Happy Wednesday, boys and girls. We’re rapidly approaching the end of the fall season, but before we hit the firework encore this weekend with the ITA Cup and the Tufts/Brandeis Invite, we’re here to look back on the weekend that was. Bates hosted the annual Wallach Tournament, and the field was as solid as always, with a nice range of top-25 and regional teams. In fact, this year they had an even larger turnout than usual, with 9 teams in the field, meaning most flights had a couple of play-in matches in order to set the field of 16. NewRegional and I will go team by team to breakdown the action.
#2 BOWDOIN (regional ranking: #2)
The Good: Almost everybody won at least a match in each draw, guys who are probably Bowdoin’s 3 & 4 at best each won multiple rounds in the A-Flight, they won the B-Flight doubles, and won the C-Flight singles, seeing some nice improvement from Alan Delman with a couple big Sunday wins over talented freshmen from Amherst and Tufts, staking himself as a potential #6 candidate for the Polar Bears.
The Meh: Evan Fortier didn’t have a great weekend. Although he had something of a tough draw, the California freshman was the only Polar Bear not to win a match this weekend. Fortier was still playing with Zhao, and the pair was coming off a QF-finish at ITAs. They are still the front runners to play in Bowdoin’s doubles lineup this spring, but pending Urken’s return everything could get a little messy.
One important takeaway: Justin Wang continues to show he will be a force this spring. The sophomore didn’t really play last year, but after winning the doubles ITA with Jerry, he backed it up by making the semis of the A-Fight dubs AND (almost certainly more impressively) the A-Flight singles. Wang played singles at the ITA, winning a 1st round 0&0, but got smoked by Farrell in the 2nd round. This weekend he beat Williamson (projected Skid #1-3), Sean Wei (projected Amherst #1-2), and Nathan Niemiec (projected Tufts #2-5) before eventually losing to Altmeyer (projected Colby #1). Those kind of results, on top of a very strong ITA, show that Wang has grown and should be able to contribute to both sides of the lineup, making Bowdoin that much more potent.
#7 AMHERST (regional ranking #5)
The Good: Like Bowdoin (and perhaps even more so), the Mammoths showed why they are ranked a full tier above any other teams in this field. They really dominated the singles draws, netting a finalist in A, the winner and a semifinalist in B, two semifinalists in C, and both finalists in D. It’s especially encouraging that the three freshmen all had solid tournaments and weren’t caught “looking ahead” to next weekend. Last year, after Kaplan and Hillis were out of the starting lineup, Amherst struggled to find consistency at the bottom of the lineup, this year they may have the opposite problem!
The Meh: A very surprising Sean Wei performance earns the definition of “meh.” The overall #1 seed was bounced in the 1st round by Justin Wang from Bowdoin. Wei had a good ITA, even though most of the matches were something of an emotional rollercoaster. I am very interested to see whether the sophomore bounces back in Boston next weekend, or if he falls flat once again.
One important takeaway: Amherst is going to be deep. As I said in the “good” section, Amherst’s issue in 2019 won’t be a lack of depth, but rather how to manage it. We’ve seen that a revolving door can sometimes work, but most times breeds contempt. That being said, it should drive some good competition and encourage everybody to work hard during the winter, and it’s a problem that any coach would vastly prefer to the alternative!
#22 TUFTS (regional ranking #8)
Sleeeeeepppppover!!!!!! #grit pic.twitter.com/5xY6w1TR1v
— Tufts Men’s Tennis (@TuftsMensTennis) October 7, 2018
The Good: Jack Moldenhauer, the freshman from Colorado, was the only Jumbo to advance past the semifinals, getting to the finals of the C-Flight singles draw before losing to Alan Delman. We hadn’t seen much of Moldenhauer yet, as he won one match at Midd before losing to Kogan in a super and then didn’t play at the ITA. Overall, a nice fall from a recruit I didn’t know much about. While not much else from Tufts’ weekend on the court merits mention here, their camping trip looked awesome!
The Meh: It’s unfair to say that pretty much the rest of the Jumbos’ weekend was meh, but that’s how I’m feeling right now. Yes, Hereford and Grant won a couple matches in the A-Flight doubles draw, and so did Kamin/Pantousis in the B-Flight doubles. Most other Tufts guys did win at least one round of singles, but for a team looking to prove they belonged in the upper-echelon of teams at the tournament, it was a resounding meh. One thing to note, Sorkin did not play this weekend. Let’s hope it was just a matter of dates, and that he is fully healthy heading into the ITA Cup this weekend.
