ASouth’s MEGA NCAA Regional Recap

I give the people what they want.  While we are all gearing up for the Elite 8 Matches and sending out preview after preview, I wanted to take a look back at all the different things that happened in the NCAA Regional this past weekend.  About 50 teams participated this weekend, so it would make sense to you know at least take a moment to give some shoutouts to teams other than the final 8.  That means EVERYONE is going to get a little somethin’ somethin’ in this article, which should make everyone happy.  Maybe even the regional fans will be happy with my writing for once.  It’ll be a long journey, but the fact of the matter is I’m on an Amtrak for the next 6 hours with shoddy internet so I might as well write a damn blog post.  The format of this article is going to be this – I’ll be going through each regional one by one and taking you through what happened, the teams that participated, and some cool social media/millennial hype things that took place.  This should be fun.  Who knows, if I finish this fast enough I might be able to send off the ASouth seniors in another article.  Let’s get down to business.

The Emory Regional

I previewed the Emory regional myself which means I get to go ahead and follow that article to the net and finish it off.  The main story of this regional is how much Emory dominated.  D3Greek named Emory the team he was most surprised about with our DIII Roundtable and for good cause.  Emory didn’t drop a match the whole weekend and played the #12 team in the country (although power rankings wise probably around #17).  Everyone on Emory looked impressive, but that’s not really what I want to get to.  We do so much talking about the top guys that we should talk about everything else, especially since there were some other incredible matches in this region.

Let’s start with the NC Wesleyan vs. Washington and Lee match that basically kicked us off for NCAA Regionals.  I previewed this match right before it happened and expected it to be a 5-2 or 5-3 victory for NC Wesleyan, especially with senior Michael Holt not in the lineup for the Generals.  NC Wesleyan came out and swept the doubles portion and basically made this thing look like it was going to be a blowout.  The last time these two had played, NC Wesleyan won the top 2 matches easily.  Well, it looks like the Generals were ready to flip the script.  Blog Favorite Jordan Krasner (or is he a favorite) took out Sebastian Sikh easily after losing last time.  2^nd singles Thomas Johnson took out Brokakis after losing easily last time as well.  The comeback WAS ON.  Emory fans came out of the woodwork to tweet about the match and I personally was extremely intrigued.

This match is absolutely nuts the comeback is real…

— Rafe Mosetick (@RafeMosetick) May 13, 2016

Despite losing a couple first sets, W&L fought back game by game and took second sets at #3 and #4 singles, setting up some fireworks.  They needed two three setters to come back from 3-0 and all signs pointed to them doing it.  Recent POTW Joe Siami (he of the big calves) took his third set, leaving it up to Sir William Bannister (GoT reference boi) to take his third set and send the Gennies into the Round of 32.  At 6-5, Bannister broke Sokolov’s serve (I can’t believe this dude was at #1 singles) and the Generals finished their epic comeback. KILLIN IT.

Epic match. Gennies dance there way to next round of NCAAs pic.twitter.com/feA2YRVoBO

— W&L Men's Tennis (@Generals_Tennis) May 13, 2016

Okay, so what happened on the other side of the draw?  Well, we had Trinity TX and Sewanee, which honestly wasn’t that great of a match. So, that means I won’t go too in depth with it.  If y’all want a recap PLAY A GOOD MATCH.  Trinity TX took the 2-1 doubles lead with wins from the #2 and #3 spots, but Roddy/Gray were able to continue their stellar year by taking our Deuel/Tyer.  The Sewanee #1 team has had an outstanding year and should be one of the front-runners to take the championship at the end of the year.  However, Sewanee didn’t show up in singles.  Paxton Deuel showed Schober what it’s like to play a top 10 player in the nation, Jack Gray lost in a freshman battle to Wilson Lambeth, and Conor Winkler was taken out by Matt Tyer.  I thought those three matches were the winnable matches for the Sewanee Tigers and they happened to be the ones they lost.  This was a disappointing effort in my eyes.

