The CMS Journey

A couple of years ago when Williams won their championship, they won with 4-5 seniors in the starting lineup and had been through a long journey, if you must, to get that one championship in 2013.  They had previously been a strong team, but not one that was expected to win every year.  We at the blog thought it was a great run and a great way to see how a team can develop over the years.  This year, a CMS team led by three seniors at the top of the lineup finally broke through to get the National Championship that they had cherished by steamrolling through the NCAA tournament.  Now, since this team had been favorites the past two years, a lot of people thought that this wasn’t necessarily a huge feat.  However, I am on the side that winning a national championship is always going to be a tough accomplishment – no matter how much talent you have.  So, I will be going through CMS’s own journey the past four years.  This will encompass the journeys of Warren Wood, Joe Dorn, and Nik Marino, as they were the leaders of this year’s team.

One thing you will probably see is that CMS never had trouble losing any of their talent throughout the years, unlike some other teams that consistently bring in top recruits and see them go into the tank or simply get worse.  That in itself is an accomplishment with the many different agendas that college tennis players have, especially in DIII.  This CMS team never lost their matches because they had gotten “worse,” they simply got beaten in the matches they played because of other reasons – whether that be the other team playing well that day, etc.  Let’s take a look at the CMS journey the past 4 years in a tribute to their three seniors that led the way.

2011 – 2012 Season

One of the things to note about this season is that this was the year after they hosted NCAAs and lost in a heartbreaker to the Williams team that shocked everyone at about 1AM in the morning.  They had held 7 match points on their home courts and were unable to close the deal.  The next year (11-12), they brought in the top DIII class in the country.  This class featured names that you obviously know:

• Warren Wood, 5 star recruit from Del Mar, ranked #59 in the country on TRN
• Joe Dorn, 4 star recruit from DC, ranked #54 in the country on TRN (not sure how that’s possible)
• Nik Marino, 4 star recruit from SD, ranked #123 in the country on TRN
• Cameron Bernhardt, 4 star recruit from SD, #188 in the country on TRN

Between these three guys (Dorn was a transfer the following year) as well as a great returning core, CMS was considered to be one of the up and coming programs in the country.  They had gone through their lumps the year before with the heartbreaker to the Williams team, but things were looking up.  Well, this year, they faltered once again in the Elite 8, losing to Kenyon, 5-0.  Written box score below:

                Kenyon swept CMS in doubles – 9-8, 8-4, 8-6.

                Paul Burgin def. Warren Wood at #1 Singles, 6-4, 6-4

                Michael Razumovsky def. Alex Lane at #2 Singles, 6-2, 6-2

Just like that, a promising season went to flames in about 5 seconds as CMS got cleanswept out of the 4/5 quarterfinal match.  This is where the “CMS can’t win in the postseason” myth started to really gain some traction.

2012 – 2013 Season

This was the year that Williams won the national title.  There were many things that went into this season, and CMS got the #1 overall seed going into nationals.  They beat a tough CLU team in their regional (led by Nick Ballou) 5-1 and were all set to try and get that national championship monkey off their back.  However, Warren Wood was unable to play in nationals for undisclosed reasons, and that’s where things started to get shaky.  CMS was still able to defeat a few nemeses to make that final, but they were also met in the final by a Williams team that was senior-laden and potentially more driven to get that national championship.  CMS had beaten this same team earlier in the year, but that was with Wood at the top of the lineup as well as outdoors.  As you will all remember, this match was played at the indoor Kalamazoo facility.  I remember live tweeting it while I watched the live stream with lots of fan interaction.  Fun times!  Either way, written boxscore below:

Williams led 2-1 after doubles.  Both #1 and #2 went to tiebreaks, with CMS taking #1.

                Joe Dorn def. Trey Meyer 7-6, 6-2

                Matt Micheli def. Nik Marino 6-2, 6-2

                Felix Sun def. Alex Lane, 6-2, 6-4

                Skyler Butts led Zach Weiss, 4-6, 6-1, 3-1

                Bryan Chow def. Alex Johnson (CMS) 6-0, 6-0

What you’ll see above is a pretty interesting boxscore.  Two of the players that lost in singles, Lane and Johnson, were not on the team this season for the national championship.  Butts was a good #4 player that year, but he wasn’t unbeatable, as he split sets with Weiss, who was also an above average #4.  Nik Marino got blitzed by Micheli indoors and didn’t come close.  This was another chapter in the “CMS choke,” despite all the factors they got through.  You’ll see bright spots, such as Dorn taking out Trey Meyer.  CMS was a good team, but they were not a championship team, especially without Warren Wood.  And off we go to the next year….

