2014 Season Preview: Chicago

University of Chicago

Coach: Jay Tee  2^nd Season

Location: Chicago, IL

2010 Ranking: #21

2011 Ranking: #11

2012 Ranking: #30

2013 Ranking: #30

Overview:

The biggest question year in and year out is will Chicago ever outgrow the stigma of massive talent, but huge under achievers. The good news for the Maroons is it seems like second year head coach Jay Tee has them on the right direction and I look to them to be a dangerous team for the nation’s top 20 to watch for. Last season a fifth place finish in the UAA has to leave them a bit disappointed, but with the emergence of Case Western and Carnegie Melon along with Wash U and Emory, the UAA tournament is a brutal week. While I fully believe this team will perform better than the past two seasons, I am unsure if they can unseat any of the 4 teams just mentioned, primarily because they have shown weakness in doubles. Either way, this is not a team you want to overlook.

Lineup Analysis

Key Losses: Alex Golovin and Harrison Abrams (graduation); Jake Crawford (no longer with the team?)

Key Additions: Sven Kranz, Max Hawkins, Brian Sun, Peter Muncey, Anthony Stead

Ever since I can remember, Chicago has been a singles dominant team and it looks that this year may be no different. I fully expect junior Deepak Sabada to return to the top of the lineup as a finalist at the Kzoo ITA including wins against Kratky of Wash U and teammate Kranz solidifies his position there. Kranz, a freshman, probably will be slotted at two singles and should compete well there. His game isn’t all that impressive, but he had a good ITA beating Drougas (Case’s 2) and Farrell from Depauw. Although Ankur Bhargava did not play in the fall, he is still listed on the roster so I expect as a junior he is studying abroad this semester or possibly sitting out with an injury. Bumping him back to three singles will make him even stronger against the top level teams. The biggest loss for Chicago has to be here in the middle of the lineup. Golovin graduated so that was expected, but Jake Crawford is nowhere to be found. He is no longer on the roster and did not play in either of the fall tourneys so it can be assumed he is not a part of the team any more. Having a year of college tennis under his belt would have been big for Chicago as he put up a solid season last year at 3 or 4 singles. I would expect another 4-star freshman to take his place in Max Hawkins. He took Allegheny’s Patrick Cole to 3 sets which is a good result against a senior who is tough as nails. If the seedings were any indication, Gordan Zhang will be at 5 singles again, putting another freshman Brian Sun at 6. I am not at all impressed by Zhang so I would probably flip the two, but Sun being a freshman may tip the scale. Zhang had a sub par season last year in my opinion with his only key win coming against CMU’s Hasegawa. Combined with a bad loss to an unseeded freshman this fall at ITA’s, he hasn’t shown that he is the player that his junior ranking would indicate. Sun had a decent tournament this fall beating Miles from Depauw, but then got destroyed by one of Wash U’s freshman. Two other freshman may compete for some time in Peter Muncey and Anthony Stead, as well as senior Neil Karandakar and Krisna Ravella, but I see Sun rising above these guys.

As I mentioned earlier, doubles has always been a weakness of Chicago. The hope is that they team can take the success they had at ITA’s and move it into the spring. Without Bhargava playing this fall, it is tougher to figure out what the teams may be, but Sabada and Kranz made it all the way to the finals and lost to Wash U in a super breaker so I would expect Coach Tee to leave that team in tact, if for nothing else, ranking purposes. If I had to take a stab at it, I would have Bhargava join one of the seniors (Karandakar or Ravella) at the second slot and then Hawkins and Zhang play 3. These two teams will be the Achilles heel for Chicago and if they can’t find a way to get a win from them, they are going to struggle.

Schedule Analysis

This is probably where Coach Tee has done the best job at along with recruiting. In the past, they have usually had a weaker schedule and then the inability to compete with the top teams made them fall out of the rankings. They open up with a match against Kzoo which is a solid match to start with and should be a gauge where the team will be. While I fully expect a comfortable win, it could show weakness in doubles if it is there.

The next weekend they play both Kenyon and Denison away. It will be interesting to see the Kenyon match. I don’t expect Kenyon to be the team of old and this could be one of those matches where Kenyon will do the typical sacrificial lamb at one doubles in an effort to steal two and three. If Chicago were to go up 2-1 after dubs, I can see them winning this match. Kenyon’s losses to graduation are significant. Chicago took out Denison last year and I would think they should do the same again this season.

After that, they have a couple easy wins and then play in succession D-I Illinois Chicago, Gustavus, Whitewater, Depauw, UC-San Diego, Case Western, Coe, and Wash U before the UAA tournament. My guess is there are some matches missing in California on their spring trip, but for now, the schedule is tough. Depauw and Coe are the only matches here that should be a comfortable wins.

The two matches that I think Chicago should put the biggest emphasis on are Gustavus and Whitewater. If Chicago wants to reinsert their name in the national powerhouse conversation, they need to win them both. Unfortunately again (do you see a theme), both teams are doubles specialists so that will be a huge determining factor. If I had to predict, I would say Chicago pulls out one of them, but falls in the other.

A fourth place finish for them in the UAA’s would be considered a success in my book as I don’t see them taking down Emory or Wash U. Case Western and Carnegie are beatable, but I don’t think it will happen this year for the Maroons. Case will be huge favors in doubles and that will be enough to beat Chicago and Carnegie is just better at singles although I could see either team going up 3-0 heading in to singles. 

Overall as I said above, I think Chicago is heading in the right direction. They are still a predominantly young team so that bodes well in the future. I think they are one year away from becoming the top 20 team they once were. The loss of Crawford this season is the biggest reason why I say this. With him, it would add more depth and experience that would have made them stronger in doubles as well as singles. If any of you follow the commitments on tennisrecruiting.net, you will see Chicago currently has the top two commits in D-III with two California 4-star’s rated in the top 100. With those two coming in and losing no notables to graduation, Chicago will be a team to look out for in 2015.