Since three of my more prominent West region teams just completed their spring breaks, I feel like this is an opportune time to hand out some report cards. Cruz is in the midst of their spring break, and the California teams all seem like they’re on a perpetual spring break (tennis-wise), so I’ll give them grades for the past fortnight. At the end, I’ll take a brief look ahead to the coming week.
Before you go on, know that this isn’t going to be your typical report card. I’m not going to hand out A’s like candy the way they do at all our lovely liberal arts institutions these days. In this article, C means average. The only difference is that I’ll be grading with regard to my arbitrary expectations for your team. Teams, please know that the following comes from a place of love and respect.
Trinity (TX)
Results: 5-4 win over Kenyon, losses to CMS, P-P, and Wesleyan
Grade: D+
For the second year in a row, Trinity had a Spring Break to forget. They started by barely holding off a spirited charge from Kenyon, and the fact that they didn’t put away Kenyon early after sweeping doubles ended up costing them down the line. Nobody really expected them to beat CMS, but they played a decent match there before things really went South. They couldn’t capitalize on a doubles lead against Pomona-Pitzer before getting rocked by Wesleyan. The bottom line is that Trinity hasn’t looked nearly as good as I thought they would be. They remain strong in doubles, and they have one of the best 1-2 punches in the country, but their 3-4 is weaker than I thought it would be (and I thought it would be weak). Most disturbingly, they haven’t been able to win consistently at the bottom of the singles lineup. I really expected guys like Tyer and Niess to win pretty consistently there, especially considering how Niess was reasonably successful at #4 last year. More bad news is that they really have nowhere to go but down, as they have trap matches against GAC and Wash U, who they’ve already beaten. I’m not sure what will help bring them back together and get them playing as a team a little more, but perhaps Nico’s wedding will help (CONGRATS!)
Texas-Tyler
Results: 0-4 with 5-4 losses to Kenyon, GAC, and Redlands
Grade: D-
I will preface this by saying that I have no idea what it feels like to lose three 5-4 matches in a row, and I don’t really want to rip open healing wounds, but this was a profoundly disappointing Spring Break for the Pats. The only thing keeping this grade from being an “F” is the fact that they weren’t actually favored in any of their matches. Nevertheless, when you take a 2-1 lead and win three first sets, you expect to win that match. Against GAC, they lost all four three-set matches and had at least one team match point. It’s not that they didn’t have strong performances. Their three freshmen (McIntyre, Gomez, and Fagundes) each won at least two singles matches. Gomez and newcomer Joey Fischer went 4-0 at #3 doubles. If you had told me that before the week, I would have said they should win at least two matches. Unfortunately, their seniors went 2-13. We love seniors on this blog, but I’m thinking they might have gotten a little complacent in their isolated corner of Texas. Perhaps they thought the team was better than it turned out to be. Moving forward, I hope they play with a bit more of a chip on their shoulder because if they don’t beat GAC or Whitman in San Antonio, they’re going to finish the season without a ranked win, and I don’t know what the ranking committee will do with that.
Redlands
Results: a 5-4 win over Tyler and 2-7 losses to Wesleyan, Amherst and Whitman.
Grade: C-
I’m being a little more forgiving with the Bulldogs because I really do think they are performing well this season. Given how much responsibility is being given to their young guys, I would not have expected them to beat Mary Washington, Bates and Brandies. This, however, was not a banner week for the Dawgs. They salvaged their to 20 positioning with a win over Tyler, but they didn’t put up much of a fight in their three losses. The Wesleyan loss really put the nail in the coffin of their Pool C hopes, but the most disappointing, of course, is the loss to Whitman where their more experienced guys at the bottom of the lineup got thumped. Depth was supposed to be a strength for them, and it has really let them down in the last couple matches. One bright spot for Redlands is Chase Lipscomb, who is playing fantastic and has a decent shot at a singles berth after wins over Yaraghi, Fagundes, and Locklear. Basically, Redlands was never going to make the tournament with Pool C being the way it is. They should feel good about what they’ve done so far to maintain their ranking with such a young team, but their grueling schedule may be wearing on them. They need to gird themselves for big weekend matches against Williams and Tufts. If they play well, they have a chance to pick up another big win.
Pomona-Pitzer
Results: wins over Wesleyan, GAC, Trinity, and Skidmore. Losses to Emory and Amherst
Grade: B+
Who could have known at the time that the Hens’ win over Wesleyan would have legs? When they beat the Cardinals routinely at the beginning of last week, I thought we had all been tricked into drinking the Kool-Aid again, but after Wesleyan’s recent performance, it looks like it could be the win that will get them into the post-season. Graham Maassen is on a tear, and their depth is looking stronger than last year with Malech and Mandic seemingly shutting the Revolving Door with their solid play. They haven’t quite gotten their doubles to where it was last year, but they could be extremely dangerous to CMS if they turn it up on the doubles court. Before they focus on ending the SCIAC drought, however, they have to win two of the next three matches against Stevens, Williams, and Middlebury to solidify their Pool C standing.
