Wow, what a day of DIII tennis. Amherst really played a phenomenal match, and those seniors will leave the program with a pair of national championships. Joey Fritz might as well just march his way into the DIII tennis hall of fame with impeccable posture and his racquet gripped firmly in his right hand after that clinch. If I were to make a DIII Tennis Studs Calendar, he would be Mr. May, June, July, and August. May because he gets it done at the end of the season; June, July, and August because he’s hot. As for the Stags, that’s another tough break, and they’ll have to deal with another year of people talking about them not being able to win the big one. For those who say that, get bent. You can’t take a national championship for granted. The Stags didn’t. The knew they would have to fight tooth and nail for every match, and they did. Amherst was simply better today. All the best to Big Z and the Mamba. They really laid it on the line both today and all season. Don’t forget that Wood, Dorn, Marino, and Butts will all be back next year. What’s bigger than a quest? #StagsOnACrusade.
Lost in the madness, we shouldn’t forget about the amazing performance of the Trinity Tigers. After going down 2-1 and down a double break in three singles matches early, they appeared to be totally out of it, but they roared back (see what I did there) to finish 3rd. Very impressive fortitude to come back from sniffing the national championship match the day before and being denied. Unfortunately, the end of that match wasn’t quite as seemly as it could have been. Looking forward to Smolyar returning next year as one of the best players in the country, as he’ll get stronger from this experience.
Much more on that later, but onto individual nationals. Here’s what D3NE has to say about this, because this was all his idea (He’s my blogger of the year, btw. Great offseason acquisition from The Headmaster):
Instead of going with a match-by-match preview for the 1st few rounds of Individuals, we here at THE BLOG figured we’d give you some insight in other ways. If you want our match predictions, just check out our brackets. I have put together a couple of questions for each regional writer, and hopefully their combined ideas will suffice for now. Let’s get shaking.
SINGLES
1) What is the 1st round matchup that intrigues you most and why?
ASouth: So many to choose from! A particular match that intrigues me personally is Cardenas and Ruderman. Cardenas is a top 4 player in his region and Ruderman has been pegged by me to win it all. Both guys will be fresh and ready to go. I think this will be one of the matches of the tournament.
Central: Seriously you could pick almost any of the first round match-ups. For me, I think Dorn/Carswell will be interesting. Carswell won in two breakers the first time they played, but the real question is will Carswell be back to 100% (hospital for high temp on Sunday) and will Dorn have fresh legs.
NE: Butts/Fritz. So much emotion the day before, tough 1st round for the overall #2 seed
West: Buxbaum/Marino. Probably the second best player in his region has to play a guy who has proven himself to be among the best in the country in the first round. Moreover, Marino will be hungry for more after today.
2) Which mini-region (group of 4) do you think has the most potential champions?
ASouth: Don’t sleep on the Fritz/Butts/Alla/Metzler combination. While Metzler is a bit overmatched, you can make a case for three of those guys to win it all. Fritz has always been in the conversation and Alla has been forgotten since his Fall ITA win. Butts is obviously really good as well.
Central: I am going to be boring and pick similar to the others. Cardenas/Ruderman/Heerboth/Johnston is ridiculous. I don’t want to be a part of any region where Heerboth might be the weakest player.
NE: Cardenas/Ruderman/Heerboth/Johnston is a ridiculous region, but i think the Krimbill/Lipscomb/Micheli/Heaney-Secord region should not go unnoticed.
West: Is there any other choice than Cardenas/Ruderman/Heerboth/Johnston? That region is stacked.
3) What seed do you think has to most and least favorable draw?
ASouth: You may forget he’s a seed, but I think Steven Wu has the most favorable draw in terms of the seeds. He has to play two potential guys that will be tough but they are definitely beatable in Halpern and Sabada/Konstantinov. If he’s able to get out of the region, he’ll run into either a tired Fritz, a tired Butts, or Alla. That’s tough, but he’s lucky that they’ll be beating up against each other before they play him. Don’t discount that. In terms of least favorable draw, it has to be Fritz. I picked that as the stacked mini-region and he’ll have to go out there and take no days off.
