This Week In West: March 1 – March 8

As one commenter pointed out in the Power Rankings article, we bloggers need to get back to doing what we do best: butchering predictions and angering people with our analysis. Because the other writers are basically covering the West region matches by previewing and recapping Spring Breaks, the onus of responsibility falls on me to cover intraregional matches. Accordingly, I will be writing a weekly, fornightly, or whenever-I-have-some-freetime-ly article to recap what has been going on within the West region. I like the way D3Central puts out a little recap for his team, so I’m going to copy it, and hopefully make it a little bit fresher.

Last Week In West

UC Santa Cruz def. Cal Lutheran 6-2 

Solid recovery performance from the Slugs. The only annoying thing is that I can stop contemplating a scenario where Cruz doesn’t get into the Pool B because this win is probably enough to get them in. Littlejohn and Richter are doing just enough to keep themselves in the doubles conversation, though it’s going to be tough. I’ll talk about each team more later.

This Fortnight in West

Not a lot of intraregional matches on the docket, but I’ll preview the few that do exist

March 7th – #21 UC Santa Cruz @ #21 Whittier

I think our Power Rankings have made it abundantly clear what we think about Whittier this year. No amount of good coaching can make up for a lack of talent. Even Michelangelo had to have a pretty ceiling to paint on. Meanwhile, the Slugs seem to be coming together a little bit, as the seniors are taking the reins. I see the Slugs taking a 2-1 lead in doubles with wins at 1 and 3, before cruising (pun intended) to a 7-2 victory. Littlejohn should break out of his slump with a win over Farmer, and the Slugs’ depth will just be too much. Whittier’s lone singles point will come at #4 or #5 with Linsicott.

March 8th – #3 CMS @ #25 Cal Lu

Obviously, this shouldn’t be much of a match. With CMS starting to gear up for their brutal Spring stretch, this match might be a good indicator of where they’re at in terms of their lineup (Dorn is apparently playing #4 right now, while Hull is not in the lineup). One thing to keep an eye on is the #1 singles match, likely between Wood and Cardenas. Wood beat Cardenas in a 10-pointer last year, so it could be a slugfest. I’m guessing some Stag will slip up somewhere, but CMS will ease their way to an 8-1 victory with Wood winning in straights. The Stag senior may have lost to Blanche, but he just beat Bouillin from UCSD, who is certainly no slouch.

March 10th – #1 Trinity @ Cal Lu

More of the same for the Kingsmen. The Tigers simply have too much depth and experience for them to come close. You used to be able to count on Trinity laying a yearly egg early in their Spring Break trip, but they seem to have shed that tendency last year. Regardless, the talent difference between these two teams is simply too much. Best case scenario for Cal Lu is to catch the Tigers napping, take a 2-1 lead, and then get a singles victory from Cardenas to keep it close. More realistically, I think TU will take care of business in an 8-1 victory with their only loss coming at #3 singles (throwing darts here).

The other huge West region matches that will be covered separately in the next couple weeks are:

March 7th – #17 Mary Washington @ #19 Redlands: I’ll take Redlands 5-4

March 8th – #8 Kenyon @ #23 UCSC: I’ll take Kenyon 6-3

March 9th – #1 Trinity (TX) vs. #8 Kenyon: I’ll take Trinity 5-4

March 11th – #1 Trinity (TX) vs. #11 CMU: I’ll take Trinity 5-4

March 11th – #35 Wesleyan vs. #19 Redlands: Redlands 6-3 (I don’t like Kool-Aid)

According to the calendar, that’s it for the West region before the Stag-Hen, which could arguably be even better than Indoors this year (it’s definitely better for me, since it includes the four best teams in the best region in the country).

Where they stand – according to the most recent rankings

#1 Trinity

I like to see the boys get rewarded with a #1 ranking for their big Indoors win. Even if they can’t make it hold up for the rest of the season (a tall task), these guys will always be able to say they won a national championship and were the best team in the country (at least for a period of time, and those lines tend to blur a little bit a couple decades down the road). The Tigers are really a team that is solid at every singles position. Without any weaknesses, only a team that is truly excellent at 5 positions will be able to beat them. They have great senior leadership and a ton of experience. I would really like to see the top two teams in the West face off in the finals of the Stag-Hen, but there’s a lot of tennis left to be played.

#2 CMS

I’m sure Coach Settles and the Stags aren’t too happy about being usurped in the rankings without even losing a match this year (if they care at all, that is). The Stags have been at the top of the West region rankings for a long time, and I’m sure they’d like to keep it that way (more on this later). Their lineup looks similarly nasty. Butts just continues to get better and better. He and their trio of seniors (all of whom made the NCAA semis last year) make the CMS top four among the nastiest in DIII tennis history. Competing for the last two singles spots seem to be Morkovine, Macey, Hull, and Mehall (another senior). That’s a wealth of options. They don’t seem to have been playing with a ton of urgency so far this season, but I’m excited to see what they can do when they kick it into high gear. Let’s settle this matter of who the best team in the west is on the court.

