Rapid Reaction: Day 1 Indoors and Day 2 Previews

What else can we say about Day 1?  The day surely fed our hunger for DIII Tennis as the tournament was filled with upsets, crazy upsets, drama, doubles sweeps, and choppy live stats.  If that’s not DIII Tennis, I don’t really know what is.  The set-up of playing all 4 matches on three courts each allowed us to fawn over every single game and every single match at the same time, and I can’t wait until tomorrow.  If you thought today was good then you better get ready for tomorrow.  Day 2 matchups are looking promising – we even have the defending national champion and runner ups getting a rematch…. in the semifinals of consolation.  In this article I’ll be quickly recapping the Day 1 action as well as providing our Day 2 Previews.  Not sure if you guys should even listen to me at this point, considering my team to beat lost in the first round handily.  But, it’s the beginning of the season so all of you guys should give us another chance.  Sometimes you just can’t see upsets happen.  Let’s start with some recaps.

(7) Case Western defeats (2) Kenyon, 5-4

If you were to pick one underdog that had the best chance of winning today, it would have been the Spartans.  Case made do on the opportunity and pulled a typical “Case Western Win,” as they took the lead after some very solid doubles and took advantage of weak spots in the Kenyon lineup.  As I tweeted earlier today, the journey has been a long road for this team and they’ve now scored signature program wins in each of the past three years.  With a team that has the mindset of a champion, they are certainly a team to watch in both the near future as well as for years to come.  From Kenyon’s perspective, the Lords are about to hear a lot of doubters.  They were able to get a fairly healthy Razumovsky back for this match, which pushed everyone down in singles.  Yet, they were unable to get the win.  I had a ton of confidence in the Lords with Raz, but that was shot down real quick.  They better re-group fast because they get an angry opponent tomorrow….

(6) Johns Hopkins defeats (3) Emory, 5-3

Don’t let the final score fool you – this one was over at 5-1.  This match was by far the story of the day, as I had hyped Emory up prior to this tournament to unheard of levels.  Hopkins came out with their newly designed doubles lineup, featuring a freshman combo at the top and experienced players rounding out the bottom.  This new lineup surprised absolutely everyone by sweeping through doubles in EASY fashion.  The closest match was at #1 doubles which ended up being 8-6.  This was a truly dominant doubles performance from Hopkins and they will be put to the test in doubles tomorrow.  For Emory, it’s back to square one and time to salvage a good tournament.  They’ll be facing their rival Kenyon (a rematch of 2012 NCAAs, 2013 Indoor Nationals, no less) in the first round of consolation.  Let’s hope yesterday was a blip on the radar and they come out firing tomorrow.

(1) Washington University defeats (8) Redlands, 7-1

The Bears do this to every team that underestimates them.  There was a lot of talk both before AND during the match from some people that Redlands could pull this upset.  Please do not discount the coaching and the gaming attitude of the Bears.  With a potential scare in the beginning of doubles, Wash U was able to come out with two close doubles wins.  From then on, Wash U had the match under control as they took a quick decision at #3.  Carswell came back from an 0-6 first set to win at #2, and eventually the Bears swept the singles from 1-5.  This was a total team effort from the Bears and they have a bit of momentum moving into the semifinals.  For the Bulldawgs, we can call this somewhat of a missed opportunity.  They were close in doubles, and close in the first two singles matches as well.  Things started to unravel and they were never able to get back up.  Tomorrow represents a huge match as they’ll take on fellow SCIAC member CLU in what will be a very important match.

(5) Trinity TX defeats (4) Cal Lutheran, 7-2

This was the only match that really wasn’t all that close.  There came a point in time at about 3-3 in all the doubles matches that Trinity just turned it on.  They were able to get breaks and matches at #2 and #3 doubles, which pretty much wrapped things up because there was no way the Tigers weren’t splitting the singles matchup.  Trinity showed off their singles strength as well, as Paxton Deuel took out the transfer Cardenas, who I thought would be one of the best players in the tournament as well as the nation.  Deuel is clearly a top 5 player at this time, especially after today’s performance.  TTX was able to show off their depth as well, winning the bottom spots in the lineup in very short time.  It’s funny that this side of the draw will be well-rested going into tomorrow’s matches.  For CLU, this was somewhat expected as they were clearly an underdog.  They’re biggest match of the tournament is tomorrow, especially with who’s on the losing side of the other half of the draw.

