Not-So Rapid Reaction: Amherst/Hop and Match Preview Herst/CMU

If you didn’t know, Hopkins played Amherst today in a battle of potential top 5 and most definitely top 10 teams in the upcoming year.  The match was played on the new Johns Hopkins courts, which is a great way to bring in the season and the new complex.  Thing is, there were no scorecards.  Thankfully both the Amherst and Hopkins twitter accounts were on point as usual and were able to provide us great updates for the 5-4 thriller that was completed today.  I swear that these fall matches that Amherst/Hopkins/CMU schedule every year always come down to the wire.  Today, Amherst quieted the haters for a hot second as they took out a team that is very high on my power ranking list this year.  I’m going to give you my rapid reaction thoughts on today’s match as well as doing a quick preview on the CMU/Amherst match that is occurring tomorrow.  I’ll keep this mostly Hopkins based as our favorite writer D3Northeast will be doing his own little recap of Amherst’s weekend in about two or three days.  You know, gotta spread the wealth with these articles and keep it real.

  1. What can we really take from this match? – Well honestly, a little bit. Despite some key missing players (Zykov and Fife of Amherst, Lim of Hopkins), this match still featured most of the starting lineups for both teams.  First things first (I’m the realest), but Michael Buxbaum is set to have a huge year this year.  He rightly defaulted out of the singles tournament down in SC to come back for this match for the second straight year, and went out and spanked Michael Solimano in a straight set cruiser.  That’s impressive.  Anyways, this match basically proved to us that both these teams are going to be in the hunt at the end of the year.  This is bad news for the guys looking for #1 seeds.  I’m looking at Case, CMU, Chicago, and Middlebury.  Those teams better hope they get some good wins this year.
  2. What’s going on with Tanner Brown? – Something that really interests me is Tanner Brown’s fall from grace recently. Now, he’s never really hit his stride in the fall so this could be an aberration, but I personally think Hopkins is a well-playing Brown from really being in the top 4 conversation.  It’s no joke that Brown took out Nik Marino last year in the NCAAs and Hopkins looked like a super legit team.  He got beaten handily by Yaraghi today.  While AY is a great player, he also played #5 for a championship team last year.  The Jays need Brown to hop out of his funk a little bit.
  3. Rough start in doubles – Hopkins really relied on doubles last year to give them a boost when they needed it. They theoretically have the same team as last year, but Erik Lim is abroad I believe or simply not playing with the team this fall.  This changes the doubles dynamic because Joachim and Garcia move up to #2, where they had some trouble today.  Last year, they were a great #3 team, beating a ton of great teams in the process.  If they can be pushed back down when Lim returns, that’d be a big boost for the Jays doubles lineup.
  4. The DIII Season is Back – After a great year last year, I can finally say that the Men’s DIII Tennis season is officially back. Unfortunately we will probably only get one more good match (tomorrow) for the rest of the fall, but if this is anything like what’s to come, the spring will be worth waiting for.  Today’s match set up two relatively unknown players in Walsh of Hop and Arnaboldi of Amherst against each other at 4-4 playing for two top 6 teams.  That’s great drama, and of course it went 3 sets.

Quick Preview of Amherst/CMU

Now, I’m not going to be unfair and give a full breakdown preview for Amherst/CMU since I didn’t do it for Hopkins/Amherst, but tomorrow’s match is going to be really interesting.  One thing that has been cited in the past is that Amherst oftentimes has to hop on a bus and travel straight to Pittsburgh to play the Tartans in the second match.  They don’t get a great amount of sleep and traveling is tough.  After a long day today, how will they respond?  Another thing to note is that Christian Heaney-Secord is almost definitely not playing for CMU, so this will again feature a key departure from the projected starting lineup for both teams.  With CMU coming out fresh, this is a trap match for Amherst because people seem to be underestimating the Tartans this year.  They’ll be throwing out what looks to be the same singles lineup that they did last year (minus Heaney-Secord) and we all know that lineup was a force.  Not to mention that, but they also had a team make the finals of ITAs and be match points within the Jays #1 team that played today.  That’s a very encouraging sign for them.

Tomorrow, CMU basically has to get out of doubles with at least one point.  If they don’t, they aren’t pulling their patented singles magic to get out of the jam.  Clearly, the best place to catch the Lord Jeffs is at #1 doubles.  Will the combination of Beisswanger/Kumar be enough to take that team down?  Remember, this is a team that played #2 last year to the tune of average results.  If they’ve truly taken their game up a notch they win one tomorrow for the Tartans.  The other two spots are up in the air as I don’t even know which teams will be playing.  In singles, I personally think the Tartans have the advantage at #1, #3, #4, and #5.  With the absence of Heaney-Secord, I’m projecting they’ll throw their freshman Edward Ang into the mix at #6 singles.  That’ll be an interesting match in his first high-pressure dual match of his young career.  Remember that these are on CMU’s home courts, which definitely should not be discounted.  My gut is telling me to go CMU, and it’s also telling me this one is going to come down to 5-4 again.  I’m going to go out on a limb and say Beisswanger/Kumar are no fluke, people realize that Wadwani (#5 singles) took a set off of Buxbaum and Kenny Zheng and Kiril Kirkov are still beasts.  I’m taking the home team in this one, 5-4.  For the ASouth’s purposes, let’s hope I’m right.

Well, it’s been a nice journey with you folks.  It’s 4AM and yea… things are getting real.  I’ll see you guys tomorrow at 12 noon ET for of course the only sporting events that I’ll be watching on a Sunday in the middle of October.  That’s right, fall DIII tennis.  I mean seriously, check out this tweet.

Seriously, that’s freakin great.  Until next time ladies and guys, ASouth… OUT.

5 thoughts on “Not-So Rapid Reaction: Amherst/Hop and Match Preview Herst/CMU

  1. pritz

    Nice post but not sure I agree with you about Buxbaum’s defaulting at ITAs…I have played competitive tennis most of my life and double booking tournaments is considered a moral no no. Would he have pulled out if he were playing for national title rather than 3-4 match?….He should have never entered ITAs if he weren’t prepared to finish!

    1. D3AtlanticSouth

      I think it’s a tough call. This weekend is the only time Amherst comes down to the ASouth coast to play both Hopkins and CMU. If I’m a Hopkins coach, I don’t sacrifice that opportunity because one of my players might make nationals. Hopkins plays in a tough region where they theoretically might not get a player in Fall Nationals. Do you strip your team of a good opportunity to play the defending champions because one of your players might make it?

      In this case, it seems like an individual performance versus a team performance and to me, I go team performance every single time.

      1. pritz

        I agree that team takes precedence over individuals which is exactly why Buxbaum should never had been in the National ITA event. As Solimano did, he should have given his spot to the regional runner up. He and his coach knew about the conflict ahead of time. And, again, would he have forfeited had he been playing for the individual title instead of 3/4 match.? Buxbaum should never have been in ITA individuals….seems that he and his coach were a bit selfish. They took an opportunity away of another deserving young man.

        1. D3West

          I’m with Pritz. Even if you’re gonna say that Alla didn’t deserve to go because he didn’t win his regional or something, I would be pretty disappointed not to get to play my 3rd place match if I were Chen. These guys take a whole week off school (which we all know is a huge deal), the least they deserve is to actually get to play tennis for making that sacrifice.

          1. D3AtlanticSouth

            Oh no definitely. Buxbaum probably shouldn’t have went given the match was on Saturday. I was saying in the moment, that was the best choice. Everything preceding… not my call.

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