2017 Season Preview: #17 UW-Whitewater Warhawks

Coach: Frank Barnes, 15th Season

Location: Whitewater, Wisconsin

Preseason ITA Ranking: 17

Blog Power Ranking: 27

Twitter Handle: @UWWTennis

Overview

2016 was quite the year for the Warhawks, to say the least. Under the tutelage of THE Frank Barnes, UW-Whitewater amassed a 23-7 overall record, a national ranking of 16, and an epic upset victory over Kenyon. Their season ended on a high note, as they tied their best NCAA performance, advancing to the Sweet 16. But, graduation has hit the Warhawks hard. Barnes loses three singles and four doubles starters. This young and relatively inexperienced squad has already faced some hurdles. At the Midwest ITA, no singles player advanced past the round of 16 and no doubles team made is past the quarters. That said, Coach Barnes does more than make the most of the talent he has, so the fall might not be an indication of things to come.

Additions

Zach Wood (TRN: 545; UTR: 9.99), Lucas Monterroso (UTR: 9.64, 70% Reliability), Matthew Primozic (TRN: 886; UTR: 7.69, 55% Reliability)

Key Departures

Jake Humphreys (#1 Doubles/#1 Singles), Michael Treis (#1 Doubles/#2 Singles), Scott Butler (#2 Doubles), Matt Bisbee (#6 Singles), Michael Schnarr (#3 Doubles)

Lineup Analysis

#1 Singles, Rithwik Raman (Sr.), UTR 11.14: “Steady” is a great way of describing Raman. Throughout the past three years, he has consistently played at the 3-4 spots with a good amount of success. Sure, the jump from 3 to 1 is huge, and Rithwik hasn’t played top-caliber players on a match-by-match basis his previous three years at Whitewater, but if there is anyone on this team that could succeed at 1, it’s Raman. Rithwik didn’t have the greatest fall, taking seventh out of eight in the #1 Singles Draw of the Warhawk Tennis Fall Invitational and losing in a tight three sets in the round of 16 at ITAs to Gustavus’ Patrick Whaling (Projected #2-#3). But, none of those results are actually that bad. Whaling took out Coe’s #1 Brady Anderson by almost the exact score in the following round, and the #1 Singles Draw of the Warhawk Invite included some very, very good players. Realistically, I see Raman in the 10-12 range of best singles players in the region. It would be unfair to place higher expectations than that.

#2-3 Singles, Grant Thompson (Jr.), UTR 10.48: The Warhawks need to capitalize on the two and three spots if they want to stay in the top 20 this year. Thompson came in last season as a transfer from D-I Eastern Illinois and made a quick impact in the middle of the lineup. He went 2-2 against players from top 20 teams at 3 and 4, taking out Kenyon’s Nick Fiaschetti and Gustavus’ Mitch Elofson. Thomspon’s fall, especially at ITAs, met my expectations. He cruised to the round of 16 before losing in straight sets to top seed Mohanad Al-Houni (Gustavus Projected #1). The reason I project him at 2 or 3, even though he played above Zane Navratil most of last season, is because Navratil competed in the #1 Singles Draw of the Warhawk Invite while Thompson was in the #2 draw. Still, Grant was seeded 9 at ITAs while Zane was 10. Either way, these two guys need to come up big this season.

#2-3 Singles, Zane Navratil (Jr.), UTR 10.86: Navratil led the team in singles wins last year with a 23-7 record, and some of the guys he beat are impressive: Nicholas Paolucci, Tommy Entwistle, Jason Haugen (though Haugen avenged the loss at NCAAs). Unfortunately, Zane got upset in the second round of ITAs to Coe’s Evgeny Pakhomenko (Projected #6). The junior comes up big when he needs to, though, so I don’t expect that small stumbling block to follow him throughout the spring. I think #3 singles, regardless if it’s Thompson or Navratil playing it, is going to be UW-Whitewater’s most successful position.

#4-6 Singles, Rest of Roster: It seems funny to say that the rest of the roster is fighting for the 4-6 spots, but, aside from maybe one or two players, that’s exactly the case! I think six guys, including sophomore Rory Calabria, sophomore Brandon Dechter, sophomore Jimmy Engelhart, freshman Lucas Monterroso, freshman Zach Wood, and junior Matt Zurowski have a chance of seeing the starting lineup. I’d say all of their fall seasons were pretty even. That should serve as motivation and may make practices even more intense. I do worry a bit about how the guys at 4 and 5 will fare against ranked teams, but that is why the top of the singles lineup and all the doubles teams will need to come up big.

Doubles

With what looks to be an uphill battle in singles, doubles is of utmost importance. Here is my projection:

1. Rithwik Raman/Grant Thompson
2. Rory Calabria/Jimmy Engelhart
3. Zane Navratil/Zach Wood

I would not be surprised if I completely butchered the two and three spots, because again, Coach Barnes is probably going to do a lot of experimenting with his lineups. However, I would be surprised if Raman and Thompson didn’t hold the top spot. These two were the only guys on the team that started in doubles last year — Raman at 2 and Thompson at 3. The veterans did quite well this fall, taking 5th place in the #1 doubles draw at the Warhawk Invite and advancing to the ITA quarters before falling to a tough team from Carthage. Calabria and Engelhart also played in the #1 draw of the Warkhawk Invite and were a 9-seed at ITAs, which is why I have them projected at 3. Navratil and Wood fell in the ITA quarters to the Gustavus projected #2 team.

Schedule Summary/Analysis

Please find Whitewater’s schedule here.

I really like that the Warhawks have an easier February schedule followed by several nationally-ranked opponents in March and April. Last season, Whitewater scheduled tough matches right off the bat in early February against Kenyon and Chicago. However, that was a senior-laden squad with experience on its side. As I’ve mentioned several times throughout this post, UW-Whitewater doesn’t have that experience this year. Therefore, February will not only give these guys confidence and experience but also allow Coach Barnes to solidify his lineup at the 4-6 singles spots.

So, the Warhawks should have an unblemished D3 record heading into March. Then, they face a surging Gustavus squad in Minnesota. Until their last meeting, Gustavus had beaten UW-Whitewater every season for at least the previous 13 years. The Warhawks finally edged out the Gusties 5-4 last year, and you know the Minnesotans are going to keep that loss on the back of their minds when they face the Cheeseheads.

The one match I’m looking forward to the most is against Coe on April 30th. It will be great preparation for both teams heading into NCAAs, and at this point, they look evenly matched. From a UTR perspective, both teams have a Power 6 of 64!

Taking into consideration preseason ITA rankings, Whitewater will face seven nationally-ranked opponents. If they are able to go 2-5 against top 40 teams, the Warhawks should be very pleased.

Conclusion

Well, that wraps my season previews for the year. Surprisingly, I posted every single one of them on time. Anyway, I expect to watch every team I cover at least once this year. Who knows, maybe I’ll even buy gear to blend with the crowd. One thing’s for certain: I will continue to root for these teams (externally) when they aren’t facing each other. Let’s make it a great season! Go Warhawks! Go Bears! Go Spartans! Go Maroons! Go Gusties! Go Lords!