2019 Season Preview: MIT Engineers

‘Twas the day after Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even Tim the Beaver.

The stockings were hung at the most precise angle, in hopes that NCAAs soon would be there.

The players were busy, all tired in the lib, while Python and Java danc’d in their heads.

Coaches Hagymas and Ross had just settled down  – when out on TR there arose such a clatter, as another 5-star came to see what’s the matter.

He saw MIT and commit’d in a flash, with the hopes he’d be the one, to make quite the splash.

The most recent stud to commit, he hopes to succeed what the others have missed.

When what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a MIT season preview, about to be in gear!

I know in the moment that the team has the talent. More talented than most and we call them by name: Now Barr, now Cauenac, Cheng and Deng! Trust the Process Ko, go and on Zhao and L’Soya!

To the NCCA Tournament, to the Elite Eight we go, now dash away dash away dash away all!

Pardon my attempt to insert some creativity into one of the quieter teams I cover and see below for a MIT Season Preview!

6 new, lighted courts this year with 6 more on the way

Location: Cambridge, MA

Coach: Dave Hagymas (14th year)

Assistant Coaches: Ross Pytko (Boston College)

ITA National Ranking: NR (This is just dumb)

Blog Power ranking: 22

Power 6 UTR: 70

Twitter: @MITtennis, Not great for in-match scoring

Hashtag: #rolltech, #gotech

Key Additions: Arman Dave (4-star, #293, UTR: 10.25)

Key Departures: None

Best Case Scenario: The senior trio of Barr, Cauneac and Ko put it all together, Cheng builds off his great year last year, and Go turns close losses into wins

Worst Case Scenario: The seniors check out, MIT loses early Bates, and the season goes downhill from there

Lineup Analysis:

  1. Tyler Barr, senior, UTR: 12.35, range= 1. After grabbing the top spot his sophomore year, Tyler is firmly entrenched at #1 for MIT. Big Barr is ranked 10th in the region and 33rd in the country after the fall, and he will no doubt be looking to make a trip to nationals this year after missing out last year. Barr had a down spring last year that was due to losing close matches to Cuba, Tercek, Wei, and Rosen. Barr turned in a solid performance this fall, beating Biswas (Tufts), Guo (Midd) and Altmeyer (Colby) at ITAs before falling to Wei and losing first round at Deis/Tufts to Patel 12-10 in a superbreaker. With a packed schedule this spring, Barr controls his own destiny to nationals.
  1. Alex Cauneac, senior, UTR: 11.57, range= 2-3. Cauneac had a decent year at #2 last year, beating Vohra (Brandeis) and Quijano (Bates). Alex had an encouraging fall, taking out #Fink at ITAs and Kam (Williams) and Carstens (Bowdoin) at Deis/Tufts and he’s currently right behind Barr at 11th in the region and 34th in the country. Cauneac has a big game, and when he’s on, he’s as tough an out as there is in the region.
  1. Victor Cheng, junior, UTR: 11.68, range=2-3. Cheng had a fantastic year at 3-4 last year, going undefeated and taking out Battle, Van der Geest, (the unbeatable) Roddy, Bessette, Kogan and Leiner. That’s about as good as it gets. Unfortunately, because MIT is not nationally ranked, they only got 2 players into ITAs, so Cheng was left home. In his lone match this fall, he fell to #Fink. Not a whole lot to go on, but if Cheng can recreate his year from last year, which is no guarantee, MIT will be in good shape.
  1. The inner machinations of my mind are an enigma

    Sean Ko,senior, UTR: 11.48, range=4-5. The enigma of the MIT lineup. Ko has shown flashes of being a solid point contributor throughout the lineup but hasn’t been able to do so consistently. Last years’ results featured a 6-1 6-0 win over Fung (Amherst), but also losses to every other nationally ranked team they played. This fall Sean beat Yang (Bowdoin) before getting crushed by Farrell (Midd). Ko is a grinder, but I need to see more consistent results. Playing lower in the lineup could suit his play style, and I could see him playing a lot of 5 this year.

  1. Albert Go, junior, UTR: 11.57, range=4-5. Go played #4-6 last year with mixed results. Wins over Coran (Tufts) and Kang (Hopkins) were highlights, while 3 set losses to Eazor (Midd) and Wang (Bowdoin) aren’t the end of the world. Go had solid Deis/Tufts Invite, playing in the B flight and taking out Young (Bowdoin) and Lieb (Wesleyan) before pulling out. Go has been a mainstay at the bottom of the MIT lineup for the past two years, and I expect to see him here again this year.
  1. Michael Zhao, sophomore, UTR: 10.98, Charles Deng, sophomore, UTR: 10.37, Henry La Soya, senior, UTR: 10.3. MIT mixed around its #6 spot last year, with Deng and Zhao getting most of the chances, and Pablo Ampudia getting a few chances as well. The good news for MIT is that their revolving door at #6 probably has more talent than a bunch of teams on their schedule. The bad news is that it’s not going to get it done against the top teams MIT wants to compete with

Doubles: MIT mixed its doubles teams up a ton last year, so as always, doubles will be tough to predict. Cauneac and Go played together at ITAs and Deis/Tufts, losing to Frelinghuysen/Taylor of Williams and Morris/Eazor of Midd. Barr and Cheng played together at Deis/Tufts and took out Niemiec/Bershtein of Tufts before losing to Wesleyan. I’d guess those are the top two teams, and then maybe Ko/Zhao at 3, but don’t quote me on it.

 

Schedule: Find MIT’s schedule here

Schedule Highlights: CMS (3/19), Bates (3/30). Babson (4/3), Brandeis (4/12), Tufts (4/20), Skidmore (4/27).

Schedule Analysis: First of all, I love the addition of Skidmore to the schedule this year. I might question the timing, as it’s the day before the NEWMAC tournament starts, but I’m guessing MIT isn’t worried about Wheaton. This is a winnable match and would almost certainly mean a national ranking for MIT. Other than that, it’s pretty much the same song and dance as last year. Babson should be stronger, but I don’t see them puling the upset. MIT has a Rosen-less Bates team at home this year, after losing 5-4 at Bates last year, and should be favorites in that match. MIT has the same Power 6 as Tufts, and actually has 1 point on Brandeis, but should be underdogs in both of those matches. I think winning 2 out of the 4 matches against Bates, Deis, Tufts and Skidmore is a likely outcome for MIT this year.

After winning NEWMACs for the millionth year in a row, MIT will likely end up a #2 seed (They were a 3 seed last year, but they lost to Tufts, Deis, and Bates) in the Middlebury or Amherst/Williams regional, play a team like Stevens or RPI/Skidmore and then fall behind in doubles against a top NESCAC team before taking 4 first sets in singles to make things interesting and then lose 5-1. It’s not happening this year, but maybe someday MIT can make the Chicago transformation. An engaging, charismatic MIT team that realizes its potential would be great for D3 tennis, but as would an injury-less Derrick Rose. Some things just don’t happen

 

As always, leave a comment below or on Twitter if you feel so inclined, and hope everyone is enjoying a healthy and happy Christmas break!

3 thoughts on “2019 Season Preview: MIT Engineers

  1. jach

    When will all region previews be out?

    1. D3 Northeast

      All season previews should be written/posted by some point in February

  2. Joe Tegtmeier

    Keep ’em coming.

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