ITA Previews: New England

Hello again boys and girls, it’s time for the New England ITA preview. As the draw was published this afternoon and the tournament starts tomorrow, I won’t bore you all with a super long intro. Instead, I’ve checked out the draws and will give yall a few players to watch before quickly going match by match with predictions. We all know there’s nothing better than winning a match after somebody says you won’t. I won’t preview any 2nd round matchups, because odds are I’ll be predicting something that won’t come to pass. I will also give you all my quarters, semis, finals, and champion, just so you can laugh at me come Sunday evening.

My extra treat for you all, is that I will be recapping each day’s events and previewing the following round of the next day’s action. The overall tournament recap will go team by team, but this preview is more for the individual in all of us. In addition to my general lunacy, D3Regional has added his take on some of the non-ranked teams and players in the draw.

Ok, down to business. As you can see, less schmoozing, more predictions. Here we go…

itareg

 

SINGLES

http://athletics.middlebury.edu/sports/mten/2014-15/files/ITAsingles14.pdf

 

The Favorites:

#1 Carl Reid (Colby): The man is top dawg for a reason. Mr. Suit and Tie doesn’t have the simplest draw, but I think he’ll cruise through Friday’s matches. This will be our first glimpse of Carl this fall, as he hopes to improve on his sensational freshman campaign.

 

#2 Michael Solimano (Amherst): Solimano ended the season doing what few people could do last year, taking down Nik Marino. Mickey went from riding the bench to the nastiest #3 in the country during his sophomore season, and I think it’s great that he’s stayed at Amherst rather than go abroad this fall. Hopefully time with the Jeffs new Coach will have done the lad well.

 

#5 Conrad Harron (Williams): C-Rad doesn’t have the easiest first couple rounds, but if he can get through Friday, I think he’s my favorite to win the whole damn thing. He made a good run last year at this ITA, and now that Matty-Ice is gone, Harron will be looking to cement himself as the Ephs’ go to dude.

 

#6 Noah Farrell (Midd): Farrell has impressed me more than any other freshman so far this fall. Granted this season is very young, and we haven’t seen many freshmen so far, but that doesn’t take away from young Noah’s performance at the Middlebury Invitational. Downing Granoff and Telkedzhiev in back to back matches is a tough enough task, let alone in your first collegiate tournament. Somehow, Noah doesn’t have a 9-16 seed in his draw, though his first two round matches won’t be cake walks.

Good Players with Favorable Draws:

 

#3 Ari Smolyar (Midd): I know, I know. If Ari beat Noah it would make sense to switch those two. All my sources say Smolyar is hitting a great ball, but something still doesn’t sit well with me. It could be the horrendous lack of clutch from last year’s NCAAs, or perhaps that the Middlebury Invitational just doesn’t carry the same weight as ITAs, but I want to see Ari get the monkey off his back before I pick him to do so. He does have a very nice first few rounds scheduled as well.

 

#9-15 Pierre Planche (Bates): Planche’s loss to Jacobson isn’t as much an indictment of Pierre’s level as it is a testament to Jacobson’s growth. One of my Bates sources told me that it’s perfectly possible that Pierre wouldn’t have played tennis for the entire summer. Hey, no judgment here! Unless, of course, it detracts from his performance. Pierre has a nice first few rounds before a possible date with Smolyar in the 3rd round.

 

#9-15 Jake Roberts (Wesleyan): Roberts finally came into his own (at least a little bit) at the end of last season. While I’m more excited to really see just how good these Wesleyan freshmen are, Roberts has a chance to do some real damage here.

 

Rob Jacobson (Tufts): Rob-Bob has a fairly nice draw considering he didn’t get a seed. He might have a little chip on his shoulder for that, and I think he has a real chance to upset Revzin in the 2nd round. After the 2nd round, it gets much tougher, but in my opinion Revzin is one of the weakest seeds so the fact that Jacobson is in that section of the draw is a small blessing.

 

Good Players with Unfavorable Draws:

#9-15 Nik Telkedzhiev (Tufts): Tough sledding for Nik. Roode in the 1st round is such a wild card. He took out Crampton a couple of years ago, but last year went away quietly. A likely 2nd round matchup with Astrachan, followed by a 3rd round meeting with #1 Reid means Telkedzhiev is really going to have to earn his way through this tournament.

#9-15 Andrew Yaraghi (Amherst): The freshmen champion from two years ago looks to rebound from his sophomore slump. Tough to really call it a slump considering he was the best #5 in the country, but the Jeffs had higher hopes for Mr. Yaraghi. Andrew has a tough 1st round opponent in the Costa Rican Raventos, a likely 2nd round matchup with one of Bowdoin’s highly touted freshmen, and a likely 3rd round matchup with either Jackson Frons or Dan Carpenter. As this is the theme for this section, Yaraghi will have to earn his way to Saturday and Sunday.

