Saturday Recap/ Sunday Preview

Looks like Kahan is playing 1 for the Jeff. He clinched the match against Claremont, Saturday, coming back from a break down in the 3rd set.

Saturday

It was another busy day for D3 tennis, and in this season, that means there was another huge upset.

#21 Carnegie Mellon def. #5 NCW 5-4

This match followed the script of a typical upset. CMU came out fired up and swept the doubles. NCW fought back in singles, but CMU was able to find on easy win and held on at the end for a 5-4 victory. This result has a few immediate consequences for Pool C, as CMU jumped ahead of Wash U and Redlands for the final Pool C spot at the moment. You can’t justify moving them ahead of either Bowdoin or P-P, but this win was huge. Obviously, there’s still a ton of tennis to be played, and Redlands hasn’t had their shot at P-P yet, but that’s where we stand right now. After playing good doubles against Kenyon and Hopkins, NCW has had a relapse this weekend, and that’s something they will need to address in the next couple weeks.

#4 Johns Hopkins def. #20 Swarthmore 8-1

Hopkins dominated Swarthmore, today. Swarthmore got a doubles win, and they competed well in singles, but Hopkins was just way better. This result, combined with the NCW upset earlier will have some pretty significant rankings implications. CMS, Swarthmore, and Hopkins now have indirects over each other, and CMS will probably come out on top in the rankings. Unfortunately, Hopkins’ only wins are NCW and Wash U, so the three team cluster of NCW, CMS, and Hopkins will probably end up in a three team cluster between Cruz and Wash U. Hopkins plays a Bates team tomorrow who will be coming off a win against Mary Washington.

#29 Bates def. #16 Mary Washington 7-2

The Cal Lu win for Mary Washington just continues to look weirder and weirder. Outside of that one match, they’ve only looked like a top 25 team a couple times this season, but they will probably stay in the rankings. Bates finally got the win they have been expecting. It was only a matter of time, but it is still a little worrisome that they only won one match between 4 and 6. They need to start winning some of those to make a believe out of me because you can’t win in the NESCAC if you walk in the match down 0-3.

#1 Amherst def. #18 CMS 6-3

I think we can be fairly certain that Amherst played their full lineup in this one, so we finally know where people stand on that team. Wood and Lane continue to perform extremely well for Claremont, but they were still only able to find one win from 3-6. Amherst is probably the best team in the country, but CMS’ lower half still hasn’t played nearly as well as I expected them too this season. I’ve said enough good things about Amherst, but they will come out of their Spring Break trip undefeated in D3 (unlike last year) which is where they want to be. They jump into their NESCAC schedule in a couple weeks, and everyone will have their eyes on the matches against Williams and Middlebury.

#3 Williams def. #15 Redlands 7-2

This is about the result we would have expected from this match, but it is still a missed opportunity for Redlands. With CMU’s win over NCW, Redlands needs to find a signature win or they will end up on the outside looking in again. Still waiting on the box score. I would like to know if Lipscomb played in this one. Williams has a couple days off before they play Cruz and Cal Lu. Those should be good matches, but so far the trip has been extremely successful for the Purple Cows.

#23 Case Western def. Denison 5-4

Denison is an interesting story because they dropped out of the rankings without ever really losing a match. I guess that’s what you get for not scheduling any matches against ranked teams until April. Anyways, this match was an absolute war, and if I were forced to put money on it, I would take the Big Red over Kalamazoo on April Fools Day. Case continues to play solid doubles, and they played with a lot of hear today, winning two three-setters to get the victory. They will need to play a lot better, however, if they want to make Pool C.

Sunday

#29 Bates vs. #4 Johns Hopkins

We’ve already seen what happens to Bates when they come up against top 10 teams. Additionally, Hopkins has one of the best singles lineups in the lineup. Berg and Bettles are pretty good, but I’m actually just going to take Hopkins in a 9-0 victory. It’s about time they got a doubles sweep.

#21 Carnegie Mellon vs. #16 Mary Washington

Carnegie Mellon just beat NCW, and Mary Washington just lost to Bates. Rankings aside, that makes CMU the favorite in this one. Carnegie Mellon also should play with a greater sense of urgency because they are competing for a Pool C bid; whereas, Mary Washington can always back into the tournament by winning their conference. I think the Eagles could win this one (and they probably should on their home courts), but don’t you pretty much have to take the Bantams? I think CMU wins 6-3.

#12 Trinity (TX) vs. UT-Tyler

This is a rebuilding year for Tyler if I’ve ever seen one, but I am curious to see if Strauss will be back in the lineup. 9-0 Trinity.

9 thoughts on “Saturday Recap/ Sunday Preview

  1. Anonymous

    is the hopkins 9 bates 0 prediction the worst of your career d3tennisguy?

    1. d3tennisguy

      I certainly hope it’s the worst of my 3 month career. You can’t really go much worse than that. But to be fair, if I had known Hersh was out, I would’ve gone 7-2 or 6-3 Hopkins

      1. Anonymous

        Either way..Seems Bates is always on the lower end of your predictions

  2. Anonymous

    bates beats hopkins 7-2

    1. anonymous

      Shocking considering what Bates did out West you really wouldn’t have seen this coming. Another example of Hopkins inability to play doubles and after NCW losing to Carnegie all of a sudden those two in the rankings don’t look nearly as tough. I wonder how far the Hopkins and NCW fall is in comparison to the Bates and Carnegie jump. I would venture a guess that all now fall in the double digit ranking range but the real question is where. Bates can only jump so much because of earlier losses so I think they still stay in the low teens while NCW has beaten Kenyon their losses all of a sudden aren’t as acceptable. I think they fall into the 13ish range while Hopkins now may even fall below Bowdoin, PP, Redlands area. What does everyone else think on this? Bates puts yet another thorn in the side of the ranking committee but I think they need one more big win(which they’ll have opportunities to get) to really take that Pool C spot while Hopkins all of a sudden has no margin for error

  3. Anonymous

    It’s not just the lower half of the CMS singles line-up that is under-performing so far this season. In dual matches against D3 ranked teams, only Alex Lane has a winning record at 5-2. The rest of the usual starters are 4-4, 3-4, 3-5, 3-5, and 3-3. With the proven talent CMS has, things can only get better.

    1. CMSfan

      Speaking of things only getting better for CMS, Marino and Bernhardt both won exhibition singles matches on Saturday. Not sure who they played, but it was good to see them both playing and winning.

  4. anonymous

    CMU Tartans, not Bantams.

  5. Guy

    Pool C/Middlebury,Williams,Bowdoin, Pomona,Cal Lu, Carnegie. Then Case,Wash U, Redlands. Whoever finishes 2nd in the UAA will get the last bid. If Redlands beats Pomona they are in and Pomona may knock Carnegie out.

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