southwestern where they’ll play both Middlebury and a rejuvenated Pirates team. The Pats aren’t about to beat the Panthers, and the Pirates are still a couple years away from Tyler, but it will be a good measuring bar for them.
• A nice neutral site match with GAC in Waco is a great rankings opportunity for the Pats on the 31st of March. Tyler will try to avenge the pair of 5-4 losses to the Golden Gusties from last season.
• Late season home matches in a now-traditional Tri with Trinity and Whitman offer a nice chance to pick up some key victories and bolster their late season strength-of-schedule along with their ranking. One potential side note: if Cruz doesn’t manage to pick up any wins this season and misses out on Pool B, the committee is likely to make a region out of CMS, Trinity, Tyler, and Whitman in Texas to save flights, and the winner of the Trinity/Tyler match would be the likely host. It’s a long shot, but worth mentioning. I’m also taking suggestions for a nickname for the Trinity-Tyler-Whitman Tri because the Triwizard Cup is already taken.
• In early May, the Pats figure to dominate the ASC championship like they alway do (except that one time, which we don’t talk about), after which they’ll most probably end up in the NCAA regionals in Claremont with Whitman and UC Santa Cruz. They are probably the biggest fans of Redlands and Pomona-Pitzer outside of Southern California because if one of those teams earns a Pool C berth, the Pats would be able to avoid a trip to California in the regional (assuming they beat Whitman, which, given recent history, is not a safe assumption). If any readers can’t follow my stream-of-consciousness nationals qualifications musing/way-too-early predictions, I don’t blame you. (I barely understand them myself). Feel free to leave any questions about the selection process/my sanity in the comments.

Conclusion:

Basically, Bizot had me drinking the UT-Tyler Kool-Aid, and we blogger probably ranked these guys wayyyyy too high. Their entire season is predicated on the success of their international transfers (who we know nothing about) and the ability of Fagundes to put the team up 2-0. I think they’ll have better luck in close matches this season than last, beating Stevens 5-4 and splitting 5-4 matches with GAC and Whitman, ultimately beating Whitman in the Round of 32 in California yet again to finish the season ranked 19th or 20th. Wins over Trinity and Kenyon could push them into the top 15, but it’s feeling unlikely at the moment. Their best case scenario involves either Redlands or Pomona-Pitzer making Pool C, beating Whitman, getting sent as a #2 seed to Wash U, and pulling off the upset of the century for an Elite Eight berth. They very nearly made a similar scenario happen last year, so I’m not discounting it completely.