Weekend Update

Here are the scores from the week, and a team-by-team update in no particular order:

#26 Whittier def. #22 Pomona-Pitzer 8-1

#13 Whitman def. #26 Whittier 6-3

#6 Cal Lu def. #28 Trinity (CT) 6-3

#6 Cal Lu def. #3 Williams 5-4

#6 Cal Lu def. #19 Amherst 6-3

#8 Johns Hopkins def. #10 UT-Tyler 7-2

#7 Trinity (TX) def. #8 Johns Hopkins 5-4

#5 Bowdoin def. #11 Redlands 5-4

#3 Williams def. #22 Pomona-Pitzer 6-3

#4 CMS def. #13 Whitman 7-2

#5 Bowdoin def. #28 Trinity (CT) 6-3

#16 Wash U def. #26 Whittier 7-2

#16 Wash U def. #13 Whitman 8-1

I’m sure I missed some, but here come the recaps

Whittier

Obviously, a little bit of good and a little bit of bad this week for Whittier. They failed to capitalize on a doubles lead against Whitman, losing five singles matches en route to a 6-3 loss. You have to figure that the match turned when the Squirrels took the first sets at 4 and 5 in tiebreakers, but these are the sorts of growing pains that come with a growing program. Credit the Poets for recovering from that disappointment and lowering the boom on Pomona-Pitzer. I predicted at the beginning of the year that they would pick up a W over one of the SCIAC top 4, but I didn’t think it would be P-P.

The Poets now have wins over Swarthmore and P-P to go with decent results against Whitman and Case Western. They seem to be pretty tough this year, but if they even want to start thinking about the “C” word, they will need a big win in two tough matches. Middlebury is up next tomorrow. The Panthers are a Pool C team (if not a NESCAC Championship team) for sure, and a win would be huge for the Poets. If Whittier has a chance, it is because of home court advantage and outdoor rustiness for the Panthers, but I just don’t think it’s gonna happen. Their other opportunity is to take care of business in all of the other matches their supposed to win (including a tough one against Depauw) and somehow beat Redlands at Redlands. It’s a tough road, but by playing good doubles, Whittier has put themselves on the fringes of the Pool C conversation for the first time.

Pomona-Pitzer

The hits just keep coming for the Sage Hens. It appeared as though they had finally gotten some footing in this season after a nice victory over Skidmore and a strong showing against Williams. They had taken the lead in doubles in three consecutive matches in the Stag-Hens (as is their custom), and seemed to have bolstered their singles depth a bit. Then the Whittier train blasted any momentum they had going, simultaneously severing the faint thread of hope that they would put things together for a Pool C bid. Coach Belletto says it’s a process, but things just aren’t going fast enough for them right now. They still have a ton of good matches left, including a favorable match up with Cal Lu tomorrow, but I don’t think all the good match ups in the world will help them make the tournament at this point.

I have no doubt these guys will finish the season strong, but dang…

Whitman

What a weird week for Whitman. After getting thrashed by Cruz, they got thrashed by Wash U and looked positively mediocre. They rebounded by playing probably their best match of the year against BYU-Hawaii, coming to get the win they needed against Whittier, and getting a good result against CMS. Though they’ve apparently found a reliable #1 doubles team (La Cava can succeed with anyone in doubles, I swear), they still don’t have the answer at 2 and 3, and they will need to get leads in doubles if they want to compete at the end of the year. Perhaps the return of a healthy Rivers is the solution.

Other than that, their match against CMS shows they are about as deep as anyone in the country, and they could be a nightmare for some #1 seed to play in the Sweet Sixteen at the end of the year if they can avoid the California region. I truly believe they deserve better than that, so let’s hope the NCAA agrees with me. Now the Squirrels will hibernate in their tiny corner of Washington until tournament time.

Cal Lu

What a week for the Kingsmen! They lose their #4 singles player and still manage to beat both Williams and Amherst. Whatever they’re putting in the water in Thousand Oaks to allow players like Nichols to become very legitimate #3 singles players, they need to keep doing that. Their doubles is great, the top half of their singles lineup is solid, but they just can’t buy a win at the bottom of the singles lineup. Especially if Treacy is out for an extended period of time, they’re going to have a hard time competing for a national championship. They are competitive at just about every position, but you really don’t want to go into a match against CMS basically giving up #5 and 6 singles. It puts too much pressure on the rest of the team.

That’s a lot of negativity, but it’s frustrating to see how close these guys are to being a championship team. The way they’re built right now, I just don’t see how they can do it. Let’s say they get past CMS into the Elite Eight. If Ballou, Worley, or Nichols has a bad day on 1 out of 3, they’re screwed. I could be wrong. We’ll just have to sit back and wait for their April 5th encounter with CMS. Until then, Bravo gentlemen.

Trinity (CT)

The Bantams got off to a strong start for a team I had basically written off, but their good scores against two top 10 teams I think were more a product of positional weaknesses of their opponents than their own merit. Bowdoin can’t seem to get a doubles lead against anyone, and Cal Lu basically gives you 5 and 6 singles. Their 5-4 win over Oxy is probably more indicative of where these guys actually are. Nevertheless, this is a team that’s consistently OK top to bottom and will make a team pay for their weaknesses. Let’s keep an eye on them in the weeks to come.