 

Previews

From our very own D3West, please see below:

On the bottom half of the draw, the quarterfinal matches went about how you would expect them two. TU weathered the storm in doubles, and issued a comprehensive victory in singles over an undermanned CLU team. Wash U was pretty much the same story, only there were moments of uncertainty early in the singles when it appeared Redlands might be able to take the top two. Alas, it wasn’t to be for my fair Bulldogs, but nevertheless, the results may be informative for this semifinal match.

Believe it or not, these teams have a very similar makeup. Their doubles is solid with flashes of brilliance, and their singles are incredibly deep. What I think will set the Tigers apart in this match is strength at the top of the singles lineup and experience at the bottom. One way or another, the doubles will be a split. I think Wash U has an edge at #1, TU has an edge at #2, and #3 being pretty much a wash (no pun intended). If anything, I think experience gives Wash U the edge at #3, as the Bears take a 2-1 lead heading into singles. There, I think the only spots either team has a definitive advantage are #1 singles where Deuel should take out Putterman probably 8 out of 10 times and #2 singles where the defending ITA national champ should be able to oust a freshie. Bush probably has the advantage at #3, but I fully expect the toughness and experience of Moreno and Curtis to pull out a 5-4 win for the Tigers. The X-factor in this match is Noack. If Moreno can’t find a way to deal with his unorthodox style, that could swing the team match to Wash U, but I’m still going 5-4 TU.

D3AS Take: I basically agree with the above, but I think Wash U will just find a way to win like they always do.  Whether it be Noack at #4 or a surprise win at #6, I just think this team is full of winners and will pull this one out, especially with a wide-open field ahead of them.

 

For the top half matchup, this will be an interesting matchup that I’m pretty sure we have never seen before.  These two teams have absolutely 0 history playing against each other so this should be very fun.  Both teams showed today that they can play doubles with the best teams in the nation.  Hopkins was the surprise, but their new teams look pretty ridiculous.  Hopkins has a clear advantage at #2 doubles with Brown/Lim.  The other two matches look like they’ll be close and very hard to predict.  I see Hop coming out with a 2-1 lead and ready for singles.  The #1 singles match of Buxbaum vs. Krimbill will give us a better understanding of where everyone is at in the tournament.  Krimbill, coming off an easy performance today, should have the upper hand.  Hopkins however has advantages at #2 singles in Brown, #3 in Hwang, and #5 in Lim.  I think Case will make it interesting with a win at #4 singles, but Hopkins definitely should take #6 after a weak performance today from Case.  I’m going Hopkins in this one after a huge win, 6-3.

In the consolation round, we get powerhouses Emory versus Kenyon, both trying to avoid the matchup for the 7th/8th place match.  I think we can see from my above prediction that I believe the Emory/Hopkins matchup was the stronger one.  It’s not a good sign for Kenyon that their only doubles win came from Raz/Heerboth, and Raz looked weak in singles today.  Kenyon will have the advantage at #2 doubles, which is where Emory historically struggles, but the other two Emory teams have experience advantages and talent advantages and this should be 2-1 Emory after doubles.  However, keep in mind that they just got swept, so there is absolutely no definite here.  In singles is where this one gets a bit hairy.  Emory showed that they have the singles talent in their match against Hopkins.  With the performance that Raz put in yesterday, I’ve got to go Ruderman at #1.  #2 should go to Kenyon with the consistent Heerboth playing Mosetick, but that will be a tight one and could go three sets.  At #3, Geier is going to need to find his ITA form if he’s going to beat Halpern.  Halpern had an impressive win today over Hwang after being down a set and 5-4.  He should continue that momentum and take this one in straights.  #4 singles represents a very interesting matchup.  Rosensteel of Kenyon lost two 5-2 leads today en route to a devastating loss against Kenyon.  Meanwhile, Szczurek of Emory lost the deciding match in a third set against a fairly unknown opponent.  Both are struggling, but I’m going with Kenyon.  #5 has to go to Wagner, who made quick work of Lim today.  #6 should be a tossup as we didn’t get to see Adams very much today, but it looks like Fiaschetti is playing extremely well for Kenyon so this one is going to be close.  I saw Fiaschetti continues his hot streak, but this ends as a 5-4 victory for the Eagles after a tough loss today.

That’s all we’ve got for today, folks.  Check back tomorrow and on twitter, as I’ll be providing any live stats I can for your viewing pleasure.  We appreciate your comments, and please let us know your thoughts!

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