Central: I would have to say Krimball for least favorable. Drawing Micheli in the first round is tough and then he would most likely have to play Libscomb in the next round. While there are other tougher first rounds, this one is difficult back to back. Most favorable is Wood no doubt, but he deserves it as the top seed.
NE: I like Deuel’s draw, but I’m still not sure he gets out of it. This whole bracket is going to be nearly impossible to predict, so much talent. Fritz having to match up with Butts and possibly Alla the day after playing for a National Championship, that sucks.
West: Most favorable: Deuel. Big win against Johnston today proves he has the ability to go deep, and he might get his legs some rest if he can play well in the early-going. Least Favorable: Ruderman (kinda goes with the territory of being the seed in the most stacked mini-region)
4) Give me your in-region dark horse who will make a deep run
ASouth: Eric Halpern is the in-region dark horse for the ASouth. Halpern is a guy that made Fall Nationals and has a history of solid play. He hasn’t been the normal Halpstennis all year, but he has a somewhat favorable draw if he can get past Wu. I wouldn’t be surprised if he takes his game to the next level and drops some winners on the field.
Central: No promises, but Sprinkel has been flying under the radar since his fall ITA run.
NE: I think Carl Reid (who, you might ask) can get through Deuel’s little region. Mr. Suit and Tie has nothing but win all year long, and I’m excited to see how the freshman hadles NCAAs.
West: Nobody from the West is really a Dark Horse at this point, but look for Lipscomb to get through to the semis over an exhausted Wood
5) Will the fatigue factor set in for players on any of the Semifinal teams (CMS, Amherst, Trinity Tx, Midd)?
ASouth: Yes, absolutely. We’ve seen guys like Chris Goodwin succumb to the team tournament and this will be no different. A lot of these guys have been playing in three-set battles and it’s tough to play another 3-4 matches after that. Especially if your team hasn’t won.
Central: You try playing 7 straight days of emotionally charged tennis. Yes it will play a factor.
NE: Absolutely. If any of the CMS guys (though there are 4 to choose from, those are some good odds) win it all, I’ll be shocked.
West: See previous answer. Unless your name is Adam Putterman, a week like this always takes its toll on the players
5) Finally, let’s hear it. Who you got? Who’s the runner up?
ASouth: I’ve been sticking with the man Ruderman all year and now is not the time to give up the dream. The dude is fresh right now and despite a loss to Fritz, he’s going to come back ready to grind some weary souls down. My runner-up is a surprising pick of Abhishek Alla, because I want to represent my reason and this dude can catch fire at any time. That being said, I have 0 confidence in my picks.
Central: I did my bracket in about 3 minutes as I had to catch a plane so I can go on a date with ASouth (no I really am buying him that drink). I picked Wood there, but I am going to go nuts and pick Konstantinov.
NE: I’m going mini upsets all over the place. I like Loutsenko to win it all, and I have him beating The Russian Rocket (Konstantinov) in the finals.
West: I already forgot what I put for the bracket, but I think it’s Fritz over Ruderman in the finals for me.
DOUBLES
1) Similarly to singles, what is the 1st round matchup that most intrigues you?
West: After what happened in the Whitman/Wash U NCAA individuals match last year, and given the fact that these two teams just played each other a week ago, that should be a good one.
ASouth: It’s gotta be LaCava/Malesovas vs. Putterman/Bush for me. These guys just played last week and Whitman has given the two some trouble in the past. Putterman/Bush are my favorites for the tournament, but they could really not get out of the first round. That’s a crazy matchup.
Central: Consensus on the Whitman/Wash U.
NE: Very excited to see two tired teams do battle once again. Even though Johno/Lebo and Butts/Kotrappa didn’t square off when these two teams played yesterday, this match should provide some fireworks.
2) Which team got screwed by the draw?
West: Buxbaum/Walsh. Yikes.
ASouth: Yea, Buxbaum/Walsh for me too. That’s tough.
Central: See above. #2 seed gets a team they just lost to.
NE: After WashU fell to the Whitman #1 team in the Sweet 16, they’ll have a chance for revenge in the 1st round. Tough draw for the overall #2 seed though.
