Ladies and Gentleman, the tennis season is official upon us! Several teams have already hit the courts this year in competitive matches outside of DIII competition. Whitwater has been impressive. Redlands (no Lipscomb!) and Santa Cruz (no Nurenberg or Larsen!) have been thoroughly underwhelming. But ultimately, none of these matches really matter. Remember last year when Redlands stormed out of the gate with wins over Concordia and Vangaurd and proceeded to be spectacularly mediocre for the rest of the season? I do. Now, we can follow matches that the selection committee will actually be looking at in May.
As for today’s match, it should be phenomenal. In GAC and Trinity, we have two tradition doubles powers with a history of meeting both at Indoors and at the end of the year team tournament when Trinity often ends up in Minnesota. Trinity has been on the winning end of these matches recently, and there’s no reason to think things will be any different in Texas. After being indomitable last Fall, Aaron Skinner has lost three consecutive matches to open the spring season, albeit against very, very good players from ranked DII and JuCo schools. The Tigers juggled their lineup in the Abilene Indoors, but you can bet Skinner, Haugen, Moreno, and DelaFuente will be in the top 4. Their top two doubles teams also seem set, with Mayer and DelaFuente at the top rung, and Skinner/Moreno slotted second.
GAC hasn’t played a match yet this year, but we have a pretty good idea of what’s going on with their lineup as well. You have Donkena and Smith-Dennis in the top two positions. After his win in the fall, Smith-Dennis might be taking over at #1, which, against Trinity, would be a good thing for them because neither player appears ready to beat Skinner and Donkena has been a more consistent winner. Luis Chu will probably be playing #3 and Tyler Johnson will probably play #4. Like Trinity, GAC has a wealth of options at #5 and 6, but none of them are as proven as Trinity’s Curtis. Doubles-wise, GAC will be starting with Donkena and Smith-Dennis, but #2 and 3 are mysteries to me. Perhaps Johnson and Leisner will their roll from the fall, but no guarantees.
Conventional wisdom says that Trinity is just a little bit stronger at almost every position. GAC probably has a slight edge at #1 doubles, but the conditions might neutralize that advantage. I can’t think of a singles position where GAC is definitely stronger than Trinity, but they’re definitely very close up and down the lineup. If GAC can take a lead in doubles and hang in there long enough in singles, things could get very interesting. If Trinity gets the lead in doubles, I think this match is over, and I think that’s exactly what’s going to happen. GAC is going to be very strong this year, but starting off on the road against Trinity is very difficult. The Tigers should win a deceptively close 7-2 or 6-3 match today, but the tables could turn at Indoors.
There you go! First prediction of the year! Let the being wrong begin. Please don’t hesitate to hop in the comments section (especially if you’re providing scoring updates). I’ll do my best to retweet anything I see from Trinity’s twitter. Let the games begin!