One important takeaway: I usually try not to put too much stock into fall results, but I’m always intrigued by Coach Gregor’s lineup swaps. He moves guys around more than most coaches, and I think in general that’s the philosophy that, if properly bought into by your team, will yield the best results. Niko Hereford played B-Flight doubles at Midd, didn’t play at the ITA, and was play A-Flight dubs at Bates. Zach Shaff played B-Flight singles at Midd, but was nowhere to be found this weekend. Owen Barok played C-Flight at Midd, but like Shaff didn’t play at all in Maine. Ethan Bershtein didn’t play singles at Midd, but played C-Flight at Bates. Even Nathan Niemiec, who was a started last year, didn’t play singles at Midd, but played A-Flight this weekend. Look for Coach Gregor to continue to give his guys plenty of chances to earn their places in the starting lineup.
#24 BATES (regional ranking #7)
The Good: This was actually a little tough to find, which is surprising given that Bates usually puts 3-4 guys in each flight meaning they all play up a level, but that was not the case this year. The only player to win a singles match was freshman Wilder Geier, which is an amazing name for multiple reasons. 1) Wilder…nuff said. 2) That surname still carries some weight around the DIII landscape. Before you get too excited that Bates scored Lil Geier, who also happens to be from Ohio, let’s take a deep breath and remember that Sam was from Indiana. Wilder won one singles match, and both of Bates’ A-Flight doubles teams also won one match, one over Wheaton and one over Colby.
The Meh: Most everything else? If I have to chose I’ll go with the A-Flight singles. Wernink looked very promising at Midd earlier this fall, but fell in the first round to Yang (projected Bowdoin #3-4). Quijano has played near the top of Bates’ lineup for a couple years now, and is one of the team’s emotional leaders. He seems to always push good players, but comes up just short a lot, as he did again this weekend against Das (projected Brandeis #2-5). Both Bates players are talented, and will likely play in the top 3 this year for the Bobcats, but are going to need stronger results in the spring if Bates is going to compete with the conferences top teams.
One important takeaway: Bates has work to do this offseason if they are going to prove me wrong and make NESCACs again. Believe me, nothing makes me happier than somebody taking Blog articles as inspiration. It’s why the phrase “Bulletin Board Material” is still often tossed around our blogger group chat. The Bobcats have multiple contributors abroad or away from the team right now, but without the ascension of a newcomer to fill in for Rosen’s bankable point(s) at the top of the lineups, it’s could be tough sledding for Bates against the top of the conference this year.
NEWRegional: One of my favorite tournaments of the fall, the Wallach always makes for great tennis and provides a balanced draw where Regional teams often find success. The last two years have seen Aizenberg/Coramutla (Brandeis) and Reid/Murad (Colby) winning the A doubles draw, and I’m happy to see that tradition continue with players from my teams winning the A flight in both singles and dubs! Let’s get into it with some of my Regional teams.
#21 BRANDEIS (regional ranking #6)
The Good: Another weekend, another doubles team from Deis stepping up. Congrats to Jeff Chen and Tyler Ng on the A flight doubles title! It certainly wasn’t an easy road to the title as the pair took out Fung/Ruparel (Amherst), Davis/Quijano (Bates), ITA Champs Wang/Jiang (Bowdoin) before taking out Wei/Bessette (Amherst) in the finals. As Northeast mentioned on Twitter, this is a team that could very well be playing #3 this spring…must be nice. In singles play, Nikhil Das continued his stellar fall with a 3-set win over Josh Quijano (Bates #1-2) before falling to eventual winner Scott Altmeyer (Colby #1). Also in A singles play, Anupreeth Coramutla took out Sumukh Pathi (Colby #2) in 3 sets before falling to Ma (Amherst #2). I think we’re going to see a lot of different singles lineups from the Judges this spring, and these guys really could play anywhere in the lineup, so seeing them take close wins over top players for regional competitors is a sign of good things to come. Jeff Chen complemented his doubles performance by making the semis of the B flight singles draw, beating Zhao (Bowdoin) along the way, before falling to Bessette in 3 sets.
The Meh: Lower flight singles could have been a little more successful. Rajan Vohra lost in 3 to Fung in B singles, Ng lost in 3 to Ruparel in C singles, and Wolfe lost in 3 to Carstens (Bowdoin) in D singles. Three set losses (particularly superbreaker 3 set losses) can be looked at in a couple of ways. On one hand, it’s fantastic that Deis is playing Bowdoin and Amherst close at the bottom of the lineup, on the other hand, how many times have we seen making NCAA’s and winning matches in the tournament come down to 3 set matches lower in the lineup (Jerry Jiang saving Bowdoin against Hopkins comes to mind). Obviously the spring will be a much better indicator, but if Deis wants to make the jump to national contender, it is going to need to win close matches at the bottom of the lineup.
