ITA Regional Preview: South

There are two reasons to get excited for this tournament. One, after three years of the Goodwin/Pottish two-headed monster, the position of top Eagle is up for grabs, and they have 6 or 7 guys capable of taking it. Two, Coach Modise left NCW, and most of his best players left with him. What will happen to NCW under Coach Richardson? The Battling Bishops have thrived in recent years by filling a unique recruiting niche, but international recruiting was a Modise specialty. Will Richardson be as effective? Their roster lists three returning starters–Kjielberg, Prostak, and Hviid– and I’m not sure if they will be able to turn that into a viable roster. If they have any new freshman or transfer to add some much-needed depth, we’ll probably know in a couple weeks.

Teams Involved

Emory, NCW, (Sewanee?)

Singles Contenders

It would be absurd to pretend that Emory doesn’t absolutely own the singles portion of this tournament (they had 7 of 8 quarterfinalists here last year), but there honestly isn’t a legitimate favorite in this tournament. If I had to list favorites, I guess I would put them in this order:

Ian Wagner (Emory)

Wagner played highest in the lineup last year, and he only lost one match to a DIII player all season. He also had some solid results this summer. Most importantly, however, he showed he could win a three-set match when it matters. Some really good players fold under the pressure of a tournament like this, but I think Wagner is the Emory sophomore least likely to do so. (To be clear, all of the Emory sophomores have proven themselves clutch. I just think Wagner might be more clutch). Once again, if I had to pick a favorite, it would be him. At the same time, he lost to Ruderman in the quarters here last time, so…

Alex Ruderman (Emory)

Ruderman played #6 singles last year, and I consider him the second favorite to win this tournament. That’s how deep Emory was last year. Even though he played behind Halpern, there really isn’t any proof that one of them is better than the other. I’m guessing Halpern won a challenge match at some point, but Ruderman won every singles match he played last year with the exception of a 2 and 2 loss to Goodwin in the semis here last year. I’m putting Ruderman ahead of Halpern because, while they both got to the semifinals here last year, Ruderman had to travel a harder road to get there.

Eric Halpern (Emory)

Looking at the scores from the shellackings Halpern and Ruderman leveled on their overmatched opponents at 5 and 6 really doesn’t tell the story of how close they are to being some of the best players in DIII. Unfortunately, one of them will get stuck at #3 again this year (at the highest), so it will remain hard to know exactly how good they are. Halpern can make sure he gets to play the big guns by winning this tournament.

Robert Kjellberg (NCW)

What’s a non-Emory player doing on this list? Well, Kjellberg was the only non-Emory player to make it to the quarterfinals here last year, and he gave Pottish a hell of a run when he did (losing 4 and 6). He finished last season on a five-match winning streak, he recently won a round of qualifying at the Claremont Futures, and he’s still on the NCW roster. That last one is very important.

Dark Horses

Kahler, Lavoie-Perusse, Szczurek, and the Emory freshman class (Emory)

I couldn’t really justify putting any non-singles starter on the list of “contenders,” but realistically, the three Emory upperclassmen are right there with the returning sophomores. Kahler didn’t start in singles last year, but he was a force in doubles. Szczurek, despite having the coolest last name in Division III, had a bit of a sophomore slump last year, but that doesn’t mean he’s not the same player who got a bunch of good wins for them at #4 in 2011. If he rededicated himself over the summer, he could be in the mix. Lavoie-Perusse is another player that got bumped out of the starting lineup last year by the phenomenal class, but he was great for Emory in 2011. He also got to the quarterfinals here last year, and will not be an easy-out. Aside from those three, Emory has another staggeringly good freshman class coming in, who could all be poised to repeat what last year’s class did. They are headlined by Rafe Mosetick, who topped out at 61 in the country this year.

Sewanee?

No Sewanee player actually has a chance to win this. I just wanted to point at that the small school in the middle of Nowhere, Tennessee has put together back-to-back solid recruiting classes, and could sneak into the top 30 by the end of the year. Perhaps one of their freshmen will win a couple rounds.

Doubles Contenders

Have I mentioned that Emory has too many good tennis players yet? Well it’s true. Though Emory couldn’t get a team into the finals last year, they will almost definitely win this year’s tournament. Kahler and Wagner have to be the favorites, as they are the only decent returning doubles team in the region, but the other top 2 Emory teams will obviously have a chance. Other than that, the only two players I could possibly see winning this tournament are…

Kjellberg/Hviid (NCW)

Kjellberg teamed with Rumyantsev to win this tournament last year, so he obviously has some doubles skills. With Rumyantsev, he also won matches against Kenyon, Hopkins, Mary Washington, Chicago, Christopher Newport, and Whitman (three of those teams made the all-American team last year). Who knows how good he can be without his former partner, but Hviid is still on the roster, and he definitely… absolutely… started for NCW in doubles last year. I really have no idea how good he is, but as far as doubles partners go, I think Hviid is all Kjellberg has, and he could do worse.

Doubles Favorites

Kahler/Wagner (Emory)

Wagner and Kahler were filthy-good for the Eagles last year, especially when playing guys who’s last name didn’t rhyme with “Bazumovsky.” Aside from their two losses to Kenyon’s #2 team, Wagner and Kahler lost exactly one DIII match last year. That’s tough to do with prosets. They had a number of easy victories over ranked teams, and they even beat the Sun/Micheli “#2” doubles team from Williams. Though they didn’t play #1 doubles last year, they are just about the only returning doubles team in this region. Emory almost definitely going to take back this doubles title, and I think these are the guys to do it.