Central’s Mad Money Recap of the Region

Alright stock market fans, I have decided to change things up a bit instead of doing a boring recap of the last two weeks of competition. Since the Central region seems to be the only one playing meaningful matches thus far in the season, I will include all matches up to this point. The theme for this post is using Jim Cramer’s Mad Money format that he uses with stock market trading giving ratings of “Buy, Buy, Buy” or “Sell, sell, sell.” I will be adding the category of “Hold” as some stocks (teams/players) are still figuring out their worth. Here we go:

Buy, Buy, Buy!

Chris Krimbill and Will Drougas singles: While we were well aware of the prowess that these two guys have in singles, they have set themselves a part in the Central region as the top 1-2 punch. Wash U has yet to play, but right now I have got to give the nod to the two Spartans because they knocked off both Chicago and Kenyon’s top guys with relative ease. Krimbill only double bageled Heerboth and won comfortably over Chua from Chicago which was a crucial match for the Spartans to get. There is no doubt that Drougas would play #1 at most schools and he should do very well against all competition playing behind his teammate Krimbill. They will need to continue to dominate if Case wants to get back into the Pool C conversation. The loss to Kenyon will hurt them as I expect Kenyon to have a few let downs throughout the rest of the season.

Luke Tsai: This Chicago freshman is tearing it up this season in both singles and doubles. He is quickly moving his way up the Maroons lineup now at the top doubles spot and currently at #4 singles. He showed some flashes of what he is capable of upsetting #2 seed Wade Heerboth in the fall so we knew he was going to be good. The ceiling is very high for him as I could see him continue to climb if the results still come. I doubt he will ever reach the top singles spot with Chua’s resume, but whether or not he stays at his current role as a hardly beaten #4 or reaches #2 singles bumping everyone else down, his success will drive the Chicago season.

Chicago doubles: I never thought I would say Chicago doubles would be such a strength, but so far they have proven that they are. They showed last weekend that they can take a disciplined team down in Coe. This weekend in the three matches they played, Chicago went 7-2 as a team with both losses being at the top spot with Sabada and Liu. Sweeping Kenyon is a pretty big deal and Coach Tee has moved the tandem of Tsai and Hawkens all the way from third doubles to the top spot. Looks like it makes them stronger and I would guess they will continue to be there. It’s not like they have played weak doubles teams as Denison, Case, and Kenyon all are known to be very disciplined teams. I am done being a Chicago hype man, but if they could play to their talent on the singles side, they are a really good team.

Carleton: Forgetting about the poor twitter etiquette that I will discuss later, Carleton has had a rather solid start to their season. They are now 6-0 on the season capping off a big 5-4 win over Carthage this weekend. Carleton used to be in the top 10 in the region, but has fallen completely out of the rankings with a poor year last season. The Carthage win should put them back in the regional rankings especially because I am picking Carthage to be the favorites for the CCIW this season. They have a big match upcoming against a good Grinnell team that could further their move up the list. Unfortunately no matter how well Carleton plays this season, they still have to beat Gustavus to move on to the post season and they aren’t anywhere near that level yet.

Will Reifeis (Wabash College): The freshman Reifeis jumped on my radar after their Case Western match last weekend. He and his doubles partner Dan Delgado defeated Krimbill and Stuerke at the top doubles spot in 9-8(8) in what seemed to be a crazy match as I caught word that the Wabash duo fought off three match points in the breaker. Reifeis then went on to beat Stuerke in three sets. With Stuerke’s win over Chicago, it makes that match look even better. Reifeis and Delgado are now 4-0 this season with additional wins over regionally ranked foes Oberlin and Augustana (both in match tiebreakers). With Case’s top doubles tandem doing well this weekend, Reifeis and Delgado have indirect wins over Chicago and Kenyon. With plenty of regional ranked opponents ahead and the NCAC gauntlet of doubles specialty teams in Denison, Depauw, and Kenyon, there will be plenty of opportunities for Reifeis and Delgado to prove they belong.

Hold

Louis Stuerke and Kevin Dong singles: I have been a major critic of both Stuerke and Dong thus far and boy did they come up big against Chicago. There is no doubt that on paper, both were major underdogs, but yet they were able to take down the highly regarded opponents. Stuerke struggled early this season, but this win over David Liu is a signature win and one that cannot be understated. Dong lost his job and didn’t play against Kenyon, but got the nod against Chicago and defeated Max Hawkins from Chicago to clinch the win for the Spartans. Hawkins was a surprise choice in my eyes (although Bhargava lost big to Kenyon too), but either way, Dong came up with the goods. I still believe these two will struggle this season against the better teams, but they do deserve the recognition for coming up with the upsets at spots that I for one did not expect. Case won because of it.

Case Western doubles: You might be asking why I list the Case Western doubles as a hold and not a sell? Well in stock terms, I think Case has hit the bottom and can only get better. They are a combined 5-7 in doubles on the season which is far from the usual for this team. I do think that they will be weak at one of the three spots no matter what, but I do think they will figure it out eventually and be favored most days at two of the three spots. I tweeted about the two team being a sacrifice and if Gruber and Dong stay there, they most definitely are, but Coach Todd needs to find Drougas a viable partner to fix the issues at third doubles. I expect they will find the right combination soon and will be trending upward sooner rather than later.