#9-15 Palmer Campbell (Midd): PC has been a baller at the past two ITAs, but this year could be a tougher cat to skin. Campbell didn’t play particularly well at the Middlebury Invitational two weeks earlier, and he has to go against the talented Eph sophomore Shastri in the 1st round. If he can survive that, he’ll have a tough battle with #2 Solimano just to make the quarters.

Everyone in Zykov’s Region: This is by far the most stacked region. Zykov is taking on another talented Bowdoin freshmen in round one. The match-line above him is Allen Jackson (who one of our readers told us would be playing #2 for Midd this year) vs. Howie Weiss (who took out Yaraghi and made a run here last year). Above that you have a lot of firepower in Wong vs. Ordway, and the dangerous Eugene Oh battling a seeded Wesleyan freshmen above that. Zykov might be the favorite, but it wouldn’t totally shock me to see any of these eight grab a quarterfinal spot.

 

D3Regional’s players to watch:

Vlad Murad (Colby): With Carl Reid’s amazing freshman year, Murad’s year largely went unnoticed, especially due to a midseason injury that knocked this Romanian out of commission. Murad has some serious game though, with big wins last year versus Michael Liu of Wes and Chris Ellis of Bates. He unfortunately has a really tough first round match against Harron, but I think this match could be a close one.

Brian Granoff (Brandeis): This Florida kid exploded onto the scene last year when he took over the number one slot for the Judges, going on a great run and knocking Edwin Zhang, Timmy Berg, and Dan Carpenter out of potential NCAA bids. He’s in a fun part of the draw, playing Chase Savage of Bowdoin first round, who can be a tricky little guy. The draw gets tough after that, with a possible match against either Ned Mandel of Trin or Griffin Brockman of Tufts. I would love to see a Granoff versus Jake Roberts round of 16 match, so we’ll see what happens.

 

Michael Liu (Wesleyan): Michael Liu pulled a Murad and went under the radar last year, as Jake Roberts received more of the attention at 1 singles. All this cardinal did was win, however, as he recorded some really good wins over Pierre Planche (Bates), Palmer Campbell (Midd), and Ned Mandel (Trin). Who knows how he is playing now, since the Cardinals decided to forego any division three competition this fall besides ITAs and instead dominate University of Hartford and Fairfield University in doubles. Maybe Wes is trying to save on fuel costs, but it is good to see them work on their doubles. Anyway, I would love for Liu to make a run in this tournament, because he is so solid and deserves some recognition after a fine freshman campaign.

 

Kenny Gea (MIT): Kenny might play the lowest in the lineup out of the three guys playing from MIT, but he might have the biggest game. This guy hits a large ball, especially from the forehand wing, and he is going to be a key player form MIT if they hope to rebound from an off year last year. I am picking him as the guy to watch just because his game is so big, and I feel that he is more likely to pull an upset than his Engineer counterparts. He does tend to tire out a little bit in long matches, which is why I think he is not playing higher in the lineup. A new year can bring newfound hope, and I like Gea to win his first match over Mark Hosang the Colby Mule, and maybe just maybe he can give Pierre Planche a little run for his money in the second round.

 

1st ROUND PICKS

#1 Reid, Mountifield, Astrachan, #9-15 Telkedzhiev, Yaraghi, Wolfe, Frons, #8 DC,

#6 Farrell, Schidlovsky, Ali, Einbinder, #9-15 Chen, Wong, Jackson, #4 Zykov

#3 Smolyar, Vu, Gea, #9-15 Planche, #9-15 Revzin, Liu, Jacobson, #5 Harron

#7 Granoff, Brockman, Feldman, #9-15 Roberts, Shastri, Lai, Castillo, Solimano

 

QUARTERS

#1 Carl Reid(Colby) vs. #9-15 Andrew Yaraghi (Amherst)

#6 Noah Farrell (Midd) vs. Allen Jackson (Midd)

#3 Ari Smolyar (Midd) vs. #5 Conrad Harron (Williams)

#9-15 Jake Roberts (Wesleyan) vs. #2 Michael Solimano (Amherst)

 

SEMIS

#9-15 Andrew Yaraghi (Amherst) vs. #6 Noah Farrell (Midd)

#5 Conrad Harron (Willams) vs. #2 Michael Solimano (Amherst)

 

FINALS

#5 Conrad Harron (Williams) over #6 Noah Farrell (Midd)

 

D3Regional’s pick:

#3 Ari Smolyar (Midd) over #9-15 Nik Telkedzhiev (Tufts)

 

 

DOUBLES

http://athletics.middlebury.edu/sports/mten/2014-15/files/ITAdoubles14.pdf

 

I’m not even going to pretend like we have an idea what’s going to happen here. The seeding seems highly questionable, but then again, it’s basically impossible seeing as we’ve barely seen any of these supposed “top” teams play together.

