Play-In Panda-monium

Aight, aight, aight. I know D3AS has got his national swag on, so Ima let him go ahead and do the small college nationals preview, but when it comes to the play-in matches, in the words of the late, great Colonel Sanders, “This is my dojo.”

PandaWe’ve got Whitman and Trinity squaring off in both matches for the fourth year in a row. These guys have a nice little mini friendvalry going because of these annual face-offs, and the two teams have split the last couple years.

Initiating cliche generator…

This is a very unique match offering a very unique kind of pressure

Nobody wants to lose this match and watch the rest of the week as homework starts to pile up

All participants should feel very proud of themselves for becoming all-Americans, even if it meant just beating the rest of their teammates to get here

I thank God every day I get to step out there on that cou…..

…Anyways, while that thing is getting booted back up, I’ll get to the matches

Singles

Andrew La Cava (Whitman) vs. Paxton Deuel (Trinity)

Last year with Skinner and Malesovas, I really had no idea what to make of the singles match because neither of the two of them had done anything in DIII up to that point in their careers. This year, we at least know what we’re gonna get with La Cava. The little guy is gonna get to everything and make some pretty incredible volleys, but he doesn’t have a ton of weapons from the baseline. I know nothing about Deuel, but I’m sure these guys are at least somewhat familiar with each other being from the same section and everything. As far as a prediction goes, this is a tough one. La Cava absolutely destroyed Frey in this match a couple years ago, and he’s well acquainted with the odd atmosphere surrounding this match (teams warming up and chatting all over the place), so he’s got the edge in terms of experience. Deuel, however, is coming out a harder regional where he decimated several good players. I’m guessing this one will be a doozy, but based solely on the impressiveness of Deuel’s regional win, I’m gonna take him in three close sets. If he does win, it could be Skinner all over again for TU

Doubles

La Cava/Rivers (Whitman) vs. Thompson/Guin (Trinity)

Whew, did you like that BS? Well, I’ve got some more for you here because I have even less to go on with this match. I’m not going to do any advanced calculus to make this prediction. La Cava and Rivers got to the finals of this tournament last year. I’ve never even heard of Thompson and Guin. Until they prove otherwise, I’m going to write them off as a somewhat-fluky regional champ. Now, anything can happen in a doubles match, especially when nerves and big serves come into play, so I’m thinking the TU guys take a set before falling in the 10-pointer. Though I haven’t seen him play with Rivers, La Cava is easily in the top 5 doubles players in the country. The kid closes faster than the federal government, and
when the chips are down, he’ll take over this match.

I just hope everyone has fun out there this weekend

2 thoughts on “Play-In Panda-monium

  1. ILoveD3Tennis

    Correction — even though it was held a few weeks ago.

  2. ILoveD3Tennis

    Maybe I missed it, but it sure would be nice for me and all of your loyal readers to read a summary of the national singles and doubles championship, even if it was held a few weeks ago.

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