From there, it was the Emory show.  Emory dominated the regional final over Trinity TX, sweeping the doubles portion and notching two quick victories over the Tigers to move on.  There was a point where Chas Mayer held a lead on Jemison but blew it, and Deuel had a lead on Rafe for a little in the second set after losing the first.  Emory was simply too strong at the bottom with Manji and Goodman closing out the match.  Emory moved on and Trinity TX moved to the airport, where they missed their flight by 5 minutes.

This is what it comes to when @americanair is nice enough not to hold your flight for 5 minutes. Airport slumber p… pic.twitter.com/GsI6Q1kZB0

— Trinity Men's Tennis (@TUtennis) May 16, 2016

You'd be surprised how many good hiding places there are in a single terminal. Never too old for hide and seek! #TUTennis #mature #adults

— Trinity Men's Tennis (@TUtennis) May 16, 2016

The CMS Regional

Note that this recap is in no order whatsoever, because I am following the Hopkins tank and tree formula for my life.  The CMS regional was supposed to be a regional without much drama other than the potential upset in Whitman/UT-Tyler.  UT-Tyler had lost about 6 million times by the score of 5-4 to ranked teams this year and came into the tournament unranked.  Well, this was their last chance for a ranked win and the Patriots took it.  But, they weren’t done there.

The UTT/Whitman battle was a tough one.  Whitman has struggled with doubles pretty much on and off all year and this came back to bite them once again at NCAAs.  UT-Tyler won #2 and #3 doubles pretty damn easily, putting all the pressure on the #1 Whitman team of Carter/Hoeger to win a match and basically keep the Squirrels in the match.  It went to a tiebreak, where Fagundes and Fischer won 7-0 in the breaker (according to the website) to give the Patriots a 3-0 lead.  I thought the match was over right here and I guess it some ways it was.  However, there was a point where D3Central pointed out to me that Whitman had leads on all courts.  Could this be another back breaking UT-Tyler loss?  Jivkov and Rappoport won easily at #5 and #6 and Friedman and Hewlin took their first sets.  The two guys UTT had basically been counting on all tournament were Fagundes and Fischer, placed in the lineup at #2 and #4, respectively.  Stack claims be damned, these two guys are pretty damn good at their spots.  Both of them took tight first set, with Fischer taking the back-breaking first set over Gary Ho in a tiebreaker.  From there on, it was smooth sailing for the Patriot 2 and 4.  UTT ended up finishing the match with a 5-3 win.  Not to be that guy, because I love me some Coach Bizot and Coach Wootton, but the placement of Fagundes at #2 singles seems fishy at best.  He’s made nationals already and continues to play at #2 singles with basically flawless results.  While I don’t know what happens in practice and I do know that Budd is a damn good player, I’m just giving my fair observation.

Moving onto the Sweet 16, where we got a match on Saturday that was WAY more exciting than I thought it would be.  I expected a 5-1 or 5-2 CMS win, as they are just so much better in singles, but holy crap did this one look pretty bad for a second.  UTT came out and easily won #3 doubles and ended up with a late break to win #1 doubles as well.  I’ve heard that the umpire didn’t realize that Fischer/Fagundes reached over the net on a key point at 8-7 to give UTT a crucial point, but hey, umpires will be umpires.  UTT finished off the sweep with a tiebreaker win at #2, putting everyone at the blog on edge.  CMS has to figure out their bottom two doubles spots pronto, because they have a match against Chicago on Monday that should prove to be a close one.  In singles, UTT took two first sets – basically what they needed.  Budd took the first set against Butts (somewhere Raz is happy), but the CMS senior proved his mettle once again and won the 2^nd and 3^rd 6-4, 6-1.  Fischer iced Macey with a first set bagel and took the second set 7-6, bringing the Pats within 1, but no one else was really close.  Glenn Hull took the freshman Fagundes out with ease.  Tyler was basically banking on sweeps + two strong spots to get them their wins.  While it’s a great David v. Goliath strategy, it leaves little room for error.  CMS was just too strong and this could be a nice kick in the ass for those doubles teams to shape up in a week and a half.

