Men’s Regional: 5 Burning Questions!

Fun (unrelated) fact: Eric Butorac, D3 legend, recently succeeded Roger Federer as ATP Player Council President

As I watch Fed battle in his quarterfinal match, I can’t help but get excited for this upcoming D3 tennis season. There are more relevant teams than ever before, and I’m excited to recognize some of the hard-working, blue-collar teams in their quest to crack the rankings. This season, I will be covering the teams currently ranked 31-40 as well as ten teams of my choice that I think are important teams to watch and deserve some articles written about them. I am not addressing every school in this article, but fear not, more is to come! Here are the twenty teams I will be gracing with my coverage this upcoming year: 31-40, which are Brandeis, Wesleyan, Colby, Washington and Lee, Coe, MIT, Rochester, RPI, Swarthmore, and Stevens. In the Northeast, I will also cover Vassar, Babson, and Connecticut College. In the Central, I will take Earlham and Kalamazoo. Occidental, Chapman, Cal Tech, and Lewis and Clark will represent the West, while Sewanee will be the lone additional wolf from the Atlantic South.

To begin, I give you my five burning questions for regionally ranked teams:

1.   What team will be the next Colby?

Last year, Colby shocked the world with a huge early-season win over Bates. They followed this up with a good win over Wisconsin-Whitewater. They stumbled towards the end, however, with losses to every NESCAC team on their schedule not named Hamilton or Connecticut College. One team to keep your eyes on is RPI, which had an up-and-down season last year but a couple nice wins over Skidmore and Stevens, although Skidmore beat them pretty badly in the Liberty League championship. They are bringing in a couple nice recruits, so if they can beef up their schedule a little this season, they have a chance to get some good wins. Swarthmore is also bringing in a great class of recruits, but they have had trouble taking advantage of talent in the past. I am not sure if there will be any win as significant as the Colby upset over Bates this year, but it should be fun to watch.

2.   Can any team from the west break through?

Whittier was one of my favorite teams to keep track of last year, as they improved a ton over the course of the season, finishing Ben Belletto’s first year with two great SCIAC tournament wins over Redlands and Cal Lutheran. While none of the teams I am covering have the talent of Whittier, I’ve picked a few west coast teams to cover that have good number 1’s, and have put some scares into ranked teams in the past. Teams like Chapman, Occidental, and Cal tech, being in the SCIAC, are tricky teams that will get their cracks against the best from both the west and east coast, and Lewis & Clark has a solid class coming in, as they look to catch up with Northwest Conference foe Whitman.

3.   Will Wes take advantage of their amazing recruiting class this year?

Wesleyan brought in a great class of freshmen last year, but had an up and down season, losing tough matches to Tufts and Trinity among others. They have the number two class in the country coming in this year, behind good old Chicago, so big things should theoretically be in the mix for the Cardinals. If they can sure up their doubles, the sky is the limit for these boys in the NESCAC, as lots of teams are in a transition stage with new players or new coaches. Their number one player Jake Roberts lost a lot of matches last season, while number two Michael Liu only lost three times in singles all spring, so it will be interesting to see what lineup they throw out there with all their recruits. The best talent doesn’t automatically mean a national championship, as we all know, so I hope the Cardinals are working hard and getting ready to take the city of Middletown by storm.

4.   Which teams will take the biggest steps back?

For every team that moves up, someone has to move back. Out of the teams I’m covering, I’m nervous that MIT will fail to live up to years past. They lost their great number one Edwin Zhang, as well as their number five Curtis Wu, who was extremely talented. They didn’t beat a single ranked team last year, and play a pretty tough out of conference schedule. Look for MIT vs. RPI, also known as the “Battle of the Engineers” (I take credit for this name when it becomes the next big thing), to really set the tone for MIT’s season. Colby also may struggle, depending on their depth after Carl Reid and Vlad Murad. They play with great energy, but often times last year, they would struggle in the 3-6 slots against ranked squads. We’ll see if either of the two stars they recruited can add some much-needed depth to the Mules. On a side note, can anyone enlighten me as to why Colby is named the Mules? Bates Bobcats and Bowdoin Bears both seem to have a better ring to them. Sorry Colby boys.

5.   Which teams in the 31-40 range will crack the (top 30) rankings?

There is a lot for me to watch in this fun group of twenty teams that I look forward to following over the next year. When it is all said and done, which teams will be able to call themselves a top 30 team? I’m picking the Wesleyan Cardinals, Brandeis Judges, and Washington and Lee Generals to finish ranked in the top 30, with the Cards ranked around 12 and the Judges and Generals both ranked around 25. Brandeis and Washington and Lee both have had very similar seasons the past few years. They have beaten all of the teams they should beat, and lost to the ranked teams, except for a big Brandeis win over Trinity. They both have a few two stars coming in this year, and are losing no starters. Both teams are talented and should become more experienced and consistent this year. Washington and Lee looks like they have ramped up their schedule, with a fun little northeast swing versus Tufts, Bowdoin, Wesleyan, and Middlebury, so both teams will have ample chances against ranked teams. Sorry to all the teams that I did not pick to finish ranked, but prove me wrong!!!

To address D3 Central’s article, there are some hashtag powerhouses in the regional department. We have #DropDemGavels and #RollDeis for Brandeis, #DucksOnAMission and #HeinrichManuever for Stevens, #StingOperation for Rochester, and #BleedPurple for Sewanee. Hopefully some more of these schools can get into the mix.

#D3RegOut