The Spring Break Chronicles: CMU Tartans

Continuing with our Spring Break coverage, we’ll be going team-by-team on their respective spring breaks to go with some other fun previews we’ll have on some of the more important matches of the next few weeks.  Carnegie Mellon’s spring break is probably one of the most impactful of the Spring Breaks, as they normally get a full slate of Pool C contenders as well as a few other matches.  This year is no different, as the Tartans (a what?) will be playing against Bowdoin, Redlands, Stevens, as well as the Stag-Hen Invitational.  This will be their first time playing at the Stag-Hen, which should be very interesting.  Something that I did want to do for the CMU Spring Break is go into a bit more detail about it, especially with the focus on historical performances.  See below for CMU’s spring break performances the past few years:

2012-2013 Season: Overall Record, 1-3 – National Ranking #19

  • Win over Sewanee, 9-0
  • Loss to Bowdoin, 6-3
  • Loss to Trinity Texas, 8-1
  • Loss to UT-Tyler, 5-4

2011-2012 Season: Overall Record, 2-2 – National Ranking #18

  • Win over Chapman, 8-1
  • Loss to Bowdoin, 7-2
  • Loss to Pomona-Pitzer, 6-3
  • Win over Sewanee, 9-0

2010-2011 Season: Did not have Spring Break?

2009-2010 Season: Overall Record, 3-1 – National Ranking #8

  • Win over Chapman, 9-0
  • Win over Redlands, 6-3
  • Loss to CMS, 7-2
  • Win over Trinity TX, 5-4

2008-2009 Season: Overall Record, 3-2 – National Ranking #12

  • Win over Chapman, 7-2
  • Win over UT-Tyler, 6-3
  • Loss to Redlands, 5-4
  • Loss to Bowdoin, 7-2
  • Win over Sewanee, 8-1

The first thing I see from this trend is this: Spring Break seems to be a pre-cursor to how this CMU team performs for the rest of the year.  They have particularly struggled in the past two years and the year before, they didn’t go on a Spring Break trip.  This is a team with a lot of talent, but they’ve never had one of those amazing runs through a gauntlet of teams.  Spring Break is an indication of that.  This year is no different.  Let’s hop right into the matches.

 

#12 Carnegie Mellon vs. NR Stevens, Time TBD

This is the typical “warm-up” match for CMU as they enter a really grueling Spring Break trip.  However, this one is going to be a lot tougher than their normal Spring Break match.  The reason why I think this one is dangerous is because Stevens plays good doubles, will have a match outside already, and have gotten some good matchplay in already in this season.  Doubles is the most worrisome part.  CMU has proven basically nothing so far this year in doubles after a weak doubles ITA performance.  They have question marks at the #2 and #3 spots and it’s not like their #1 team is rock solid either.  Stevens comes in with the potential to take the Tartans by storm and really shell-shock them with a sweep.  Do I think that’ll happen?  No, I do not.  CMU has a ton of talent (as usual) and this should at least get them the #3 match considering that part of the Ducks lineup is fairly weak.  I’m also very much looking forward to how the projected #1 team of Heaney-Secord/Duncan fair against a very solid team in Foran/Perich.  At #2, Stevens looks like they’ll have the advantage with a strong team in Heinrich/Drake against a fairly unknown team of Kumar/Beisswanger (I think).  It’s fully possible that CMU has switched doubles lineups since their last few matches, but this is what I think it’ll look like.  Either way, I’m taking Stevens with a 2-1 lead going into the singles matches with wins at #1 and #2.

Singles is where the Tartans should really take advantage, as they’ve gone back to that singles formula in recent years.  One thing I noticed following some box scores is that it seems like freshman Jack Kasbeer has not stepped foot on the court for the Tartans yet this spring.  Whether it be injury or something else, if Kasbeer is not in the lineup that is a huge loss for the Tartans.  Against Stevens, it shouldn’t make much of a difference as the CMU 3-6 should wallop the Ducks bottom of the lineup.  I am excited to see what singles lineup goes out there but I think it is shaping up to be Duncan/Kirkov/Zheng/Kumar from #3-6, which is fairly formidable.  The match of the day will definitely go to our first glimpse of Fall ITA Champion Abhishek Alla, who will be facing off against the resident pest, Matt Heinrich.  This is a rematch of last year’s #2 singles match between the two teams, where Alla won 6-4, 6-4.  I think Alla has clearly improved his game to new heights and this may be where we finally see a loss from Heinrich (if it’s not from Redlands the day before).  This one is going to be close, but it would be huge for Alla to win it quickly in order to save some energy for the later matches.  At #2, the former NCAA participant Heaney-Secord shouldn’t have a problem with the freshman Foran.  It’s fairly possible that the shift to outdoors tennis messes with one of the CMU players, so I’m going to say Stevens wins at only #4 singles against Kirkov, but it ends up being a 6-3 CMU victory.