Williams

Well, the Purple Cows did not get off to a strong start. The supposed national championship favorites had to work to beat a struggling Pomona-Pitzer team then lost to the short-handed Kingsmen. That 5-4 loss could’ve been worse if Treacy had been healthy. They have a match against Redlands tomorrow. Until then, I reserve judgment. Hopefully these seniors can get their act together.

Amherst

What are these guys doing!?!?!? They have undoubtedly the most talented team in terms of USTA ranking, and they are putting themselves in a really terrible position when it comes to the NCAA tournament. They played just one serious DIII team in their massive Spring Break, and they didn’t even play the Kingsmen with a full lineup. I really don’t understand their strategy, but given their losses to CMU and Hopkins in the Fall, it doesn’t seem like they should be banking on wins over Bowdoin and Middlebury to get them into the NCAA tournament. I am definitely overreacting, but this Amherst squad just isn’t up to the usual Lord Jeff standard so far. they basically deserve their #19 ranking. Again, we’ll have to wait until they hit their NESCAC schedule to see what they’re really made of. Their three-headed monster split squad Spring Break extravaganza makes it really hard to figure out who they really are.

Johns Hopkins

Blatant doubles stack aside, there was just more of the same from the Blue Jays over their Texas trip. When they get up, they really know how to roll, but if a team like Trinity goes to the mat with them, they haven’t mastered the ability to fight for a victory. The Tyler win is very good for this program, and should be enough to keep them in the top 10 for the rest of the year barring a disaster against CMU, but this is really a team that should be in the top 5, and they just aren’t. Color me not impressed.

UT-Tyler

I thought they were going to win that match, but apparently they choked away the doubles. These guys are heavily reliant on their top 3 singles players and their top 2 doubles teams, so they’re not built to win a national championship, but I think they could beat anyone on the right day. Definitely not a team you want to run into at the end of the year if you’re Wash U, Kenyon, Middlebury, etc.

Trinity (TX)

Man, do these guys know how to fight. Their supposedly strong doubles went down to Hopkins’ supposedly weak doubles on their home courts, but they still managed to fight back with their supposedly weaker singles. Skinner has turned into an absolute star, and you have to be scarred of any lineup that has Dela Fuente at #4 singles. The greatest thing the Tigers could’ve asked for is the reemergence of the Patriots. Now, instead of having to wait until May for their next real match against a DIII opponent, they’ll get a taste of serious competition in mid-April. That should really help them in the tournament, regardless of the result. It will be really interesting to see how the NCAA decides to partition their three flying teams, as Trinity and (maybe) Tyler appear to have earned #1 regional seeds.

Bowdoin

Seriously, did someone replace Bowdoin with 2010’s North Carolina Wesleyan team. Since when could Bowdoin not at least take a doubles lead against Trinity (CT)? These are the Polar Bears that swept Middlebury last year, are they not? The team that beat Williams? I just don’t know what’s going on with that. If you put that aside, wow, what a Spring Break!!! They came back from huge deficits more times than I can count, and their last one against Redlands takes the cake. Coming back from down a set and 5-1 to win in singles with the team match tied 4-4 has to be the ultimate feeling in college tennis. The only thing that could be better is if that happened in a National Championship match or something. Coach Smith has really changed the team culture of Bowdoin, and now the Polar Bears are in the pantheon on programs that really know how to win. As previously stated, if they can get their doubles in order, they will be scary good. We might even have a national championship contender on our hands here, guys. Very few teams know how to fight like this.

Redlands

They haven’t invented a match the Bulldogs can’t lose. If Bowdoin has joined the pantheon of teams that know how to win, Redlands has taken the bottom of “least-clutch-team-in-DIII” in they are running with it admirably. From Trinity (CT) two years ago to the plethora of doubles leads in the past couple years to this one, nobody knows how to lose quite like Redlands. They are still in fine position to make the NCAA tournament, and they have a golden opportunity against the Cows who are struggling to get the engine running.

The Bulldogs still have one of the best home court advantages in the nation, a great #1 singles player, solid doubles, and good depth working for them, and I would like to see them actually earn their Pool C spot this time around. Come on guys!

CMS

What do you know? The Stags are capable of losing a doubles match after all. I’m curious to see what happens to these guys when a team really steps up and goes toe to toe with them because they haven’t had to do that yet this year. (Their result against BYU-Hawaii is concerning). Until then, they are the undisputed #1 team in the country, I think, and they deserve it.

Wash U

This week offered a return to form for the Bears. A singles sweep against Whitman is a very impressive result, and their 7-2 win over Whittier will be very handy for them, especially now that the Poets are trying to throw their name in the ring as a Pool C competitor. I think these guys will peak at the right time, as they did last year, and find themselves in the Elite Eight thanks to a favorable draw. A. Putt is always solid at #1, Kratky is looking great at #4, Parizher is starting to get his swagger back, and Farah will be a near-lock at the bottom of the singles lineup. Their weaknesses appear to be the streaky R. Putt at #2 and the unorthodox Noack at #3.

If they can take a 2-1 lead in doubles, it will be damn difficult for anyone to find four singles wins in that lineup, as Whitman and Whittier just discovered. Next up for them are matches against Chicago (who always seems to give them headaches) and GAC (who will make getting a 2-1 lead very difficult). They absolutely need to win both of those matches if they want to make the tournament.