2017 Season Preview: #32 Lewis & Clark Pioneers

Lewis & Clark College

Coach: Patrick Dreves (6^th season)

Location: Portland, OR

ITA Ranking: #32

Blog Power Ranking: #39

Power 6 Rating: 65

Twitter handle: @lclarktennis, excellent updates

Twitter hashtag: #P10S or lots of variations of this including but not limited to #letsgoP10S, #nowP10S.  I also like #upsetbrewing for their #1 doubles team, let’s keep that up this Spring

Overview:

The Lewis & Clark Pioneers are coming off one of their best seasons in quite some time, taking out Cal Lutheran, Colby, Chapman, and George Fox during the season last year.  More impressive than all of those solid wins, however, was their 5-4 win over Whitman, breaking an almost nine year NWC conference winning streak by the Flying Squrrels/Blues or whatever they are called now.  The Pioneers ultimately fell in the semis of the NWC tournament to Pacific (second time they lost to Pacific last year), but this was a nice step forward for them.  Honestly, Lewis & Clark is probably a team I wouldn’t have even thought about previewing a couple of years ago, but given last year’s results, and a couple of recruits they have coming in this year, I think they are a team on the rise.  Let’s get right into it.

Keys to the Season:

Build off the success at ITA’s

The Pioneers had “unprecedented” (their website’s words, not mine) success at the Northwest ITA tournament.  Most notably was senior Michael Brewer making a run to the semifinals, taking out two-time defending champion Zach Hewlin of Whitman in three sets.  Brewer dealt with injuries all last year and to have him in the upper half of the Pioneers’ lineup would be a huge boost.  Meanwhile, the twins Brenden and Gordon Barrows made the semis of doubles as the #2 seeds.  Also impressive, and maybe most impressive depending on your outlook on life, was the fact that eight of the ten singles entries and four out of five doubles teams won at least one match, which is some impressive consistency for a team that will need it this year.  Coach Dreves’ squad should look to continue to build off of this success and positivity in the spring.

Improve at the top of the lineup

As a freshman, 3-star Raed Attia played #1 pretty much all last year.  He dominated the conference teams ranked below L&C but only won one match against what I would consider the tougher competition (Chapman, won in 3 sets over Brett Buford).  He lost to George Fox, Whitman, Midd, Redlands, Colby, and Swat.  Gordon Barrows, who mostly played #2, lost to Chapman, Colby, Pacific, Whitman, Midd, and George Fox as well.  The Pioneers had solid depth last year but really need to get more consistent at those spots to be able to compete consistently with teams like Whitman, and even Pacific, who they lost to twice last year.

Get more consistent in doubles

The Pioneers had some bright spots in doubles, including winning 2 of 3 in the upset of Whitman and sweeping George Fox in a 6-3 win.  However, the Pioneers mostly struggled, losing 2 of 3 or getting swept against Pacific, Chapman, Redlands, and Swarthmore.  The Pioneers had some good results at ITAs and need to continue to build off of those.

Key Additions: Jackson Powell (3 star/10.99 UTR), Brendan Adams (2 star/10.49 UTR)

Key Departures: Daniel Hahm (#5 singles), Kevin Ross (#3 singles/#3 doubles)

Projected Lineup:

#1: Raed Attia (10.62): like I indicated above, Attia won the matches he should last year and lost the ones he shouldn’t.  He has the makings of a very solid #3-4, but it was also just his freshman year so he certainly has the chance to take a step forward.

#2: Michael Brewer (10.13): Brewer played #1 as a freshman and sophomore and barely played his junior year due to injuries.  He had a heck of an ITA tournament so if he is healthy, he should be a top 3 guy.

#3: Gordon Barrows (10.81): Barrows at #2 had a similar year to Attia at #1, winning where he was favored and losing where he was an underdog.  This was a big step forward for a guy who played mostly #6 his first year, so I could see him improving even more this year.

#4: Harrison Collins (10.91): the junior who very well might be abroad this fall was a really good #4/5 last year, winning against Pacific, George Fox, Whitman, and Colby.  In fact, his only losses last year in season were Midd, Redlands, Swat, and the first Whitman match.  Collins should again provide solid depth this year.

#5: Jackson Powell (10.99): I could see the freshman Powell really playing anywhere in this lineup, but a #4-6 spot would be great for his development.  He took out freshman Alex Namba of George Fox in the first round of ITAs before falling to Clark Wininger of Pacific in R2.

#6: Brenden Barrows (10.14): after not playing a ton as a freshman, B. Barrows took a nice step forward into a good #6, getting wins against Chapman, Colby, Pacific, and Swarthmore.  Barrows will likely be in the #5-7 range this year.

Also in the hunt are freshman Brendan Adams (10.49), senior Ben DeLuca (10.87 but 38% reliability), and junior Kei Inoue (10.01).  All of these guys won a match at ITA’s as well.

Doubles has to start with the Barrows brothers, Brendan and Gordon, who will likely play #1 and are currently ranked #10 in the west.  They made it to the semis of ITA’s this year, and although their year last year had some bumps (losses against Swarthmore, Pacific in season, Redlands, and Chapman, they also had some great wins over Colby (though Carl Reid didn’t play at #1 doubles), Whitman, and Pacific at the NWC tournament.  In the hunt for other spots are junior Keane Hindle (played #2/3 doubles last year) and Jackson Powell, who made the quarters, and Harrison Collins who played #2 and #3 all last year with a mix of partners.

Schedule Analysis:

The Pioneers start their season in late January (take that ‘CAC!) with NWC play.  The biggest matches are on 2/18 against Pacific, 2/26 against George Fox, and 3/12 against Whitman, with second matches against Pacific and GFU later in the year.  A top 4 finish in season will get them into the NWC tournament, and ideally they will get a top 3 finish, thus avoiding having to face Whitman in the first round, unless they finish 1^st and Whitman finishes 4^th, which won’t happen.

What I really like about the Pioneers’ schedule is their Spring Break from 3/26-4/1, where they are doing a Midwest swing instead of the southern California trip of old.  The Pios will take on #8 Case Western (at Kenyon), #33 Denison, #11 Kenyon, #40 Oberlin, and finally #7 Carnegie Mellon at Kenyon.  This is frankly an awesome slate of ranked matches against a huge range of competition.  Denison and Oberlin should both be tight matches, and though the Pios will be big underdogs in the other 3, these matches will be a great experience for the boys and give them a chance to play free, get after it in doubles, and maybe shock the world or at least the Blog.  Coach Dreves has been really creative with his schedule in the past few years (matches against Midd and Colby last year, how often do teams in the Pacific Northwest play NESCAC teams in season), and it’s really beneficial to get out of regional bubble and take on other top teams from around the country.

Make no bones about it, I like what Coach Dreves is doing with his squad.  After recruiting a big group of 3 and 2 stars in 2017, he’s continued his solid recruiting with Raed Attia in 2015 and Jackson Powell and Brendan Adams in 2016.  Between this and his solid out of conference schedule, I think the Pios are going to take another step forward this year and play another big role in the NWC.