Whitman
Results: losses to Tufts, Bowdoin and CMS, win over Redlands
Grade: C-
I was ready to tear into Whitman after they got swept by Bowdoin, but I’m going to lighten my stance on them. It turns out Bowdoin might be ready to compete for a national championship, and you can hardly come down too hard on them for losing to the Stags. On the bad side, the loss to Tufts is going to pretty much decimate any chance they had of making Indoors next year (which is something I’ve always wanted for them). The fact that they can sweep Redlands in doubles then turn around and nearly get swept by the Jumbos (who went down 1-2 against Vassar the previous day) is mystifying. Like Tyler, Whitman is not getting the production they need out of their more experienced players. Locklear and Jivkov (their only upperclassmen in the singles lineup) went a combined 0-8. On the good side, they absolutely throttled Redlands on their home courts. They continued to have impressive singles depth, and Hewlin passed his first big test as a #1 singles player with wins over Dulle and Telkhedzhiev. They also fought quite hard and nearly came back from being down 1-2 and five 1st sets. Looking forward they have big matches in a couple weeks against Tyler and Trinity. In the past, the Tyler match would determine who was stuck in CA to deal with the Stags, but at the moment, I’m sure both teams would prefer that to being shipped out to Atlanta.
CMS
Results: wins over CMU, Tyler, Trinity, Whitman, Amherst. 7-2 losses to Emory and Bowdoin
Grade: D+
For any other team, those results would be stellar. The Stags beat three bonafide top 10 teams, and showed considerable grit against Amherst, winning #1 doubles in a tiebreaker after getting broken twice while serving for it. Max Macey seems to be playing particularly well, winning Sunday against Bowdoin and coming back from down a set and 2-4 against Solimano to clinch the match against Amherst. Hull is really coming around, and Butts is as solid as every. On the negative side, they are extremely vulnerable in doubles, and their depth isn’t nearly as dominant as they hoped it would be at the beginning of the season. They lost four through six in straight sets against Amherst and then lost 5 and 6 against Bowdoin. Though Hull is playing better, he and Mork are only slightly above average at #2 and #3 singles (as opposed to their otherworldly norm the past couple years). Even if something were to happen against Pomona-Pitzer, the Stags would be in great position in Pool C, but it’s hard to consider a team coming off two 7-2 losses at home a legitimate national championship contender at the moment. For CMS, that is a failure, hence the failing grade.
UC Santa Cruz
To be determined…
Preview of coming attractions
March 22: #3 Chicago vs. #24 UCSC – The Maroons have Cruz outmatched at every single position. They don’t even have the benefit of playing Chicago in their first match on the West coast (that happens against Stevens tomorrow). I’m guessing the Slugs will find a doubles win in there somewhere (possibly #2) in an 8-1 loss.
March 22; #9 Pomona-Pitzer vs. #26 Stevens – The Ducks appear deeper than they’ve ever been, and if P-P can go 5-4 with Skidmore, they could certainly lose to Stevens. The Hens, however, don’t appear ready to lose on their home courts, so I think they’ll win with a 2-1 lead after doubles (wins at 2 and 3) and wins at 2, 4, 5, and 6 singles. 6-3 Pomona-Pitzer.
March 23: #24 UCSC vs. Colby – The Slugs should be able to take advantage of an injury-riddled Colby team. If Reid takes two matches, it could get interesting. 6-3 UCSC.
March 23: #9 Pomona-Pitzer vs. #14 Williams – This match is absolutely gargantuan. I have no way of knowing how good Williams is this season, and we still aren’t that far removed from a Williams national championship. As the Ephs singles players have accumulated more experience, we may very well be in for a breakout season this year. Nevertheless, I’m going to continue to lean towards Pomona-Pitzer on their home courts. Yaz has been having a tough season in the singles court. Look for him to turn it around in a 3-set win here to give P-P a 5-4 win with victories at 1 and 3 doubles, 1, 2, and 5 singles.
March 25: #3 Chicago vs. #5 CMS – Here’s the match of the week as far as I’m concerned. I’m having a difficult time coping with a world in which CMS appears so beatable, but my gut is telling me that they’re going to lose this match. Chicago’s doubles really impressed me at Indoors, and I think they’ll win 2 out of 3. After that, Chicago is so strong from top to bottom that I think they’ll find three wins somewhere. If I had to guess, I’d go with #2, #3, and #6. Look for a full preview from D3Central later this week.
March 25: #22 Tufts and #14 Williams vs. #15 Redlands – Based on comparative results, you would have to say that Tufts is favored over Redlands at the moment. I’m predicting a 6-3 win for them at the end of Spring Break. We don’t know what Williams will be bringing this year, yet, so I’ll hold off on a prediction.