Wooooooooo! Today was a great day for DIII Tennis, I must say. As you could probably tell from our updates, the UAA began today in what is probably going to be the best conference tournament this year. And when I say the best, I say that not only because of the top teams in the conference, but also the lower teams in the conference. We saw today that they have some pretty good pieces in tact and they are definitely no pushovers when it comes to the UAA. Since everyone has put in a ton of work this year in terms of tennis, fitness, conditioning, mental strength, and of course, blogging this year, I feel like it’s only fit to give some of the bottom UAA teams some love and get a preview out for their consolation bracket. First, let’s get to the results of the day before we get into some consolation previews.
(1) Wash U defeats (8) Brandeis 8-1
(2) Emory defeats (7) NYU 9-0
(3) CMU defeats (6) Rochester 7-2
(4) Case defeats (5) Chicago 7-2
The full results can be found via this link as well as the team sites on the left hand side:
http://www.uaa.rochester.edu/weekly_sport_updates/mten_update.html
Okay, let’s get to some previews. I don’t really want to waste my time going through the Consolation Finals preview especially because I am far from a guarantee to getting these predictions right, so we’ll see what I can do.
#5 Chicago vs. #8 Brandeis
Boy, did Chicago come out with a dud today in singles. This was the biggest match of their season and yet they failed to even put a scare into the Spartans. I had expected (did I really) that the Maroons would come out with some fight and push the match to the semi-bring, but I was wrong. Good thing I didn’t preview that thang because I would have been dead wrong. Anyways, if Chicago wants any shot at Pool C, they’ll have to take 5th in the UAA tournament. Normally, that’d be a pretty easy task for the supposed #18 team in the country but it looks like this one might be a tough one. Brandeis put in a good effort against Wash U this morning, but it wasn’t nearly enough as they just don’t have the talent. Anyways, let’s get to it.
Starting with doubles, it looks like Brandeis really struggled this morning against the Wash U teams. That does not bode well for them as the one thing that Chicago does is play some pretty solid doubles. This was evidenced by their close 2-1 defeat to Case, who as we know has some pretty good doubles teams. The #1 team of Sabada/Kranz is a very tough team and a talented team that Deis has to go up against and I think the big ground strokes will be too much for the Judges. They have a decent team up there at #1 with Granoff anchoring, but I just don’t see them coming through. Chicago should easily win at #2 doubles, as their team beat the Case today and it seems like they are on the top of their game. A potential swing match occurs at #3 doubles, where Chicago has struggled a bit and Deis can steal the match. For the fun of it, I’m going to take the Judges because I don’t see them getting swept two days in a row. It is doubles pro-sets after all.
So it’s 2-1 going into doubles for Chicago and things might get a bit dicey (ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh got em!). Brandeis has a fairly strong top 4 singles players, which has been their bread and butter this year when playing in the 20-30 range. Honestly. Chicago is in that range despite their ITA and Power ranking. They didn’t show much today and it’s really bothering me. At #1, Granoff has been playing great. He’s beaten Zhang and brought Putterman to the brink. This is the day where he notches a big win over Sabada. Although Sabada has been playing well, I just gotta believe. At #2, Brandeis has been fairly weak this year with Arguello, but luckily for them Kranz dropped a stink bomb today. This ones going to be close and if it comes down to this match I’d probably take Deis. For now, I’ll take Chicago. Before I get into the middle of the lineup, I’m going to go ahead and say that Chicago will cruise at #5 and #6. Deis seems like a team that’s only 4 deep. For the #3 and 4 spots, I’m going to go with a split with Chicago winning at #3 singles. Sun is a strong player and it looks like Deis could take it, but Lubarsky is an iffy spot. Overall, I’m taking Chicago to take this one by the score of 6-3.
Rochester vs. NYU
This is a preview that I will enjoy because I do appreciate the readers from both of these schools. They genuinely seem like extremely personable teams and I am glad to be writing a preview for them. I believe the matches start at 2PM tomorrow so I hope they get the time to read this preview before they play. They deserve it. I’ve done a lot of bantering with Mr. Shapiro recently, and it’s been a pleasure. I’m digressing again so let’s get to the f*cking previews.
I will be the first to admit that I don’t know enough about either of these teams to go full in depth matchup to matchup, but I will do my best. I did pretty well today in my prognostication and that was based on past results, so it seems to work in my favor. Well, in doubles, it seems as if NYU’s #1 team has been changed since the last time these two teams played. Wu/Meltzer at #1 seems like a pretty good combo and a better team than the last #1 that brought Danko/Zhao to a breaker. Well, I like that Wu/Meltzer team so I’ll take NYU at #1. At #2 will be a swing match, because I think Rochester should take #3 doubles easily. I’m going to go ahead and say that the winner of #2 doubles will be the decider in this 5-4 match. Right now, my gut is telling me to go with the team of DeMichael/Leong. They were leading Emory for a bit today which is always a good sign. Shapiro/Baranowski had a solid win today against a weak #2 CMU team, but that’s not evidence enough for me. In the swing match, I take NYU.
Singles will certainly be interesting as well. At #1 I’d totally go with Wu in this one, but the thing is he cramped today against Ruderman. Before you say “How do you cramp in one day of tournament play” please remember that Ruderman is one of the biggest grinders out there. Go play him first in the Orlando sun at midday for 3 hours and see how your body feels before you talk shit. Wu is still extremely talented and although he might be a bit fatigued, he’ll come out fresh and take Shapiro. At #2, Baker is coming off a big win over Heaney-Secord and I see him easily taking out Meltzer from NYU. I’m going to skip #3 for now because that is my match of the day, but Borovcanin for UR at #4 vs. Thangirila will be an important match. I see NYU taking this one, making it 4-2. At #6, UR has a clear advantage over Lim of NYU and I don’t see the Jackets losing that match with Leeman. That leaves us with #3 and #5 singles. At #3 I love this matchup against Leong and Danko. It’s going to be a great one that goes three sets. It’s all up to fitness in this one and if Danko is working as hard as Mr. Shapiro implied via his tweets, I’ve got to go with him. That leaves it as 4-4 with DeMichiel against Baranowski of UR. DeMichiel in my eyes is the more talented player, but pressure will bring this one down to the wire before he pulls it out for a 5-4 NYU victory. Big ups.
Since my predictions are not set in stone, I will provide predictions in the comments when the first match is over (maybe). I fully expect Chicago to run the table against anyone they play, but there’s always doubt when they are involved. This one could go down to the wire but I’m too tired to predict it. Should be another fun day tomorrow for sure. Asouth, OUT.