ITA Regional Preview: Northeast

ITA Regional Preview: Northeast!

Hola, it’s your favorite new blogger D3Regional! I’m stealing the intro from D3NE this time around. The ITA Northeast tournament has been dominated the past few years by Mr. Oliver Loutsenko, everyone’s favorite Skid Kid (I’m not letting this go D3NE). He made the semis of singles his freshman year, the finals of singles his sophomore year, won the singles his junior year, and won both singles and doubles his senior year! Now that’s an upward trend if I have ever seen one. This year, with him gone, along with Steven Wu of NYU, who had a fantastic career, the tournament is wide open! D3NE will be focusing more on the ranked squads and I’ll take the regional teams. So let’s get into it, eh?

The teams:

#22 Skidmore, #30 NYU, #37 (is this ranked?) Rochester, #38 RPI, #40 Stevens, Vassar, TCNJ, Hobart, Ithaca, Drew, other similar teams blah blah blah

Singles:

The Favorite:

D3R:

Matthew Heinrich (Stevens): If you want to call anyone a favorite in this tournament, it has to be Heinrich of Stevens. Yes, the guy made the quarters last year (which happens to be further than any current player made it, which is crazy) but then he followed that up with an unbelievable season, making the NCAA tournament and losing in the second round. This guy is way more accomplish than anyone else in the tournament, especially with Matt LaBarre of RPI having disappeared off the face of the earth. He really only had one “bad loss” I would say (Roberto Perez of Babson, who is solid), and only lost six times all last year (Twice to Wu of NYU)! I’m a #HenrichManeuver fan.

D3NE:

As this is really D3R’s preview, imma keep my stuff short and sweet. As of now I see there being a distinct possibility that only Skidmore ends the season in the top-30. I hope this isn’t true, otherwise D3R is gonna have his hands full of NE teams. As for this ITA, Matty H. is the favorite, hands down.

Players to Watch:

D3R:

CJ Leong: I have always been a huge fan of this big man from Singapore. He has become a way more consistent player in his time at NYU, as him and Aaron Meltzer often switched off at that #2 singles spot behind Steven Wu. He has a huge game, and on quick courts, can be pretty unstoppable at times. If his head is in the match, he is definitely worth keeping his eye on!

Nick Litsky (Vassar): Lisky might not be the biggest Brewer on the Vassar campus, but man does this guy have a tricky game. He lost to a lot of good players last year, but it seems like he made some nice strides this summer, as he recently played #1 for them against Williams, and lost to Conrad Harron in a super breaker. He can get a little frustrated at times, but I like Litsky to make a nice run.

Daniel Cooper (Vassar): Cooper reminds me of a worse version of Dan Carpenter of Trinity College, and it is not just because he is left-handed and has the initials DC…and that they are both gingers…and they are both named Dan…are these guys identical twins? Anyway, Cooper has a big game, but it can be a little one-dimensional at times, and he is best on a quick court like those pesky indoor Vassar courts. He is definitely worth keeping his eye on, because when his lefty serve is on, he can be pretty deadly.

Pierce Cooper (TCNJ): This fellow played #2 last year for the Lions, and all he did was go undefeated in dual match play! His schedule was not great, but it was not a cupcake schedule either, with nice wins over Victor Vu of Babson, Ben Foran of Stevens, Alec Hoblitzell of Skid, Jonny Baker of Rochester, and Jarrett Reiger of RPI. He already has one very nice win already over Aaron Meltzer of NYU, so the guy is playing well. Look for this to be his coming-out party as the new #1 for TCNJ, as that squad looks to move up in the regional rankings.

D3NE:

Kit Green-Sanderson (Skidmore):   He is fresh off a B-flight win at the Middlebury Invite. In bringing home the trophy, he dispatched the likes of Ned Mandel and Allen Jackson. While he has had previous success at that early tournament, look for him to use his easy draw (toughest match before Heinrich is Litsky or Pickering and it’s not until the quarterfinals.

Aaron Meltzer (NYU): The big hitting junior hasn’t had the best fall, but he has a nice draw and is liable to run hot at anytime. Though he is seeded ahead of CJ, D3R and I both agree that Aaron is the Violet’s second best chance at a deep run.

Kai Yuen Lueng (Skidmore):   Lil’ Lok Sze is starting to make a name for himself. He went from being a bench player, to getting a start in an NCAA tournament match (although it’s not a match he’ll want to remember), to playing in the A-flight at Middlebury last weekend. Graduation will give Kai Yuen the chance to show his stuff. If he can get past Pierce Cooper, the draw opens up big time.

Dark Horses:

D3R:

Ben Shapiro (Rochester): Shapiro has been losing to his teammates so far this fall, but the guy played a pretty solid #1 for the Rochester bumblebees or whatever they are called. He admittedly did struggle a bit against top-notch number 1’s last season, but I know Shapiro has the game to make a run in this tournament. He’s in a nice part of the draw, near CJ Leong of NYU, who can be a little streaky, and I could see Shaprio getting into the quarters for a battle with Heinrich.

Jonny Baker (Rochester): Baker of the Rochester Wasps or whatever their name is played a good #2 all last season, peaking in April with big UAA tournament wins over Christian Heaney-Secord of Carnegie and Michael Arguello of Brandeis. So yeah, the guy can work it in the heat, but he also had some inconsistent losses earlier in the year. Similar to his hornet teammate, he would have a tough match against Sidd Thangirala/Tarantula, but I could definitely see him making the quarters for a showdown with Midd Invite B flight champ/Skid Kid Kit Sanderson.

Michael Feldman (Stevens): Feldman played mostly #3 last year for the Ducklings. He had a very consistent year, beating all the guys he was supposed to, losing the tough ones as well, along with a couple highlights in wins over Ted Burchett Redlands and John Larkin of Swarthmore. There are some very good, but not great players in his quarter, including Danko of Rochester, Cooper of Vassar, and freshman Tristan Wise of RPI. Definitely a section where I would not necessarily just expect the seeds to move through.

D3NE:

The rest of the Skidmore team:

Steven Koulouris, Lucas Pickering, Max Swerdlick, Ted Berkowitz:

Realistically, any of these guys could make a run. Somehow Koulouris is seeded, even after a mediocre performance last weekend. Of these four guys, Swerdlick has experience edge, and (along with Berkowitz) has the best draw of the group. Look for multiple Thoroughbreds to be playing on Sunday.

Doubles:

D3R:

Doubles is really tough to predict, and my brain is tired after coming up with different synonyms for Yellowjackets. Here’s my best shot…

D3NE:

The doubles is such a crap-shoot, especially before we really know how well these teams work together. I’m not even gonna give descriptions as this point…

The Favorite:

D3R:

Heinrich/Foran (Stevens): Heinrich’s the man of the weekend as far as this blog is concerned. They played together last year at the ITA tournament, winning two rounds and losing in the quarters to the champions Loutsenko and Knight. They did not play together in season, but it looks like the dream team is back together. Anything can happen in a pro set, but experience can definitely help out on big points.

D3NE:

Not a question. Gotta be Heinrich/Foran (Stevens)

Players to Watch / Dark Horses / They are the same because it’s doubles:

D3R:

Danko/Shapiro (Rochester): In a good part of the draw with the #1 doubles team from Vassar. These guys versus Heinrich/Foran could be a fun one.

Leung/Epstein (Skid): Lok-Sze junior can play some good doubles, as well as Jonah. I guess they might be the #3 Skid team based on seeding, but I could see them challenging Henrich/Foran in the top part of the draw.

D3NE:

Grimes/Mazz (RPI), Sanderson/Pickering (Skidmore) Tong/Kouloris (Skidmore)