One important takeaway: Doubles is going to be a strength for the Judges this year, and I think their doubles lineup is certainly top-10, if not top 5 in the country. No Tzeng and no Kogan this past weekend, but the Judges didn’t suffer. We’ll see Deis in action once more this fall next weekend at the Tufts/Deis Invitational, which will be my last chance to gas the Judges up before the offseason
NE: Because I can’t help myself I wanted to add on one more thing to NewRegional’s take. NewReg did a comprehensive recap, but this is more of an overarching Brandeis point. I’ve been telling anybody who will listen (so pretty much my cat, Chairman Meow) that Brandeis will not only be a top-15 team by the end of the year, but they have a real shot to contend for an NCAA Pool-C berth if the cards (pun intended) fall correctly. The Judges haven’t been world beaters this fall, but they have done all they needed to do to cement this belief in my mind. They deserve both Regional and NE coverage this spring. If I haven’t made it quite clear, I will be conducting the Judges’ bandwagon during the winter and cannot wait for all of you to join me. Ok, back to NewRegional…
#29 SKIDMORE (regional ranking #10)
The Good: Coming out party for Jack McClaren! The junior made the finals of B singles by beating Patel (Bowdoin) and Fung in back-to-back matches before falling to Bessette in the finals. This is definitely not a performance I was expecting as McClaren had a good not great year last year, lost to Harris Foulkes in the Thoroughbred’s lone duel match this fall, and lost handily to Dubrovsky at ITAs. If McClaren is able to grow from this performance and carry it into the spring, this could be a gamechanger for a Thoroughbred team that graduated their #1/2 in Koulouris and a bottom of the lineup player in Berkowitz. In A singles play, Williamson lost a battle 12-10 in a superbreaker to Wang, but has had a good fall and looks like a great addition for Skidmore.
The Meh: JT Wynne had a routine first round win against Wheaton but then lost to Ma. Ma is a tough draw, but I would have loved to have seen JT make a run. No other Thoroughbred made it past the second round in singles, and both A doubles teams lost in the first round. Different doubles pairings this weekend as Wynne partnered with Biernat and Leaf partnered with Keye. Another great thing about fall tennis is to see different doubles pairings get experience, even though it’s not the result Skidmore was looking for. Skidmore’s B doubles teams had a little more success with McClaren/Ha getting a fortunate draw against Trinity and then Wheaton before losing a close one 8-6 to Bowdoin, Williamson/Mahtani took out Colby in the first round before falling to Tufts.
One Important Takeaway: Not an incredible performance from Skidmore, but no need to sound the alarm. Williamson looks good and if McClaren’s breakout is for real, then Skidmore could put together a nice season as they try to take back the Liberty League from RPI.
NR COLBY (regional ranking #14)
The Good: Hardware! Scott Altmeyer put together a great weekend and took home the A singles title, beating Das and Wang before taking out Ma in 3 sets in the finals. Scott lost close matches to Tercek, Grodecki, Rosen, and Chen last year, so to see him battle in the finals and take out Ma is fantastic news for Colby. This was our second look at the rest of the Colby team this spring, and results were a little better than at Midd. Garrett Reiter had a nice win over Leaf before losing to Bessette. Altmeyer/Pathi took out Wynne/Biernat before losing a breaker to Yang/Jiang, showing they’re playing at a higher level. Hans Hwang also picked up a win over Tegtmeier (Brandeis) in C singles play.
The Meh: Outside of Scott, no Colby player/team won more than one match. Sumukh Pathi lost in 3 to Coramutla and Peter Messenger played Ruparel somewhat close, but other than that Colby was pretty much a non-factor this weekend. Freshman Max Shuermann lost easily to Fung in singles and partnered with Garrett Reiter, losing in the first round to a young Bates team.
One Important Takeaway: Scott Altmeyer is the real deal and will have a national ranking entering the spring. The question is, can Colby put together a lineup that can win in doubles and at lower singles spots, or will it be another Carl Reid/Vlad Murad situation where the Mules have a top dog but can’t find enough points elsewhere to pose a threat to the rest of NESCAC?
NR TRINITY (regional ranking #17)
Ross DeRose picked up a B singles win over Wheaton and that was it for the Bantams in Lewiston. Once considered a threat and contender at the tournament, Trinity has fallen off. With 5 freshman this year, Trinity is looking at a rebuild and will have to fight to keep its regional ranking
NR WHEATON (no regional ranking…for now)
Wheaton participated for the second year in a row and their lone win came from David Hernaez Sanz/Jorge Aguirre Martinez in B doubles over Bates. Wheaton’s other B doubles team lost in a breaker to Ma/Levitin. Wheaton gains valuable experience playing against some of the best teams in the region, and that can only help as they try to enter the regional rankings.
A big last week of fall tennis coming up with the ITA Cup and the Deis/Tufts Invitational. Stay tuned for a lot of blog content the next couple days!