Another week, another NE tournament to recap. And it only gets better from here, with next weekend consisting of Small College Nationals and the revamped MIT tournament, which has very quickly become the best fall tournament outside of the ITA. Last weekend seven teams found their way up to Bates for the Wallach Invitational. While the field was a little lighter than it has been in year’s past (Bowdoin, Tufts, and Bates were all missing top players in addition to losing Amherst and Midd, even if they don’t always bring their top players), it provided an opportunity for some to either follow up on or bounce back from their ITA performances. Like the ITA, D3Regional and I are going to give another team-by-team recap, but try to mix it up just a bit.
BOWDOIN (#1)
Top Performer: Grant Urken. Urken teamed with Patel (one of Bowdoin’s freshmen) to win the B-Flight Doubles, but also won two easy rounds in the A-Flight singles before taking a set from Kai Yuen Leung (Skid) in the semis.
Warranted Overreaction: The 2017 Bowdoin lineup is something of a mystery. We don’t know what will happen when Tercek comes back, but right now it seems like a couple of guys could play anywhere between the #1-4 spots and the rest are shooting the bottom of the lineup. Terrace, Wolfe, Urken and Jiang could all play a variety of spots, while Roddy, Carstens, Rozovsky and others might end up at the bottom of the lineup.
Unwarranted Overreaction: Kyle Wolfe will struggle in 2017. Wolfe has had a couple of down tournaments, losing in straight sets to Bunis (Deis) this weekend and in 3-sets to Burney (Amherst) at the ITA, but he’s playing good doubles. He won’t get a chance to redeem his singles at MIT this weekend as he and Jiang are off to Arizona for Small College Nationals. I expect Wolfe to grind his way to a bunch of wins this spring, no matter his position in the lineup.
Tournament Grade: B-
TUFTS (#13)
Top Performer: Ethan Chen. Tight battle between Chen and Gupte here, but Chen cruised to the Finals of the B-Flight while Gupte lost a couple of sets along his path to the A-Flight finals.
Warranted Overreaction: Gupte will be a force at the top of the Tufts lineup. After Gupte’s 1st round loss at the ITA, there were rumors flying around that Tufts was really going to flop this year. Don’t you love it when things like this happen? Gupte fired back with a run to the A-Flight finals, including wins over Bunis (Deis) and Murad (Colby and ITA semifinalist). I know there have been injury concerns in Gupte’s past, so let’s hope he recovers well and is good to go at MIT this weekend.
Unwarranted Overreaction: Tufts’ young guys will help them improve upon their national ranking. Tufts did pretty well all around this weekend, making the finals of the A and B flights of singles, and two teams to the B-Flight doubles semis. Without Ali and Battle, you could, and should say this was a very successful weekend for the Jumbos. However, before you all get carried away in the feel goods, remember that this year’s field was as weak as it’s been in a long time, and almost all of these young guys are untested and will all be constantly battling each other for lineup spots. If you’re a Tufts fan, your uneasiness should be quelled for the time being, but certainly not cast aside.
Tournament Grade: B+
SKIDMORE (#21)
Top Performer: Lucas Pickering. So many choices (Skid won the A, B and C flight singles draws!!!), but Pickering wins the honor due to his clutch performance. 3-straight super breaker wins all by the same 10-8 score, en route to the B-Flight singles championship.
Warranted Overreaction: Leung might just be the best player in the country. He cruised to his ITA title, and took down solid competition this weekend in Reid (Colby), Urken (Bowdoin), and Gupte (Tufts). He goes into Small College Nationals as the overall #1 seed, which doesn’t mean a whole lot considering the level of competition, but he should be the odds on favorite to follow in his sisters footsteps and win it all.
Unwarranted Overreaction: With this performance, Skidmore has cemented themselves as far and away the best team in the Liberty League. While the Thoroughbreds had an excellent singles performance, this was a down year for the tournament field. In addition, Skid went 0-4 in doubles this weekend, which is likely the strongest facet of RPI’s team, totaling only 10 games between the four matches. They had a great singles weekend, which should not be diminished, but there is work still to be done in Saratoga Springs.