Kenyon: The Lords should be thrilled with their win over Case and I would probably call them the overall winners of the weekend despite their convincing loss to Chicago on Sunday. Two standout performers are Davis Thrailkill and Rob Turlington. Both were not really a factor last season, but clearly they have put in the work as Turlington won both his matches at 3 singles and Thrailkill took out Dughi and Bhargava. I have Kenyon as a hold only because I am still not convinced they can compete with the best. It is no secret that Case is on the decline and shocker, I overrated Chicago. Kenyon will likely have a huge match in two weeks in the second round of Indoors against Carnegie. They need this match to prove they can hang, but Carnegie needs it more for Pool C stuff. The top of the lineup still has questions with Heerboth and Geier, but the depth and doubles (minus getting swept by Chicago) should keep these guys in the conversation.

Oberlin: I have made it no secret that I am a fan of Oberlin. I think this is a school that can be successful with the academic reputation and a great coach in Eric Ishida. The Yeo opened up the season with a disappointing loss to an upstart Wabash team. The reason I have Oberlin still as a hold is because I do still believe they will climb the regional rankings throughout the season. With many teams ahead of them down on talent this year like Elmhurst, Luther, Earlham, and others, I can see Oberlin moving up to around 15 from their current sport of 20. They were ahead 2-1 in dubs against a Wabash team that was leading Case so that is a great sign moving forward. I was a little surprised to see the younger Drougas slotted at 2 and expect that to change over the rest of the season as the shot maker Paik is impressive in spurts, but consistency is an issue. The two big matches for this team will be Wheaton and Earlham and I believe they will win both.

Nicolas Chua: With big results come high expectations. The young Chua hasn’t had a bad start to the season, but hasn’t exactly been lights out. I actually predicted Krimbill to win over Chua this time around so that wasn’t a shocker in my eyes, but the other results were. How is that possible considering that is the only D3 match he has lost? Well he has come out of the gates a bit slow having three set battles with Sprinkel from Coe and Veltman from Denison. Sprinkel is a former national qualifier so that isn’t too bad, but Veltman from Denison shouldn’t factor as a potential top 8 in the region this season. He did beat Carswell this fall so he might have dedicated his summer to tennis and prove me wrong this season, but seeing Chua be stretched by an Veltman was a big surprise. Like I said, when you win the fall small college nationals, you have a lot to live up to.

Sell, Sell, Sell!

Wade Heerboth: I hate that I have him on this list as he is a dedicated follower, but I also know he won’t be offended by this and knows that it probably was coming. There were rumors that Heerboth was injured coming into the weekend so we really don’t know if that is true, but either way, his performance was alarming. I had Krimbill favored, but never expected him to steamroll Heerboth and not surrender a game. Coach Thielke moved Wade to #2 against Chicago and that didn’t do much good either. Sabada is a great player as well so again it’s not a bad loss, but I expect a bit more from the Kenyon senior. The good news for Kenyon is they only have to win their conference to head to nationals and they should be able to do that without much problem.

Josh Dughi: I could probably add Simhadri as well, but I didn’t have much expectations for him playing #3 in the lineup so he was always a place holder. Dughi on the other hand came in with high expectations from myself, my fellow bloggers, and interesting commenters on the site (likely his teammates). Dughi went 0-2 this weekend with two three set losses. That is cause for concern especially for a grinder as three setters are supposed to be the matches that the grinding style wins more times than not. I will give him a pass with his loss to Tsai from Chicago because I think he has been underrated from the get go. However, the Kenyon loss to Thrailkill was one that I didn’t expect particularly because Dughi won the first set 6-1 and then got rolled in the next two. Dughi needs to step it up if Case wants to contend for a Pool C spot.

#6 singles for Chicago: I am a bit surprised at the weakness of #6 singles for Chicago as it is no secret they have incredible depth. However, Hawkins fell to Case and Bhargava got run over by Kenyon. Both of these guys weren’t projected in the original lineup, but with Kranz being out for an unknown reason, they are thrust into an important spot. There hasn’t been a Brian Sun sighting either which is somewhat of a surprise. Chicago needs to find a reliable source to get wins if Kranz is out for any more matches.

Twitter: It seems a bit early to give out some twitter advice, but the blog is where we can air our thoughts and hopefully people listen. First and foremost, if your team doesn’t have twitter, make one. You can either have your coach run it, or do it as a team. Now for some ground rules. Twitter is perfect to post news, cool videos, a couple funny tidbits about your team, and most importantly in match score updates. Twitter is not for teams to ever talk about your opponents in any way unless it is to congratulate them on a great match. Finally, for coaches, give your twitter handle to a player to do the in match updates as you obviously have important things to tend to with the match. This updates aren’t just for us at the blog, although we do love them. They are for your fans, your parents, your potential recruits, and the rest of the D3 landscape. Case Western, keep it up. Your twitter is perfect both with the men and the women. Everyone else take notice.

There you have it Central fans. I look for the rest of the year to see who’s stock rises and who’s stock falls. Don’t worry Gustavus, Wash U, Depauw, and Whitewater, I haven’t forgotten about you. You just haven’t played any significant matches as of yet.