#35 Coe vs. #5 Chicago Preview

d3midwest10s

Alright, central region tennis fans! The weekend of first dual matches is upon us, with nationally-ranked Chicago, Kenyon, and Coe all in action. In this post, I’m specifically going to cover the Coe vs.Chicago match. While I’m excited to see the Kenyon lineup, the Lords are facing NAIA Northwestern Ohio, so there really isn’t any point in previewing a non-D3 match.

With info from unnamed Coe and Chicago insiders, I think I can provide you a pretty extensive preview. I’m going to break down this preview into three parts. First, just like last year, the dual will feature an untraditional format, so I’ll delve into the logistics. Then, I’ll project a variety of lineup combinations we could see from each team (I won’t do a match-by-match preview because it’s pointless without knowing the actual lineups). Finally, I’ll speak a little bit about the #1 singles match. Sound good? Great.

Format

Last season, these teams featured 10 singles and 5 doubles matches, ultimately resulting in a 14-1 victory for the Maroons. Tomorrow, they will be playing a whopping 12 singles and 6 doubles matches! However, due to ITA rules (or something like that), the results will be reported as two separate matches. Basically 1-6 singles and 1-3 doubles will be counted as one match while 7-12 singles and 3-6 doubles will be counted as another. That said, all I’ll really be paying attention to are the results of the “first” match. There will be a live stream which can be found at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/coe/, and for those of you looking to follow the results, here are match times:

8:30 am central: #1-4 Doubles
9:30 am: #1-2 Singles, #5-6 Doubles
10:30 am: #3-4 Singles
11:00 am: #5-6 Singles
12:00 pm: #7-8 Singles
12:30 pm: #9-10 Singles
1:30 pm: #11-12 Singles

Projected Lineups

This is by far the toughest part of the preview. Given that it is the first match of the season, I really only have 2016 results to project lineups. I’m not going to project all 12 singles and 6 doubles spots; rather, I’ll provide you with some possible combinations of the top 6 singles players and 3 doubles teams.

Note: the projected lineups look goofy if you are viewing from a mobile device. My apologies.

Coe

Singles:

  1. Brady Anderson            1. Brady Anderson          1. Brady Anderson          1. Brady Anderson           1. Brady Anderson
  2. James McManus           2. Alex Bernt                   2. Nate Ackert                 2. Josh Pudlo                  2. Alex Bernt
  3. Nate Ackert                  3. Josh Pudlo                  3. Alex Bernt                   3. Alex Bernt                   3. James McManus
  4. Josh Pudlo                   4. James McManus          4. James McManus         4. Nate Ackert                 4. Nate Ackert
  5. Evgeny Pakhomenko    5. Nate Ackert                  5. Josh Pudlo                 5. James McManus          5. Evgeny Pakhomenko
  6. Alex Bernt                    6. Evgeny Pakhomenko    6. Evgeny Pakhomenko   6. Evgeny Pakhomenko   6. Chad Moklestad

I could go on and on making projected lineups for the Kohawks, but basically, it’s a no-brainer that Brady Anderson will hold the top spot. Alex Bernt played #3 last season, but had an 8-10 record, so I’m not sure if we will see him at 2. Meanwhile, D-II transfer James McManus had a solid fall and could be in the top half of the lineup. Nate Ackert was an impressive 8-2 at 5 in 2016 while Pudlo played 6 in the important late season matches.

Doubles:

  1. Anderson/Pudlo                     1. Anderson/Pudlo                   1. Anderson/Pudlo
  2. Ackert/Bernt                           2. Ackert/Bernt                        2. Ackert/Bernt
  3. McManus/Luke Ford               3. McManus/Pakhomenko        3. Moklestad/Nate Greiner

Coe’s #1 tandem from last season graduated, while Anderson/Pudlo and Ackert/Bernt played #2 and #3, respectively. Given their fall results, on top of their 2016 spring performances, I think they hold the top 2 spots. The combinations I listed for the final spot are the three pairs that were featured in the fall.

Chicago

Singles:

  1. Nick Chua         1. Nick Chua         1. Nick Chua            1. David Liu           1. Nick Chua
  2. David Liu          2. David Liu           2. David Liu             2. Nick Chua          2. David Liu
  3. Sven Kranz       3. Erik Kerrigan     3. Ninan Kumar        3. Sven Kranz        3. Erik Kerrigan
  4. Charlie Pei        4. Charlie Pei        4. Erik Kerrigan        4. Charlie Pei         4. Ninan Kumar
  5. Luke Tsai          5. Ninan Kumar      5. Charlie Pei           5. Luke Tsai           5. Peter Leung
  6. Peter Leung      6. Peter Leung       6. Peter Leung          6. Peter Leung       6. Sven Kranz

I could make even more singles lineup projections for the Maroons than the Kohawks considering Chicago’s depth, but I’ll keep it at five guesses. Some things to point out…first, the uncertainty of Sven Kranz. While he was a top half of the lineup guy most of last season, he suffered an injury against Middlebury in the NCAA semis and didn’t play in the fall, so it will be interesting to see if he’s healthy. Next, which I will elaborate on in the next section, is the top singles spot. Chua’s played #1 singles since his freshman year, but Liu has been steadily rising and won the ITA Regional this past fall. Finally, Tee has put a lot of stock in freshmen Kerrigan and Kumar early on, as evidenced by their high ITA seeds, so it will be interesting to see if he slots them in at 3-4.

Doubles

  1. Max Hawkins/Tyler Raclin           1. David Liu/Chua                    1. Max Hawkins/Tyler Raclin       1. David Liu/Chua
  2. Kerrigan/Kumar                          2. Max Hawkins/Tyler Raclin    2. Kerrigan/Kumar                       2. Max Hawkins/Tyler Raclin
  3. David Liu/Chua                           3. Leung/Pei                             3. Pei/Leung                               3. Pei/Leung

There are two teams which I can see playing 1 – the ITA Central Region champs Hawkins/Raclin and last year’s #1 of Liu/Chua. Kerrigan and Kumar reached the final of the ITA regional but Pei and Leung were the most successful doubles team last year for the Maroons.

#1 Singles

I mentioned in my Chicago season preview last month that beyond the lineups for this contest, I was excited to follow the #1 singles match. At the top spot, we will see Brady Anderson for the Kohawks and either Nick Chua or David Liu for the Maroons. Since his freshman year, the Kohawk has seen a lot of success, first at #3 and then making the leap to #1 last year, where he qualified for NCAAs. While Anderson lost to Chua in straight sets to open up the 2016 dual match season, it was the first time he competed at the top spot. It’s really fun to watch Anderson play because he is not your most traditional #1 singles player. Sure he has a big serve, but his defensive, slice, and net games are top notch. He doesn’t just crush the ball. For the Maroons, Nick Chua stormed D3 his freshman year by winning the D3 ITA Small College National Championship. In both his freshmen and sophomore seasons, the little lefty and his huge back backhand have qualified for NCAAs. Meanwhile, David Liu’s ascent has been remarkable. After playing 6 his freshman year, Liu cruised his way to #2 last year before winning ITA Regional in the fall. Anyway, I’m not in the business of making predictions, but all these fellas seem like good dudes and are unquestionably strong players, so I wish them the best of luck tomorrow.

Well, that took a lot longer than I anticipated, but I can’t wait to see what happens!

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