The Middlebury Regional

This was the most boring regional by far in my opinion.  Leave it to the NE to make things boring. Not surprising considering who their blogger is.  The Middlebury region was basically defined by who else, Middlebury, where they swept through doubles on their way to losing no matches the whole weekend.  We all know how good Midd is so I will not waste my breath on them.  Emory and Middlebury looked the best this weekend for sure.

For the rest of the teams, there were no exciting matches.  Wilkes took out Hunter pretty easily by the score of 5-0.  Wilkes seems to have a solid draw every year and they almost always get their NCAA win under their belts.  They then lost to Middlebury 5-0, which reminds me of the analysis I did saying that unranked teams basically have no shot against the top seeds in the region.  That holds true once again.  On the other side, TCNJ represented Pool B and took our Ramapo by the score of 5-2 in what was an uneventful match as well.  Skidmore then took out TCNJ 5-2 in a match I thought might be better.  Last but not least, Middlebury swept Skidmore and Farrell got his revenge on Kai Yuen Leung in the #1 singles match with a straight set win.  That makes one loss for Farrell all year in singles, and the one person that has beaten him has also lost to him.  Can someone name who the favorite is for individuals this year?  *Cue Rafe Mosetick being mad.* Well, I needed a break and thankfully the Middlebury region was an easy one.

The Bowdoin Region

Now we’re talking! A NE region that had some guts spilled.  We ventured up to Maine where the White Walkers and Polar Bears live, and also where Bowdoin, MIT, and Stevens squared off all weekend.  First, however, we have to talk about a match for the ages in the round of 64 between NICHOLS and Colby-Sawyer.  Now, you know that I love me some NICHOLS ever since that time they won one doubles match against eventual champion Williams and everyone flipped a switch saying that Williams couldn’t possibly win the tournament after this performance.  Well, Nichols created their own NCAA memory in this one.  NICHOLS took a 2-1 doubles lead in this one with none of the matches really coming all that close or dramatic.  I had picked NICHOLS in my bracket challenge and things were looking good for me at this point.  However, D3NE had picked Colby-Sawyer and was rooting for a comeback from them.  His wishes were temporarily answered as Colby-Sawyer came out firing on four courts, winning first sets at #1, #2, #5, and #6.  #2 and #6 finished their matches rather quickly as Nichols easily won at #3 and #4 to make this one a 4-3 battle.  NICHOLS then came back to win two second sets at #1 and #5 to make this one even more interesting.  Colby-Sawyer needed two third sets to come back.  First came the match at #5, where Ross Kenney of Sawyer won over Igor Markowski of NICHOLS to make it a 4-4 match. Meanwhile, the #1 singles match between Blake Norton (NC) and Gustav Jigrup (CSC, great name too) was just a gut-wrenching battle.  This was like a war of attrition right here.  Below are some pictures of the third set, where Norton of NICHOLS hits his head on a pole at 5-5 in the set while Jigrup battles through cramps.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5-5 in the match, 4-4 in the overall score, and this is what happens.

5 +hours,4 injury time outs, and one amazing effort. Worth it to bust @D3Northeast bracket. Love the blog! @d3AtlanticSouth

— Nichols Tennis (@ncbison_tennis) May 13, 2016

Insider information has the NICHOLS team celebrating their victory in the hotel after the match.  Say what you want to say about these teams, but this is an accomplishment for programs like these.  This is the big argument for Pool A because relatively no-name teams get to experience a big tournament and celebrate.  I’m all for that.  Congrats to NICHOLS for their big win.  NCAA, let’s get some Pool C teams in the tournament though, I mean c’mon.