3) Useeded team (not necessarily in-region) you think will make a run
West: I don’t hate Bates’ chances of beating Wood/Dorn against to get to the semis
ASouth: My pick here is the Middlebury doubles team of Johnston/Lebovitz. That’s a really quality team that can catch fire. Both have big serves and they have the experience. Also keep an eye out for Holt/Shamshiri of Washington and Lee. That team made a run last year and there’s no reason to think they can’t do it again.
Central: I am going to go in region here and say that Kopecky and Miles from Depauw could do some damage. Two seniors with just doubles to focus on.
NE: I could see both Bates and Skidmore making a run. Both have winnable 1st round matches, and will likely go overlooked in the brackets with tough 2nd round. If Wood/Dorn play well in the singles, they should be absolutely cooked come doubles play.
4) Who’s winning it all? Runners-up?
West: This tournament is so impossible to predict, but I’ll go with Wood/Dorn over Knight/Loutsenko.
ASouth: So, so tough to pick this one. I know my pick will be wrong but I’m personally going with Bush/Putterman. I have them going up against Fritz/Reindel in the finals, but I might change that to Berg and Planche. God, I just don’t know.
Central: If Putterman and Bush get through the first round, they are my pick to win it. Dorn and Wood have the goods to get to the finals, but will be gassed.
NE: The dubs is so fun because literally any of the 16 teams can win it all. I’m taking Putterman/Bush to win it all over an exhausted (but still very talented) Wood/Dorn team.
“not to be a dick but how sad is it that we don’t get to see your region of death on the livestream. we get womens tennis”
“Look at how fast those women’s matches go lol. It’s like they flip coins for games…”
Two tweets from writers at a site called ‘Division 3 Tennis’.
I guess all the Divison 3 women’s tennis teams should be in the kitchen making sammiches, right bros?
Let’s get back to the REAL tennis-everyone knows female athletes don’t work as hard, spend as much time with their teams, travel to national tournaments after having successful regular season matches, and want as much recognition and respect as their male counterparts get, right?
You’re right. I apologize for saying that stuff, I didn’t want for it to come off that way. I was frustrated that Heinrich/Putterman was in a third set and we were watching Gabby Clark warming up. That was a bit frustrating to me, as you could imagine.
So overall, I apologize. I’m not insinuating at all that “women should be in the kitchen making sammiches,” because that’s insane. I think that was a bit of an overreaction. Either way, sorry that it came off like that. Hope you continue to follow me on twitter despite this. Thank you!
And you’re right-it was an overreaction, so I apologize for that. Women’s sports so often get the short end of the stick, and as a former college athlete it’s tough to see how little things have changed since I played.
I’m glad to see D3 tennis getting some love-maybe next year someone can take a stab at a women’s preview? I know the men’s is more popular, but it’s hard to get folks interested if there’s nothing out there at all.
Let’s fight the real enemy-the HORRIBLE cameras (and decisions about which courts to show) of the NCAA streaming video, and the pitiful commentating. 🙂
Definitely understandable! Totally my bad though.
and ha! Now that’s an idea. I admittedly don’t have much knowledge about the DIII Women’s circuit, but hey… if any of the ladies out there want to step up and take a stab at it, I’d be all for it!
And don’t even get me started about the live stream. Great that we have it and I love it, but I don’t wanna watch only CMS players all day. But hey, take what we can get, right?
I agree wholeheartedly with AS. We’ve been trying to expand to the women’s game for a couple years, but nobody has stepped forth to take on the load. At this point, the site is pretty much at capacity, se we would either have to collaborate on separate sites or make a completely new site, but if you know anyone who’s interested in writing for free about DIII women’s tennis in their spare time, please let us know.
You’re totally right that it’s hard to get people interested without proper coverage
You’re also right that a site called “division3tennis.com” should include all DIII tennis, but the domain name was actually bought over a decade ago, so we can’t really change that now. We also can’t really change the fact that the current writers know nothing about DIII women’s tennis (and are criticized for not knowing enough about DIII men’s tennis as it is).
Again, please pass this on to anyone you know: we would love to collaborate on an expansion to the women’s game.
It’s really nice of both of you to respond! I’m completely new to D3 tennis, and have enough of a conflict of interest that I, alas, don’t feel comfortable contributing.