 

The Favorites:

#1 Plance/Ellis (Bates): Coming off a nice win at Middlebury. Bates clearly knows how to play dubs. Fatigue might not be as big a factor because it appears Ellis isn’t playing singles.

#2 Revzin/Solimano (Amherst): Should be the #1 seed. Two great doubles players, should be a nasty team. We’ll see if Solimano has enough stamina to make a run in both draws. 

 

Good Teams with Favorable Draws:

#4 Grodecki/Schidlovsky (Williams): This will be our first Grodecki sighting, but I’m pretty excited about it. The dude appears to be able to ball, and anyone who’s paired with Alvin will compose a fiery doubles team. It also helps to be in the easiest quarter of the draw!

#6 Savage/Tercek (Bowdoin): It’s no secret that Polar Bears’ biggest issue was doubles. Both Wolfe and Tercek have been brought in with that in mind, and I hope to see big things from both guys. Both guys are top 150, but Tercek is the bigger of the two and has the advantage of playing with a more experienced partner here. It’s strange to not see Wolstencraft in this tournament, but for now, this looks like the Bowdoin team to beat. A nice couple early round matches should be just the warm-up this team needs.

 

Good Teams with Unfavorable Draws:

Reid/Murad (Colby): Let the ranting and raving begin. HOW THE HELL IS THIS TEAM NOT SEEDED? This was a top 5 doubles team in the region through all of last year. They were in the hunt for NCAAs all year long. In fact, they are the only returning team that was ranked in the top-5 last year. They have a full year of playing together, and I just don’t see how they weren’t seeded. I think they’re they 2nd or 3rd best team in the draw.

Raventos/Shastri (Williams): Similarly, how are these guys not seeded? Rosé played together for the majority of last year and they seemed to find their groove through last season. I think this team has a shot to play #1 for the Ephs, and clearly should be seeded. Unfortunately, they might have the two other best teams in the whole thing in their quarter of the draw

Smolyar/Mountifield (Midd): Maybe I’m just resistant to change, but this is a 3rd team who has playing experience together. I know Courtney didn’t end the year in the doubles lineup, but he’s proven to be more than capable. A tough first round match will be a good test for this pair, and I think they could easily challenge the top seeds in a hypothetical quarterfinal.

 

D3Regional’s teams to watch:

Roberts/Rudovsky (Wes): Wes did struggle all season with doubles, and the Roberts/Rudovsky tandom won a lot at 3rd doubles, moved up to 2, won a lot at 2, moved up to 1, and lost all three of their matches. They went 4-0 at the noteworthy Fairfield Invitational, but all jokes aside, these guys have big games and I think Wesleyan is going to rebound big-time this year. It starts with doubles, and I think this is what their focus has been on all fall. I like them beating the powerhouse team from UMass Boston, and I also like them to pull the upset against Bowdoin!

 

Myers/Carpenter (Trin): These guys somehow scored the 8 seed, which totally should have gone to the Mules. I still like this team, as both of these guys are fiery with big games, and I am not just saying that because they are both red-heads. They had an up and down season last year, with really good wins over Bowdoin and Williams. Smolyar and Mountifield are a really tough first round match, but I think that match should be great. I’m pulling for the Bantams in this one.

 

 

1st ROUND PICKS

#1Planche/Ellis, Sandowski/Harron, Wolfe/Roddy, Smolyar/Mountifield

#6 Savage/Tercek, Roberts/Rudovsky, Raghavan/Astrachan, #3 Yaraghi/Zykov

#4 Grodecki/Schidlovsky, Einbinder/DeBracamonte, Jacobson/Wong, #5 Ordway/Lee

Telkedzhiev/Ali, Reid/Murad, Raventos/Shastri, Revzin/Solimano

 

QUARTERS:

#1 Planche/Ellis (Bates) vs. Smolyar/Mountifield (Midd)

#6 Savage/Tercek (Bowdoin) vs. #3 Yaraghi/Zykov (Amherst)

#4 Grodecki/Schidlovsky (Williams) vs. Jacobson/Wong (Tufts)

Reid/Murad (Colby) vs. Revzin/Solimano (Amherst)

 

SEMIS:

#1 Planche/Ellis (Bates) vs. #3Yaraghi/Zykov (Amherst)

#4 Grodecki/Schidlovsky (Williams) vs. #2 Revzin/Solimano (Amherst)

 

FINALS:

#2 Revzin/Solimano (Amherst) over #1 Planche/Ellis (Bates)

 

 

D3Regional’s pick:

#1 Planche/Ellis (Bates) over Campbell/Schlanger (Midd)

 

So, as you can see, we’re both going with some pretty well known names in our picks. Sue us. They’re seeded (albeit some of them foolishly) for a reason. Thanks to D3R for adding his take on some of the darker horses of the tournament. I’ll be back to recap Friday’s events. Look to my coming at first darkness of the fifth day (of the week). At the first star light, look online.

Leave a Comment