The next big match came between Stevens/MIT, which bloggers thought could go either way.  MIT had been playing lights out as of late, taking out Tufts and steamrolling Babson after playing close with them earlier in the year.  They continued the trend, beating Stevens 5-2 in what was senior Matt Heinrich aka the #HeinrichManuever’s last team match ever.  MIT has shored up their doubles late this season as they took a 2-1 lead against the Ducks, who basically needed doubles leads to win matches.  Here’s a match where talent won out.  There were a ton of close matches (#3 and #4 singles did not finish), but MIT was able to take #2 and #5 singles relatively easily.  Heinrich went all Pest on the freshman Alex Cauneac (shoutout to D3Regional) and ousted him 6-2, 6-1.  At #6, Feldman of Stevens was able to grit out a second set tiebreaker to send his match into a 3^rd set.  Down 4-2, Stevens needed all three 3-setters to win this one.  This hope ended quickly as Dennis Garcia of MIT took the third set 6-0 and the Engineers were into the Sweet 16.  MIT is a good team.  Don’t get me wrong.  One of our most avid commenters () is a bit MIT fan as well, but I just have to point out that Sean Ko is playing #4 singles against sub-20 teams and going three sets against them.  This dude was ranked #14 in the nation coming into this.  I’d be surprised if he sticks on the team all 4 years.

Last up was MIT/Bowdoin, a match where I really didn’t think the Engineers had a chance.  Bowdoin took a 2-1 lead against the Engineers with wins at the bottom two spots, basically ending the match right then and there.  I knew that the Polar Bears wouldn’t lose 4-6, where they took the final two spots to quickly make it 4-1.  Luke Trinka went all out at #3 singles against the freshman Tyler Barr, clinching the match for the Bears and giving us the epic photo that was featured in this week’s POTW.  No drama in this match, which was a nice win for Bowdoin.  MIT goes back to the drawing board with two extremely talented guys in Cauneac (who crushed Tercek 1 and 1) and Barr.  Sean Ko is a bit of a mystery, but I am sure that the Engineers will pull in a few more top recruits for years to come.  Now, if they can build on this nice season into next year, that would be a huge step in the right direction.  I want more from these Engineers.

The CMU Region

This region was defined by the last match, which even got it’s own preview from yours truly because this was a top notch ASouth battle.  To get there, we were supposed to have another solid ASouth battle in Mary Washington vs. Hopkins, which we will get to.  However, we have to start with the one and only – YESHIVA MACCABEES.  The fact that Yeshiva was in this draw caused this regional to start on a Thursday, giving us less time to fill out Bracket Challenges but giving us a marquee Saturday matchup between Hopkins/CMU. I guess you gotta take the good with the bad.  Anyways, Yeshiva vs. Goucher was a battle that had almost equal Power 6 UTR Ratings, so I was interested.  TennisJon (Yeshiva Coach) has always touted his top 2 players and that blinded me into thinking that the Maccabees would win this one pretty easily.  However, it looks like Yeshiva doesn’t really practice doubles all that much, because they got swept.  Cue D3Central.

Yeshiva must practice doubles on Saturdays

— D3 Central Tennis (@d3centraltennis) May 12, 2016

Anyways, Yeshiva got swept. This was enough to send Goucher into the Round of 32 by gutting out three setters left and right.  The new account named D3Tree dubbed this a “Holy War,” which I am not sure is offensive or not but hell, this is a blog and we’re going to make jokes.  Don’t take offense please.  Tweet below:

just an absolute holy war rn

— D3Tree (@d3_tree) May 12, 2016

Moving onto UMW vs. Hopkins, I thought this was going to be 5-4.  But, Mary Washington showed me once again why I have way too much faith in them to do anything worth mentioning on the blog.  We honestly could not cover UMW and they probably would end up right where everyone expected without making a dent in any national conversation.  The Eagles came out and laid a freaking dud against the Blue Jays.  This match was played outdoors, where Hopkins takes a bit of a hit, but it didn’t matter. UMW lost three doubles matches really quickly.  From there, they lost two quick singles matches and basically ended their NCAAs winning one set the whole tournament.  One set. From a potential top 25 team.  I’ve had enough of talking about the Eagles.  They didn’t show up.  I wonder if they are content with losing this one.