I’m not sure what the solution is, to be honest. It’s really admirable that you all take on the extra work for this project-I imagine it takes a lot of time and energy. And yes, I completely understand about the domain name. It would take some extra time, but since you already have the links for most of the D3 teams’ websites, maybe a quick cut and paste for the Women’s nationals? Divided up that might not take too much time-the NCAA site also does an ok job with coverage. Even reposting might not be such a bad way to at least acknowledge the Women’s side for folks that frequent your enthusiastic coverage of the Men’s side.
If I happen to think of anything more constructive I’ll be in touch, but in the meantime, thanks again for the thoughtful responses.
There is no point in attacking the bloggers for only covering the men. They are former players on the men’s side who take time out of their day jobs (I think) to write about their alma maters and rival teams. It is unfair to accuse them of only recognizing men– they only recognize men because that is what they are interested in. Men’s and women’s tennis are different sports with different players. Should the bloggers also cover D1 tennis then? Is it their fault that there aren’t former female players who take time to run a great blog like this? If no alumni on the women’s side care enough to write a blog for the women, it is also likely indicative of the lower interest level/ demand for D3 women’s tennis coverage. These guys are not obligated to cover both mens and women’s tennis anyway, and are allowed to write about whatever they want since they aren’t even affiliated with anyone. The reason D3 players like the blog so much is because it is all about them, their sport, and their opponents. Writing about a whole different cast of athletes that we never deal with would alter the integrity of the blog, and interest level in the blog wouldn’t be the same.
Think there is some misunderstanding here. The commenter was referring to a few of my misplaced comments on twitter about the livestream switching over to men, which were a bit distasteful. I do appreciate you looking out for us though! You definitely have some good points – hey maybe a few women will step up and be able to write for about DIII Womens Tennis some day. The world may never know.
AtlanticSouth is right, my intent wasn’t to attack this blog for not covering women’s tennis. Admittedly I was exaggerating in my first post, but the conversation since then has been a respectful one.
Tennis is often one of the few sports played by both men and women that is covered simultaneously (though not as much with college sports, I’m beginning to learn), so I was a bit confused when I saw this website, which came up after a search of D3 tennis, and it had no women’s coverage. It’s really as simple as that.
I wonder if it might be feasible to reach out to any women covering D3 sports at their respective school newspapers? Having worked in a newsroom before, I know firsthand that there are very few women sportswriters. However, the few that are usually cover women’s sports, so this might be a possible way to solicit some women who might want to take up the hobby.
All this being said, it’s really neat that this site is here-I know D1 tennis gets most of the love.
A great idea in theory, but that being said I’m not sure of the success rate. The problem with reaching out simply to writers in newspapers is that they usually know only about their school’s tennis teams. So, we would need two criteria; #1 being that they write for the newspaper and #2 being that they play on the tennis team and can give a good article on all of D3Women’s Tennis. That’s hard to find.
I’m also under the belief that there are a good amount of women’s teams out there that know this site exists. I have followers from women’s teams and have gotten feedback from some as well. Coaches are also aware this exists. So far, no one has stepped up to the plate but we’re always on the lookout.
If there is anyone out there that wants to write about women’s tennis or in general, email me at d3atlanticsouth@gmail.com!
Can you do a prediction for the individual and team rankings? Curious to see where you think everything will end up…thanks I really enjoy the blog
I’m sure we’ll do a power rankings, but based on the way the ITA has done things before, the final rankings should look something like this for teams:
1. Amherst
2. CMS
3. Trinity
4. Middlebury
5. Wash U
6. Emory
7. Johns Hopkins
8. Case Western
9. Carnegie Mellon
10. Pomona-Pitzer
11. Williams
12. Kenyon
13. Whitman
14. GAC
15. Mary Wash
16. …. the same as the previous rankings because there are no new results…
they might change a few things up, but nothing major
As far as singles and doubles rankings, we might give it an effort, but ranking the top 50 singles players has always been more of a “I dunno, what do you guys think?” Sort of exercise than anything else because there are so many results. Even more so for doubles.
Glad to see someone give Carl Reid some recognition. The kid has been killing it this year, but no ones really noticed because Colby isn’t quite as competitive as most of the teams being represented. Tough matchup with Deuel, but if he can get through that one, then he could make a good run