#3 Whitman

Thanks to Pomona’s loss to Bates, the Squirrels have backed their way into being the 3rd highest ranked team in the West for the first time in a while (more on that later). This team’s back-to-back narrow escapes against conference foes haven’t done much to inspire my confidence, and I would not want their freshmen on the court for me in a 4-4 match. The seniors, Malesovas and Rivers, need to get their backs healthy because they might have to bear the weight of the whole team soon. We’ll see what they’ve got in a couple weeks when they play Trinity, P-P/Case, and Bowdoin

#4 Pomona-Pitzer

I don’t think Coach Bickham understands the gravity of the situation. He may have all the talent in the world to play around with at the bottom of the lineup, and it’s good to get guys experience in big matches, but Pool C is looking quite shallow this year. They can’t afford losses to Pool C competitors like Bates, even early in the season, and they barely got away with sitting Yaz against Mary Washington. The whole premise of P-P being a top ten team this year was based on the bottom of their singles lineup being unbreakable, and that has not materialized. Chuddy is doing better than we would’ve thought at the top spot. Their doubles is fine (though #1 dubs needs to play a little better). Bottom line, they need to find guys they can rely on at 4, 5, and 6 soon because they have three massive matches against Pool C competitors CMU, Bowdoin, and Case Western on the horizon.

#5 Redlands

Redlands thumped Brandeis and moved back into the top 20 where they belong, but if they’re going to make a run at Pool C, they’ll have to pull of something special. They have to take care of business against Mary Washington in what figures to be an absolute war before they face a must-win match against Wesleyan on the 11th (I hesitate to use “must-win” this early in the season, but they absolutely CAN NOT lose a match to the 5th or 6th best team in the NESCAC). These next couple weeks will be spent gaining some good match experience and honing their games before their true tests start in late March.

#6 Texas-Tyler

The Pats got their win in Walla Walla, and now they are more than happy to just fade into obscurity as remote as the town the school is in. They’re spring break features matches against Oglethorpe, Wabash, Wittenburg, and Coe (what the heck), so I guess Coach Bizot really wanted to go to Florida this year. They’ve got an April visit to St. Louis, but until then, they’ve just got to make sure they don’t lose to any of their ASC opponents

#7 UC Santa Cruz

Like I said, the Slugs recovered nicely from their terrible trip to Walla Walla. By beating Cal Lu, they’ve basically punched their ticket to NCAA’s through Pool B. Now all they have to focus on is improving throughout the season, so they can take their best shot at whoever they end up playing at the end of the year. They should beat Whittier, and, on the right day, they could potentially upset Kenyon or P-P, but it will take a lot. Something like that could get them into the top 15. Otherwise, they’ll just try to get their #1 doubles team into NCAAs. These next few weeks are huge for them, but not on the tennis court. With Littlejohn and Deguchi leaving after this season, they need to restock the cupboards with some talented players, and word has it, some big time recruits will be making major decisions some time this month.

#8 Whittier

Whittier did well to put the hammer down on Caltech, but I’m still not a believer in the Poets. These next couple weeks will be quite telling, as they have matches against Mary Washington, Christopher Newport, Santa Cruz, and Kenyon. Still waiting for a Sam Farmer sighting in the lineup, which would really bolster their hopes. Even with him, they don’t have depth, experience, or good doubles. It’s hard to get excited about a team like that.

#9 Cal Lutheran

Speaking of teams with key players missing, I’m still waiting for Treacy to show up in Cal Lu’s lineup. Treacy has been a key cog for the Kingsmen for the last several years, especially in doubles, and without him, they aren’t nearly as good. Cardenas is always dangerous at one, but they’re a team that has always struggled with depth. They missed a golden opportunity against Mary Washington the other day, and, as it stands, their best win is against an ailing Brandeis team. Looking at their schedule, I just hope they can beat Vassar and Trinity. If Treacy comes back, they might have the firepower to take down a team like Tufts, but right now, I don’t see it.

#10, #11, #12: McMurry/Pacific/George Fox

None of these teams are officially ranked by the ITA, but they are certainly within striking distance. The Warhawks of McMurry can’t participate in post-season tennis for the next couple years, but I think they are one of the best 40 teams in the nation. If Rico is playing #3, their top two guys must be pretty good. Unfortunately, they don’t have the schedule to really test themselves. If they can beat Coe in a week, they might get into the 35-40 range, but other than that, I just hope they schedule better next year.

Pacific is probably the team out of these three that did the best schedule-wise this season. They played a Malesovas-less Whitman team very close in singles, which is something only Redlands can say so far. If they can play solid doubles, they might have a chance against Santa Cruz. The teams they really need to be playing are Whittier and Cal Lu, but they’ll have to settle for RPI (who they should beat) and Redlands (who they have a puncher’s chance at best against). It’s important that they don’t overlook George Fox, but, as I understand it, those two teams are rivals. I’ll definitely keep my eye on that box score

George Fox has gotten a lot of attention in the comments of our Power Rankings article for sweeping doubles against Whitman. Judging by the way they got decimated in singles, I’m guessing that was more of a fluke than anything else. Regardless, it’s clear that their top three singles players are for real and they’re a team that knows how to play doubles. The match against Pacific is huge for them. Otherwise, they just need to find a way to reschedule that Cruz match.

This Week In West Region History

I mentioned before that this was the first time in a long time that CMS was not the top ranked team in the West region. Let me take you back to a time before live streams, when Twitter was just taking off and live scoring seemed like the greatest luxury there was. CMS was an unstoppable freight train and then this happened:

March 8, 2012 – Swarthmore (UR) def. #4 CMS

I don’t think that box score will ever not be funny. Take note, teams: if Swarthmore can come back from a doubles sweep against CMS, you are never out of a team tennis match. Incidentally, who was the last non-CMS team to be ranked #1 in the West? Cruz? Cal Lu? Trinity? Pomona? Nope

And if you were wondering if Whittier was ranked ahead of CMS at any point in the last five years, the answer is Yes.

This is why we love DIII tennis. Anything can happen. Who knows what’s in store for us in these next couple weeks.