Tournament Grade: A-
BATES (#25)
Top Performer: Adam Schwartz. Schwartz gets the nod over Yadav by about 4 total games. They both made the finals of the B-Fight doubles, but Schwartz won 4 more games in his 1st round singles match.
Warranted Overreaction: Absence makes the heart grow fonder. No Rosen, no Ellis, no Scott. Bates was without it’s top-3 for the 2nd time this fall, and Ellis is the only one who has played a lick. Rosen is a junior, so he’s probably abroad and though Scott has to deal with transfer rules I believe he is a junior as well. HOWEVER, when I looked to confirm this on the Bates website I see no mention of Scott on the roster whatsoever. If that is the case, then Bates might be in a tough spot.
Unwarranted Overreaction: Bates’ spring will follow its fall. Bates has struggled this fall, but I believe that is more due to absence of Bates’ Sultans of Swing rather than the Bobcats being in Dire Straits. The pro/con for the team that hosts the tournament is that they get more guys into the field. In a draw with only seven teams, you can see that Bates put seven guys into the top two singles flights to help even out the draws. While that might be good experience, it certainly doesn’t increase your chances of bringing home any hardware. While you’re still left with more questions than answers as a Bates fan, I wouldn’t put too much stock in this fall.
Tournament Grade: C+
TRINITY CT (#29) – D3Regional
Top Performer: Samuel Buffum – won his first round match over Jimmy McGuire of Colby, 10-8 in a super.
Warranted Overreaction: Trinity is going to be significantly down this year. They won one match at the Wallach, in 6 flights of matches, with several schools missing some of their top guys. I know Rutendo Matingo didn’t play, but this combined with their Midd Invite performance and ITA performance is not a good sign for the spring.
Unwarranted Overreaction: Trinity has no shot at doing anything in doubles this year. Look, I know they didn’t win a doubles match at the Wallach, but Trinity has always been a really tricky doubles team in the past, and swept Brandeis and won 2 of 3 against Colby and Chapman just a year ago on their way to three wins. They will be down, but doubles will be the biggest chance for Trinity to upset a team this spring.
Tournament Grade: F
BRANDEIS (#30) – D3Regional
Top Performer: Harshil (Harshmellow) Dwivedi – won the D singles flight, only losing one set, and this was to his teammate in the finals
Warranted Overreaction: Brandeis’ depth looks like it is going to be much improved this year. Brandeis won the D flight at both the Middlebury Invite and here at Bates, a really good sign for a team that struggled at #5/6 singles last year. Brian Granoff and Michael Arguello both did not play singles at the Wallach, meaning Dwivedi and Ben Wolfe (who made the finals) are likely the #9/10 guys on the team, really giving Coach Lamanna some great options when it comes to the bottom of his lineup.
Unwarranted Overreaction: Brandeis is going to be a force in doubles this year. Yes, I know Tyler Ng/David Aizenberg had a great tournament, making the finals of the A doubles flight. Arguello and Jackson Kogan also lost in the second round to the eventual winners, Carl Reid/Vlad Murad, 9-8, not a bad result. However, Brandeis was a really inconsistent doubles team last year, and also didn’t win a match in the B doubles flight. This result is a good step forward, and having Granoff in the doubles lineup should help, but Brandeis still has work to do.
Tournament Grade: B+
COLBY (NR) – D3Regional
Top Performer(s): Vlad Murad/Carl Reid as a doubles team, winning the A flight
Warranted Overreaction: Colby’s singles depth still has some work to do. In the B-D singles flights, Colby won one match, an easy 0 and 0 win for Scott Altmeyer. Other than that, the projected 3-10 guys for the Mules didn’t do a whole lot of anything, and though there were some super breakers thrown in there, Colby is going to have to improve their depth if they hope to compete with the mid-level NESCAC teams this year.
Unwarranted Overreaction: Reid and Murad are not as good as advertised, and Colby will struggle at the top 2 spots this year. Look, Carl Reid had a tough draw, losing 6 and 5 to the winner, Kai Yeun Leung of Skid, in the second round. Murad drew a good player in Rohan Gupte (Tufts), and lost in a super breaker, and Gupte went on to make the finals. These were not Reid’s and Murad’s best singles performances, but is not a huge cause for concern. Murad was in the semis of ITA’s just a week ago! These two guys will still be good.
Tournament Grade: B-