In the final, we had Hopkins vs. CMU.  If you followed me on twitter, you probably know my thoughts on this match.  Hopkins was the team that people were afraid about and CMU was the team that has struggled in the post-season.  This happened once again as the match was moved indoors (Hopkins benefit) and the Blue Jays took advantage once again.  Hop outplayed CMU top to bottom in doubles and only came out with a 2-1 lead.  This was a blessing for the Tartans, but they were unable to come from behind and erase the deficit.  Buxbaum the MVP showed up and Alla the senior (CMU) was unable to win his doubles or singles match to send the Tartans into the Elite 8 for the first time in a while.  Sadness resides in Pittsburgh, which goes with their always rainy weather.  Seriously, I haven’t seen a CMU home match played outdoors since I was born.  Maybe they just shouldn’t host anymore.

The Wash U Region

Wash U’s region every year basically features either Trinity TX or UWW/GAC.  With UWW’s rise, Wash U was able to just get the Warhawks in their region, which was tuning up to be a juicy one.  UWW was one set away from winning this one last time and we were all really looking forward to it.  The rest of the matches in this region were snoozers.  Rose Hulman was the #3 seed and got a bye, because no one plays near Wash U.  Man, I hate the Wash U regional.  Grinnell blanked Edgewood in the only first round only to get blanked by Wash U a day later.  So, I’ll basically be recapping the Wash U/UWW match.

If UWW was going to take this match, they needed that doubles lead.  As they always do, they got it.  The Warhawks always, always, bring it in the beginning of matches and they were able to hold on at #1 and #2 doubles to take a 2-1 lead over the Bears.  This was the start of what could have been an amazing day for Whitewater.  Normally, Wash U wins the close ones (9-7 at #1 and 8-6 at #2), so this was a bit surprising to me.  Singles was going to be a battle.  Until the Wash U bottom of the lineup went all Hulk on the Warhawks.  Jason Haugen, who was moved up to #4, beat Zane Navartil (who he went 3 with last time) 6-0, 6-0.  Jeremy Bush, the former #1 player, whooped Bisbee 2 and 2 while Jake Klein lost 1 total game at #6 singles.  Just like that, it was 4-2 Wash U and the Warhawks needed the top 3 to win the whole match.  You’re not going to do that against Carswell, Wu, and Kratky the senior (AKA THE KRATKEN AMIRITE).  While Humphreys was able to take out Carswell in 3 sets, Johnny Wu just ground down Michael Treis and sent the Bears into the quarterfinals.  Wash U is looking extremely tough right now if the bottom of the lineup is playing well, which they are.  If Klein has found his game, I don’t see that many teams being able to beat Bush at #5 and Haugen is going to be a great #4.  Watch out, Middlebury.

The Chicago Region

Snoozefest, Central Style.  The closest match in this Chicago/Gustavus/Coe region was actually the first round between Carthage and edit: John Carroll.  Carthage has a great twitter presence, but I did hear some pretty interesting things out of this regional.  I think these Central teams play each other so much and are in such close vicinity that they just develop hatred for each other before they even start playing.  Apparently, this match got mad heated.

Getting some hilarious updates out of the Chicago region. "Get that weak stuff out of here" and warnings for taunting, etc

— D3Tree (@d3_tree) May 13, 2016

Moving on from the Carthage match, we got Coe vs. Gustavus.  Coe seems to bring in some debate every year because of their weak schedule.  There was one year where they basically were the Boise State of DIII Tennis.  They went undefeated and their twitter was all over it.  This caused a lot of backlash and now Coach Rodgers has scheduled ranked opponents in order to prove the Kohawk’s worth.  Anyways, I don’t really think anyone thought Coe had that much of a chance against a top 20 team that plays good doubles like Gustavus.  Gustavus took the 2-1 lead and two quick singles matches to gain a 4-2 lead.  Needing three 3 setters to win it, Coe lost at #2 singles as Andres Saenz took out Riley Gilbraith to clinch the match.  Also to note, Brady Anderson of Coe was trailing Al-Houni 5-3 in the third set as well.  So, it wasn’t like Coe was on the verge of winning anyways.  Good effort from the Kohawks, but it just wasn’t enough.