2013-2014 Season

This was possibly the most disappointing year for Coach Settles and the boys, as they were clear undisputed favorites the whole year.  They had not even been challenged for the most part, were playing on their home courts for the NCAA championship, and had the same core they’ve always had.  However, they ended up losing to Amherst in an epic by the score of 5-3.  Boxscore below, even though many of you still probably remember this:

CMS led after doubles, 2-1. They took #1 and #2 doubles fairly routinely.

                Joey Fritz def. Warren Wood (CMS) 6-2, 3-6, 6-2

                Joe Dorn (CMS) def. Chris Dale, 7-6, 6-2

                Michael Solimano def. Nik Marino (CMS) 6-2, 7-6

                Anton Zykov led Skyler Butts (CMS), 7-6, 6-6

                Andrew Yaraghi def. Zhenya Pereverzin (CMS), 6-1, 7-5

                Justin Reindel def. Glenn Hull (CMS) 6-3, 6-4

So, what happened this year? CMS had Wood, they had home court, and they had their core of players at the top of the lineup.  This should have been the year and we were all surprised.  If you all remember, this was the year that CMS’s court demeanor and “rowdiness” came under fire, as they were described as a team that didn’t really fire their other guys up.  They gave the impression that their talent would win the whole thing.  Whether that’s true or not is really not my call.  It’s totally subjective.  But, what happened the year after was a good indication of whether some of them thought it was an indicator.  Before I move into this season, I would like to point out a few things that were supposedly wrong with the last few years.  CMS couldn’t win the big matches because they were inexperienced.  They didn’t handle it well when things went Indoors.  They weren’t loud enough on the court and not supportive enough of their teammates.  Overall, they were postseason chokes.  When you look under the covers, you see some similar faces losing – Wood had lost or been absent the past three NCAAs.  Marino lost the previous 2.  Butts did not finish his match the previous 2.  CMS’s main problem was that their best guys weren’t stepping up their games to win when it mattered most.  Not because they played poorly, but they were getting outplayed.  And now, we move onto this season.

2014 – 2015 Season

This season is fresh in your mind, so I won’t get too in depth.  However, the boxscore of the match is below:

http://www.cmsathletics.org/sports/mten/2014-15/files/m-midd-cms.pdf

One thing that stood out to me this year was the play of Warren Wood.  I’ve always been tough on the kid, and that’s more due to his past results than any dislike for him whatsoever.  This year, he proved what can happen when he reaches the next level and be the best player in DIII.  Winning the triple crown this year, Wood was the player that everyone feared – kind of what we had expected from him when we first saw him come to CMS in 2011-2012.  Thing is, everyone forgets what it takes to get there.  What it took was a couple of tough losses, a senior year, and maybe some adjustments.  He’s my one big change year over year over year.  When Wood wins, CMS normally wins.

The second adjustment made was by Coach Settles – he took all the information he had gained the past couple of years and did some things to try and combat it.  He went out East to play Hopkins and play on an indoor surface.  He scheduled tough East Coast matches to potentially balance out what the time difference would be when they went to NCAAs.  Great moves on this part.

Another adjustment made by the team was they actually got a bit more boisterous as the season went on.  If you noticed on the live stream or if you were out in Mason, Ohio, the CMS team was loud.  They had a lot of fans from everywhere, like this was their final chance for these seniors.  They made sure everyone knew they were in this one to win it.  Whether or not that has any effect on them, I can assure you it has an effect on other teams.  CMS got this this year and went big with their cheering.  Every little part counts.

Overall, I will reiterate what I just said.  Every little thing counts.  Whether it be a greater commitment from their best player, small detailed adjustments from their coach, a little less partying when  it comes to a certain festival in Indio, California, all of these things add up to a championship.  CMS showed that teams just as talented as them can lose – this year, they showed that teams as talented as them have to work to win a championship.  This is why we shouldn’t take championships for granted.  There have been no knocks on any of these player’s characters since they started.  Sometimes, it’s just a process and a tough road to get there.

Congratulations, CMS Tennis, for a great year.  Congratulations, Warren Wood, Joe Dorn, Nik Marino, and Cameron Bernhardt – you guys earned this one.

ASouth, OUT. Hope you enjoyed.