The Spring Break Epilogue: UT-Tyler and Trinity (TX)

Spring break has come and gone for the Texas teams, and, after the next two days, we should have a firmly established hierarchy in the west region. Though we’ve had crazy matches so far, we haven’t had the sort of crazy results that give rankings committees headaches. Enough fluff, let’s get to the recaps.

Trinity (TX)

I already recapped SBWW, so this is basically just a recap to say that Trinity won its matches against P-P and Redlands. Despite the positive results and the gritty performances, the wins against P-P and Redlands again proved that the Tigers need to work on their doubles. A national title contender should not be going down in doubles to the likes of Whitman and Pomona. Still, their singles prowess is quite impressive, and I have confidence that they could beat anyone in the country except the top 5. As far as the top 5 goes, they could definitely take anyone down on a day when all the pieces come together, similar to how the stars somehow aligned to create a universe in which Pitbull is famous.

Basically, the takeaway from the week for Trinity is that they confirmed that they are, in fact, the second best team in the West region. They have wins against Pomona, Redlands, Whitman, Santa Cruz, and Cal Lu; it’s only a matter of time before they pick up an indirect win over Whittier, and they shouldn’t have too much trouble with UT-Tyler. Individually, Deuel has earned himself a spot in nationals barring catastrophe, but that #1 doubles team is going to have a hard time making it with CMS, Whittier, Whitman, and Pomona currently holding the top 4 spots and Redlands’ #1 team with plenty of chances to play its way into the tournament.

UT-Tyler

Speaking of the Pats, did you like the way I picked the trip without knowing at all how good the Pats were? Tyler started their trip with what will likely end up being their best win of the season (unless they get a shot at a Washington and Lee or Whitman at nationals like they did the last two years) by beating Whittier 5-4. As I predicted, Konstantinov continued his hot streak to keep his team in it. As I predicted, the Pats got the win with wins at the bottom of the lineup.

The next day, Tyler rode an impressive and surprising win at #1 doubles to a 6-3 win over Stevens, once again leaning on their depth with wins a #3-#6 singles. Tyler followed that up with a “Best of the Rest” 9-0 win over Chapman before just missing the big upset against Redlands.

Against Redlands, they won at #3 doubles, #4-6 singles. All told, I think it’s pretty clear that the strength of this team is singles depth. Timponi has really improved over the off-season, and has turned himself into a solid #6 singles player, while Spencer was always going to be successful at the bottom of the lineup. Justin Randell, the 3-star transfer, has filled in admirably at #4, while the Aussie Harry Kelleher might be the key to the team’s success in the future at #3. Budd has obviously improved, but he’s not a true #2 singles player for a top 20 team, and Martinez’ game has always been better suited for the bottom of the lineup than the top.

Individually, neither Martinez nor their #1 doubles team did enough to earn themselves a berth into individual nationals, but with Bizot at the helm of that West region ranking committee, it sometimes works in mysterious ways, and I wouldn’t be that surprised if Martinez sneaks in the #8 spot. I’ll never forget how Singer and Spencer snuck into nationals in 2012 with that loss to Linfield (the worst team in the NWC) on their resume and maybe one good win.

Moving forward, the Pats have a match against Earlham that they should be able to win with their depth, and they have to make sure to win their conference this year (ahem!). They should be in a good position there, because UT-Dallas isn’t as good, and I have a hard time believing they won’t beat LeTourneu. The good thing about being a deeper team is that they have a little more wiggle room when it comes to injury; whereas, last year’s team was pretty much decimated by the Ybarra injury. Other than that, the last big match of the year for them will be against Trinity. I’ll preview it when it comes around, but I really don’t think the Pats have much of a chance there. Nevertheless, the Pats did enough to stay in the top 25, if not the top 20, and that’s pretty impressive considering the heavy losses they sustained to graduation. Now imagine if Brown had decided to play this year…