In the regional final between Chicago and Gustavus, a story that we have seen time and time again happened.  These two tweets really defined the whole thing from the Guru.

sometimes it's 3-0

— UChicago Tennis (@UChicagoTennis) May 15, 2016

I feel like Chicago wins at least 4 singles matches every time they play GAC

— Division 3 Tennis (@d3tennis) May 15, 2016

Chicago went down in doubles to GAC and then dominated every singles spot.  The Guru mentioned this on twitter and it was met with a snarky joke from Coach Tee, who has been extra surly this year.  Where’d the jokester go? Anyways, yea, Chicago is geared up for their match against CMS.  That is all.

The Case Western Region

In a region where many thought the #1 seed didn’t deserve to get in, we got the most fireworks.  Case Western, hosting their region against Kenyon in a rivalry region, was amped to even have made the tournament.  The rest of the region was basically watching for the Case/Kenyon showdown.  Franciscan ousted Grove City 5-2 in a pretty easy match, KZoo beat Messiah 5-0, and Kenyon beat Kzoo 5-1.  Someone messaged me before the Case/Kenyon match asking about Kenyon’s performance against Kalamazoo, thinking that was some indication of how they’d perform against Case Western.  I will say this again, never take matches against much lesser opponents as any indication of what will happen.  Cough, NICHOLS, cough.  Just don’t do it.  It doesn’t make any sense to.  That’s like comparing me vs. you in a coloring book competition.  Who can color in the lines better?! No one cares.  I’d probably tank that exercise.

Anyways, Kenyon vs. Case Western.  Let’s start with all the things that made this matchup awesome.  First off, Case vs. Kenyon should have been played about 2 months ago at the Stag-Hen.  Since Case had to leave early, they canceled the match with a “TBD” moniker.  Well, that never happened.  We don’t know who’s fault that was, but it was nice to see the NCAA indirectly set this matchup up to make it right.  Another juicy aspect of this match was the fact that Wade Heerboth (aka the Traitor) is an assistant for Coach Todd’s boys in Cleveland.  The decorated Lord went all Ned Stark on his Lords and joined the enemy.  We just knew this was going to be an awesome match.

With home court, Case came out firing.  They took two doubles matches, which many would have thought ended the match right then and there.  The thing is Case hadn’t been playing good singles at all and they needed all the points they could get.  The #3 team of Roberts/Paolucci came up big time with an 8-6 win at the last spot.  They needed this one, as we will see later.  Singles began and the ugliness of Case singles reared its ugly head once again.  Robert Stroup’s up and down year ended on a low point as Rob Turlington took him out to the tune of a 6-2, 6-1, victory.  Nic Paolucci took out the senior Louis Stuerke in a tight two setter.  Without Kevin Dong in the lineup, Max Smith beat Phil Gruber easily at the #6 spot.  Just like that, Kenyon was up 4-2.  Case did have the lead at #2 singles (5-2 in the second) and #5 singles (up 5-1 in the second), but my national MVP vote Sam Geier was having none of that.  Geier continued his remarkable run this season by defeating Krim Shady in two 7-5 sets.  Krimbill ends his career on a low note, but there really wasn’t much he could do.  Sam just came out to play.  Crown this dude the MVP please.  You wanna crown em, CROWN HIS ASS – Dennis Green, Former Coach of the Arizona Cardinals.  Oh, and this.

Revenge against @wiggitywiggity1

— d3AtlanticSouth (@d3AtlanticSouth) May 15, 2016

FIN

What a beast of an article.  Unlike D3NE’s Wall of Text articles, I hope this one was at least a bit interesting.  You can read certain sections if you want as well.  I don’t mind if you’re from NICHOLS and just want to read about the Middlebury region or something.  That’s cool with me.  At the very least, vote for D3Central in the polls because I think it’d be hilarious for him to reveal his identity.  Check back with us these next two days because we’ll have previews of the final two quarterfinal matches as well as the BLOGGER REVEAL at 7PM Sunday.  Good times on the blog, even if D3West is as snarky as ever.  As always, ASouth, OUT.  Hope you enjoyed.