#12 Carnegie Mellon vs #10 Bowdoin, Monday, 7 PM ET

As we saw from the earlier recap, CMU has never beaten Bowdoin on Spring Break.  I didn’t realize that until I actually did that recap.  I’m not going to go very in-depth for this preview, as the writers have something in store for this match, but I can definitely give you my initial thoughts and predictions.  What I think is pretty obvious is that this is a huge match for the Tartans.  In order to have an “exceeds expectations” spring break, CMU needs to win this match.  This would give them a win against one of the higher seeded Pool C teams as well as a potential trip into the top 10 in the rankings.  The best part of this match is that it really features two unknown teams, especially Bowdoin.  What can we expect from two teams that survive brutal winters and may have not had the best training in the winter offseason?  It’ll be the first true big match for both teams so that’s another huge factor.  As I said earlier, D3Northeast and I will be going through a more in depth preview of this match, so I won’t waste too much breath here – here are my brief thoughts:

Doubles is a big time wild card in this match.  I actually don’t know anything about Bowdoin’s doubles, but I will make sure to bring this up in the D3NE/AS joint preview.  It’s a huge factor considering a lot of the singles matches will be battles.  Either way, I think the doubles in this match is going to be a split, because neither of these teams are good enough to sweep the other.  Which way it splits might make all the difference at the end.

In singles, I’m especially looking forward to a few matches.  I think CMU has the advantage with Alla until proven otherwise, but that’s not really the match I’m looking forward to.  The Heaney-Secord/Bragg match should provide us with a lot of fireballin groundstrokes and I wouldn’t be surprised if that one goes three sets.  (I just looked, they played tough two years ago).  At #3 singles will be two of the most intense guys in DIII tennis between Sam King and Will Duncan.  Both of these matches will be really fun to watch, as it’ll be similar styles matching up.  The bottom of the lineup looks to be in the favor of Bowdoin, which wasn’t even a thought after CMU dominated the ITA’s with Hopkins.  However, with the loss of Kasbeer, it looks like they have lost a legitimate #4 player and that really does not bode well for them.  I have hopes for Zheng at #5, which looks to be a good spot for him.  However, at #6 will be some combo of Kumar (#4 last year) or their 4-star recruit Wadwani.  Neither has proven anything to us in the past couple of years, so I’ve got to go experience for Bowdoin.  Overall, if CMU wins doubles, I think they have a legit chance to win this one 5-4.  If they go behind in doubles, I think there is a strong chance they start to stumble and get blown out 7-2 or 6-3 again.  That’s the more likely scenario based on history, and I’m sticking with it.  Bowdoin, 6-3.

#12 Carnegie Mellon @ #13 Redlands,  Wednesday, 6PM ET

This is the match of Spring Break for the Tartans.  It’s a make-or-break match that will determine if they have a successful Spring Break trip or another disappointing season.  If you lose to Redlands, you lose to any of the potential Pool C teams they play and end up losing to, and you know that Redlands will drop one match or two here and there.  They play so many matches that it’s bound to happen.  CMU has a couple cracks at getting the Pool C direct that they need on this trip (other than Stag-Hen) and this is by far the most winnable one.  Redlands is a notoriously tough place to play, but they don’t have such an amazing team that they can’t be beaten there.   Like the Bowdoin match, D3West/AS will be doing a special preview for this one as well.  So, don’t panic if this doesn’t satisfy you.

The blueprint for this CMU win is to get at least one point in doubles (common theme here, right).  Redlands has a very strong doubles lineup, so CMU really needs to weather the storm there with their teams to come out feeling confident.  Such is the life of a singles-oriented team.  The spot where I think CMU has the best chance will be at #1 doubles, especially on the Redlands high-bouncing, serve-conducive courts.  H-S/Duncan are a high-quality serving team and should be able to take advantage of at least one return game to eek it out.  Any other wins in doubles are a bonus at this point.

In singles, Redlands is a tough team for CMU because of their very consistent lineup.  While they may be weak at the bottom, they counter the strengths of the Tartans by sending out a very good top 3 as well.  This will come down to whoever wants it more.  Despite that being a cliché, I think it’s definitely true for this match.  This will be CMU’s third match in 4 days after a potentially exhausting match against Bowdoin just two days before.  They also might be looking forward to a big Stag-Hen match on Friday.  Despite all this, I think CMU finally breaks the Spring Break drought and takes a win here by winning matches at #1, #3, #5, and #6.  It would be really nice to see the bottom of the lineup for the Tartans come through as I have some serious questions down there.  They have the talent, they just need to put it together.  I’ll take a final score of CMU, 5-4.

That basically wraps up CMU’s Spring Break other than the Stag-Hen, which will be getting it’s own preview.  To me, it’s pretty clear that CMU should have to beat Redlands to make this trip a success.  Everything else would be fighting for seeding and whatnot.  Just win that one winnable match and you’re in!  I’m excited to see how the Tartans handle the grind of a week with a shitload of matches as well.  This will really tell us how hard they’ve been working when the recent knock on them has been “underachieving.”  Look out for the joint previews for their two big matches Sunday night as well as Tuesday.

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